Slaves of the People

Slavery played a crucial economic and social role in the Roman history. Unfree individuals were employed to perform a wide range of duties in both the domestic environment and the public sphere. Along with the large population of private slaves who were owned by individual masters, and the smaller but influential group of Imperial slaves who were property of the emperors, there was another category of slaves: the so-called 'public slaves' (servi publici). They were unfree individuals, owned by a community rather than a single master.