[gurps] Rome slave prices

[Volker Bach]

Am Freitag, 29. September 2006 15:44 schrieb Johannes Trimmel:
> Something i did unfortuneatly not find in Imperial Rome:
>
> How much does a slave cost, especially a gladiator or auriga?

This is, unfortunazterly, not something we can answer with any certainty. 
Slave prtices seem to have been subject to strong fluctuation even with the 
variation for personal qualities factored out. Generally, what sources we 
have indicate that the base price for a slave (assume untrained, but 
intelligent, docile and working-age) was somewhere between HS 500 and 1,200). 
A trained gladiator would probably be worth multiples of this. 'Luxury' 
slaves generally seem to have commanded five-figure prices, woith HS 100,000 
not unheard of, though unusual enough to attract comment. 

> How much money would such a slave need to buy his freedom?

Somewhere upwards of double the purchase price, though we can really not be 
certain of this. It depends entirely on the owner. Nero freed his treasurer 
for 13 million sesterces. Petronius reports a more believable HS 4,000 for a 
house slave.  

> How much for the freedom-account would a slave gladiator or slave auriga
> get for a won fight or race?

Depends on the prize money. It should definitely be a few hundred sesterces 
even in provincial shows, anything else would smack of parsimony, but it 
appears to have been customary that circus faction charioteers and famous 
gladiators got to keep the whole purse (the owner profited from the show 
fees). These could easily reach HS 15,000 in urban Roman events. The highest 
recorded one I know of is HS 60,0000 for a chariot race winner. A charioteer 
recorded total wins in excess of HS 38 million on his epitaph, certainly 
unusual, but probably not unique. 

Vale

Volker



	

	
		
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