Municipal Freedmen and Intergenerational Social Mobility in Roman Italy

Jeffrey A. Easton, Ph.D. (2019), University of Toronto, is Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics at Southwestern University. His research and publications focus on Latin epigraphy and social, economic, and political institutions in the Roman empire.

Acknowledgements

List of Figures and Tables

Abbreviations



Introduction: Trimalchio’s Shadow: Former Slaves and Social Mobility in the Roman World

 1 Social Mobility in the Roman Empire

 2 The Case-Study of Roman Municipal Freedmen and Freedwomen and Their Families



1 Leaving a Mark: Municipal Freedmen and Roman Epigraphy

 1 Cataloguing the Evidence

 2 Former Municipal Slaves and Their Families

 3 Final Methodological Thoughts



2 From Everyone’s Slave to Patronless Freedman

 1 The Size of the Municipal familia publica

 2 Manumission and the familia publica

 3 Conclusions



3 Starting from Scratch

 1 Staying Close to Home: Settlement Patterns

 2 Marriage Patterns and Social Connections

 3 Municipal Freedmen and the Associative Order

 4 Conclusions



4 Little Fish in a Big Labor Market

 1 Shallow Roots: Settlement Patterns

 2 Social and Economic Mobility of the Descendants

 3 Conclusions



5 Conclusions: Names on a Tombstone

Appendix 1: Demographic Estimates of Select Cities in Italy

Appendix 2: Catalogue of Municipal Freedmen and Freedwomen (L)

Appendix 3: Catalogue of Descendants of Municipal Freedmen and Freedwomen (D)

Bibliography

Index