Lives of Roman Freedwomen in the Latin West
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A01=Tatjana Sandon
ancient slavery
Author_Tatjana Sandon
Category=JBSF1
Category=NHC
Category=NHTS
epigraphic evidence
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
freedpersons in Roman society
gender studies
Roman libertae
Roman slavery
Roman women
Product details
- ISBN 9781399553414
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 31 Dec 2025
- Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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The book investigates the lives of libertae, i.e. female ex-slaves, in the western part of the Roman Empire, by analysing the inscriptional evidence left behind by these women and those close to them. The study considers the freedwomen both inside and outside the domestic environment, looking at libertae not only as former slaves, but also as wives and mothers, workers, labourers, service providers and professionals, besides their wider roles as members of their communities. The innovative aspect of this study is the choice of rigorously giving centre stage to epigraphic documents, rather than the well-known literary texts. This approach is essential to foreground the freedwomen's point of view, in place of the perspective of the elite male authors that has however hitherto been given priority in the modern discussion of Roman freedpersons. The analysed sample, nearly 10,000 inscriptions, includes texts from every area of the western Roman Empire: this large data pool allows wide-reaching detailed qualitative analysis as well as quantitative comparisons, enabling moreover highly differentiated insights into the similarities and differences that existed for libertae across the Empire.
Tatjana Sandon is an independent researcher, previously a Research Assistant at the University of Edinburgh on the Leverhulme-funded project ‘The Child Face of Roman Slavery’.
