On Freedmen and Citizenship: Freedmen as Agents and Metaphors of Roman Political Culture

Abstract

The conventional historiographical narrative argued so convincingly in favour of the complete subordination of freedmen to their patrons that no other interpretation seemed necessary. Historians have closely studied the status of a freedman who remained linked to their patron, but have neglected the role of former slaves as members of the Roman community. A freedman was his patron's ‘creature’, deprived of an independent political existence and interests distinct from his patron's. In Rome, legally manumitted slaves obtained citizenship as well as freedom. The extent to which freedmen were affected by their confinement to the urban tribes is difficult to ascertain, owing to the complexity of the Servian classis system. The position of the populares on the issue of citizenship has an ideological basis; specifically, it was based upon their ideas about the political regime. The Compitalia were taken advantage of by popularis politicians in order to increase support for their legislative initiatives.