How Slavery Built the Roman Empire

Was the Roman Empire really made by conquest? Or was it powered by something much darker? For centuries, millions of enslaved people sacrificed their lives and their labour on the altar of Roman progress, an integral cog in the grinding imperial machine. And so today on The Ancients, Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr Emma Southon, author of Servus: How Slavery Made The Roman World to bring their overlooked stories back into the limelight. From the mines and farms to the households of the imperial elite, they discover how slavery was woven into the fabric of the Roman society and ask what life was really like for enslaved Romans. 00:00 Introduction 01:31 Was the Roman Empire built on slavery? 03:33 The diversity of the enslaved experience 06:04 Mythical origins of slavery in Rome 08:03 Manumission and the freedmen class 12:18 Humanising the language of ancient slavery 18:05 Republican expansion and the shift to a slave economy 25:38 Slavery during the Pax Romana and High Empire 30:45 Categories, stereotypes, and forced labour 32:30 Can a Roman citizen become enslaved? 34:11 Legal protections and city-owned slaves 38:25 Slave markets and the purchasing process 43:11 Was there an abolitionist movement in Rome? 46:50 Domestic slavery and everyday Roman households 58:37 How enslaved people achieved freedom Presented by Tristan Hughes. Producers are Joseph Knight & McKenna Fernandez, senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Editor is Natasha Hughes. Channel manager is Vilde Øksnes. Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. All music from Epidemic Sounds. #HistoryHitPodcast #TheAncients #AncientHistory