Freed Persons in the Roman World

Sinclair W. Bell is a Professor of Art History and Presidential Teaching Professor at Northern Illinois University. He previously served as Editor of the Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome (2018-21) and, with Teresa Ramsby, edited Free at Last! The Impact of Freed Slaves on the Roman Empire (London 2012). Dorian Borbonus is a Professor in the History Department at the University of Dayton. His research focuses on the funerary culture of ancient Rome and in particular the phenomenon of organized collective burial. Rose MacLean is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on the cultural history of the Roman Empire, especially as it reflects interactions between the ruling elite and groups at the social and political margins.

Introduction – Freed persons in the Roman world: status, diversity, and representation Sinclair W. Bell, Dorian Borbonus, and Rose Maclean; 1. Permissu decurionum: freed persons and burial management in the collective tomb of the Volusii Dorian Borbonus; 2. Freed public slaves in Roman Italy and the western provinces: legal status and social integration Franco Luciani; 3. Fitting in by decree: freed slaves, euergetism, and local politics Marc Kleijwegt; 4. Doubling up: patronal and familial designations on epitaphs Katharine Huemoeller; 5. The cost of ingratitude:freed persons, patrons, and re-enslavement Nicole Giannella; 6. Between moral slavery and legal freedom: freed people and aristocratic behavior in Neronian literature Fábio Duarte Joly; 7. Framing the freed person: (de)contextualizing the representation of freed peoples' voices in the literary record Kristof Vermote; 8. Novel evidence for ancient freed people: Xenophon of Ephesus' Ephesiaca and the Cena trimalchionis William M. Owens; 9. The affects of manumission: racial melancholy and Roman freed persons Dan-El Padilla Peralta.