Property and Freedom Podcast, Episode 296.

This talk is from the recently-concluded 19th annual PFS 2025 Annual Meeting (Sep. 18–23, 2025, Bodrum, Turkey).

Sean Gabb (England): Roman Law and Contractual Slavery [Sebastian Wang, “Roman Slavery: Horror and Paradox – Sean Gabb in Bodrum,” Libertarian Alliance [UK] Blog (Sep. 20, 2025)] Transcript and shownotes below.

Other talks appear on the Property and Freedom Podcast. Other videos may also be found at the PFS 2025 Youtube Playlist.

Grok shownotes

Show Notes: “Ancient Slavery: A Very Peculiar Institution”

Speaker: Unnamed (invited by Hans and Gulchin)

Source: YouTube lecture (Nov 2025 transcript)

TL;DR

Ancient slavery was overwhelmingly brutal—most died young under the lash—but a significant minority repurposed the institution for social mobility: voluntary enslavement, manumission after 7 years, and instant Roman citizenship upon freedom. Evidence: thousands of 2nd–3rd century AD gravestones of ex-slaves who married their former owners or rose to elite status.

Key Sections & Takeaways

1. Intro & Framing [0:01 ]
   
   
   
   • Thanks to hosts; title borrows from Jefferson’s “peculiar institution.”
   
   
   • History = “nightmare” (Jefferson) or “catalog of vices” (Voltaire).
   
   
   
   


2. Modern Lens [1:13 ]
   
   
   
   • Since 1970s, slavery overshadows classical studies; some can’t enjoy Livy, Tacitus, or Roman architecture.
   
   
   
   


3. Default Experience [2:12 ]
   
   
   
   • Most slaves: chain-gang labor in fields/quarries → death by late 20s/early 30s.
   
   
   
   


4. Universal but Uncomfortable [3:20 ]
   
   
   
   • Slavery existed in every pre-modern society.
   
   
   • Greeks & Romans knew it was “unnatural” yet justified it (“some are born for slavery”).
   
   
   
   


5. Horror Highlights [4:51 ]
   
   
   
   • Vedius Pollio (1st c. BC): fed slaves to lampreys; Augustus intervened.
   
   
   • Galen (2nd c. AD): boasted never striking slaves with his hand—used rods/whips instead.
   
   
   • Brothels, gladiators, casual violence.
   
   
   
   


6. Counter-Image [8:50 ]
   
   
   
   • Alma-Tadema painting: boredom & despair more typical than melodrama.
   
   
   
   


7. Manumission as Control [9:56 ]
   
   
   
   • Household slaves: promise freedom after 5–10 yrs → incentive for obedience.
   
   
   • Roman twist: freed slave of a citizen → full citizen (minus Senate/office unless dispensation). Children 100 % free-born citizens.
   
   
   
   


8. Social Mobility Evidence [12:39 ]
   
   
   
   • Horace’s father: ex-slave.
   
   
   • Multiple emperors had slave grandfathers.
   
   
   
   


9. Gravestone Gallery (British Museum & others) [13:23 ]
   
   
   
   • Dasumius (2nd c.): freed & married his slave; heartbroken when she died first.
   
   
   • Pattern: hundreds–thousands of stones across Mediterranean:
     
     
     
     • Master frees female slave → marriage.
     
     
     • Often the master himself was ex-slave.
     
     
     • Even humble sailors & priests did it.
     
     
     
     
   
   
   
   


10. Where Did Peace-Time Greek Slaves Come From? [19:42 ]
    
    
    
    • War captives explain 2nd–1st c. BC glut (Carthage 60 k, Marius 140 k, Pompey+Caesar >1 M).
    
    
    • But 2nd–3rd c. AD Greek ex-slaves = no wars in Greece.
    
    
    • Answer: contractual/voluntary slavery.
    
    
    
    


11. Contractual Slavery = Ancient Student Loan [20:44 ]
    
    
    
    • Certain lucrative jobs (vilicus, dispensator, accountant) legally restricted to slaves.
    
    
    • Free poor sold themselves → master paid training/transport → 7-yr service → freedom + citizenship.
    
    
    • Roman jurists confirm legality; concern was only fraud/coercion.
    
    
    
    


12. Citizenship Hack [28:18 ]
    
    
    
    • Pre-212 AD, citizenship rare.
    
    
    • Sell yourself to a citizen → instant manumission → citizen.
    
    
    • Cicero called it “disreputable” but common.
    
    
    
    


13. Star Example: Antonius Felix [26:11 ]
    
    
    
    • Greek slave → freed by Claudius → knight, senator, procurator of Judea, married Herod’s granddaughter.
    
    
    • Family still elite 300 yrs later.
    
    
    
    


14. Conclusion [29:42 ]
    
    
    
    • Don’t blanket-judge the past.
    
    
    • Slavery horrific for 90 %+, but a subset turned it into a ladder:  “Voluntary enslavement = vehicle of social advancement.” 
    
    
    • Like winning the lottery for Felix.
    
    
    
    

Slides / Visuals Mentioned

• 19th-c. French slave-market paintings (sensational).


• Alma-Tadema: mundane despair.


• British Museum gravestones (Dasumius + others).


• Statistics: war-captive numbers.


• Roman slave-market scene (voluntary bidders).


• Acts of the Apostles illustration (Paul before Felix).

Speaker offers slides via email.

Further Reading

• Galen, On the Passions and Errors of the Soul


• Roman law digests on self-sale into slavery


• British Museum / Louvre epitaph collections


• Moses Finley, Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology (1970s pivot)

Final Quote

“The past is a strange place and the more you look at it the stranger it is.”

Grok/youtube transcript

Introduction and Thanks

[0:01 ]

Good morning everybody and it’s good to look around the room and see so many old friends and new friends as well. But I’d like to begin by thanking Hans and Gulchin for their great goodness in having invited me back here again and again. Do we have a little feedback from the microphone? No. All well, very well.

Title and Historical Views on Slavery

[0:25 ]

Today I’d like to talk about ancient slavery and I’ve called it a very peculiar institution. I think it was Thomas Jefferson who said that history is a nightmare from which we are continually trying to wake up, or Voltaire who said that history is nothing more than a catalog of the vices, follies and crimes of mankind. There is some truth in those sayings. And if you look at the institution of ancient slavery, you do seem to see a very good example of those observations.

Modern Perspectives on Ancient Slavery

[1:13 ]

We’ve always known about ancient slavery. Of course, for the past several hundred years, we have always deplored it. Since the 1970s, however, ancient slavery has moved to something like one of the center points of classical studies. So much so that I have spoken to people who’ve told me, “I cannot appreciate ancient literature anymore.” Because whenever I read Livy or Tacitus or Polybius or Herodotus, all I can think of is the slaves who made the lives of those writers comfortable, who made it possible for them to write their works. And I’ve seen people tell me that they’re unable to appreciate ancient architecture because it was almost universally constructed with slave labor.

The Harsh Reality for Most Slaves

[2:12 ]

I don’t want to minimize the effects. I don’t want to minimize the nature and extent of ancient slavery, for in the overwhelming majority of cases it was a veil of tears. It was a terrible thing. If you were a slave in the ancient world, the overwhelming likelihood was that you would spend your life under the lash working in a chain gang in a field or in a quarry and you would die in your late 20s or early 30s from overwork and general maltreatment.

Not All Human Behavior Is Cruel

[2:53 ]

However, having said that, we do need to bear in mind that although human beings can often behave very badly to each other, this is not a universal tendency. And it is possible to see ancient slavery sometimes in a more positive light than shown in that 19th-century French painting of a slave market. Please.

Slavery as a Universal Institution

[3:20 ]

Now, slavery is or has been or was a unive