Archaeologists in Pompeii announced on Saturday that they had unearthed the remains of a "slave room", an exceptionally rare find in a Roman villa destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago. The small bedroom, which houses three beds, one of which is the size of a child, eight amphorae, a ceramic pot and a wooden chest, was discovered during excavations in a villa in Civita Giuliana, a district located a few steps hundreds of meters north of the Pompeii archaeological park, buried in 79 AD. The 170 square feet room was located between a bedroom and a storage room. The beds are made from several roughly worked wooden planks, which could be adjusted to suit its occupant, and their webbed feet are made of ropes covered with blankets. Two beds were 5.7 feet long and the third was 4.7 feet long. According to the park authorities, the three slaves may have formed a family. Under the beds, personal items were found, including amphorae and what could be a chamber pot. The room was lit by a small upper window. There are no traces of wall decorations, just a mark possibly left by a lantern. The excavations were carried out as part of a program to fight against grave robbers, particularly active in this area of Italy, full of archaeological treasures yet to be discovered. Please show me your coins depicting SLAVES, CAPTIVES or anything you feel relevant !
Fascinating and tragic, Ocatarinetabellatchitchix — thank you for posting. Or possibly Britannia Capta?
Yes, I saw an article in the Guardian about this discovery. Here's a link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...aves-room-sheds-rare-light-on-real-roman-life
Amazes me that timber can remain intact for two millennia. Though volcanic ash probably acts as a good preservative, in addition to reducing the humidity to approximately nil. Alas, throughout human history enslavement was more often the rule than the exception.
Rats; once again, this was too long ago to have pictures, but I have one of these. ...Gives me permission to post a better example, via ACSearch. Britain, Abolitionist conder token, c. late 18th century (time of the decades-long campaign of William Wilberforce to end the British slave trade). There are variants; mine was 'payable' (from the edge legend) in London and Dublin.
In a similar vein, and from the same period. Issued for the colony of freed slaves in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Borrowing design elements as well. Ex eBay
The British Museum has some interesting objects related to slavery in ancient Rome, pictured below are photos of a few of these. This is a pottery flask of an African captive who was offered as a slave, Rome, 1st century AD. The titulus hanging around his neck identifies him as a slave. Inscribed plate, 4th century AD, found in Rome, 58 mm. This object was attached to a metal collar around the neck of a slave, not unlike a modern dog tag. The inscription reads: Tene me ne fugia(m) et revoca me ad dom(i)num Viventium in ar(e)a Callisti [Hold me, lest I flee, and return me to my master Viventius on the estate of Callistus]. Marble funerary relief, Italy, circa 30-10 BC. The men depicted on this relief are Philonicus & Demetrius, formerly enslaved men who are framed by the tools of their trade: carpenter tools & tools for coining money.
My ‘dragging captive’ coin. What a brutal scene. Valentianus. AE. Siscia mint. 2.52 g. 18 mm. Obv. D N VALENTINI-ANVS P F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust of Valentinian to the right. Rev. GLORIA RO-MANORVM, Q - RK, Valentinian in military dress, walking right, head left, dragging captive and holding labarum. Mintmark B SISCV. RIC IX 14a.
Very cool discovery! I have the same type as the OP Licinius II: And since there's some moderns in the thread, how about this Haitian coin featuring the first president of Haiti, Alexandre Pétion, after the first ever successful slave uprising aka the Haitian Revolution: 12 centimes, An 14 = 1817
The type of the emperor or a soldier dragging a captive seems to disappear by the end of the fifth century, and sooner from the solidi than from the bronze. Who struck the last example in the gold, and who did so in the bronze?
I think the latest bronze is Zeno (2nd reign, 476-91). You can just barely see the captive at the bottom right on this Cherson coin which I owned until recently:
Many Thanks, @Severus Alexander, for some of the Haitian shit. (/Love. Put 'em together, in certain culturally favorable contexts, and you might get Funk. --Nope, wrong thread for a demonstration.) All of this goes too far back for me to have any pictures. But in the collecting, this was where, working backward into what was, even then, the rarer and more expensive stuff, it felt good to stop here. Here's a better example, of the same year. All I can do is to promise you that my example is sweet enough. https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=536691
