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Roman Resources
- Thread starter RacingRodent
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Interesting question jacks - Columbus brought (or sent back in separate ships) 'several hundred' Taino natives from Hispaniola
on his second voyage, 1493-6, there were doubts among church lawyers in Spain as to whether they could be legally slaves.
Amerigo Vespucci also brought back slaves, and sold them in Cadiz in 1499.
Haven't found anything about Cortez yet.
on his second voyage, 1493-6, there were doubts among church lawyers in Spain as to whether they could be legally slaves.
Amerigo Vespucci also brought back slaves, and sold them in Cadiz in 1499.
Haven't found anything about Cortez yet.
It seems slaves played a big part in Cortez life in Mexico/ Central America -
from estate-workers to his concubine/ interpreter Doña Marina/ La Manchina,
and trading in native slaves was getting under way while he was there,
but I don't see any indication that he brought any back to Spain.
from estate-workers to his concubine/ interpreter Doña Marina/ La Manchina,
and trading in native slaves was getting under way while he was there,
but I don't see any indication that he brought any back to Spain.
Naraku
Draconarius
Natives were enslaved by the Spanish to work in mines & on plantations in the Americas. The harsh treatment, combined with exposure to European disease led to the extinction of the Taino & nearly wiped out the Caribs. This led to the Spanish importing African slaves, who had a resistance to diseases like small pox.
Although a few natives were sent back to Spain - and elsewhere - as novelty items, like exotic animals; the slave trade ran entirely from East to West.
Although a few natives were sent back to Spain - and elsewhere - as novelty items, like exotic animals; the slave trade ran entirely from East to West.
jacksjg89
PROCRASTINATOR
That last paragraph is what fascinates me.
a few natives were sent back to Spain - and elsewhere - as novelty items, like exotic animals.
Now imagine if you will that you are in Spain in the sixteenth century, and there is a young exotic woman standing naked on a platform, arms tied behind her back, being displayed and offered up for sale. Now imagine that you are the only one who sees her beauty, while everyone else only sees a naked animal.
DarknessMonger
Magistrate
I'm pretty sure there is a french movie about a black woman being shown as a exhibition object. The title eludes me sadly
jacksjg89
PROCRASTINATOR
Sounds good. Pm me if you remember.
Oh yes, exotic humans, like exotic plants and animals, were prestige gifts to give to powerful patrons
from very ancient times through the classical era and the medieval period to the 'age of discovery',
and they went on being exhibits in pleasure-gardens and travelling shows as late as the 19th century.
from very ancient times through the classical era and the medieval period to the 'age of discovery',
and they went on being exhibits in pleasure-gardens and travelling shows as late as the 19th century.
Some information about names used by/for Roman sex-workers, that I gathered together in response to a query from Jedakk - It's a pity Velut Luna's not about, she did a lot of research on Roman prostitutes, especially in Pompeii, while we were working on 'Amica'.
Prostitutes in ancient Rome ranged very widely, from aristocratic courtesans, concubines and ‘kept women’ through to wretched paupers and slavegirls in brothels. Sex-workers in public brothels had to be registered and licensed by the Ædiles, civic officials, who recorded both their ‘real’ names and their trade-names, probably given them by their brothel-keepers. Once registered as a meretrix (‘earner’), a girl could never have her name deleted. Although there seems to be no single ‘typical’ whore-name, many of the nicknames were pretty obvious – for example Novellia ‘fresh, young’, Epulia ‘like a feast, tasty’, advertised themselves with graffiti in Pompeii.
Some nicknames refer, not always very politely, to appearance: Eburnea ‘ivory’ sounds attractive, Sila ‘snub-nose’ perhaps just cute, Nuda – well, say no more! Character could range from Venatrix ‘huntress’ to Saga ‘witch’, but Deliciae (sic) ‘darling, sweetheart’ is more obvious.
Words for animals were popular, those of athletic, graceful creatures weren’t necessarily reserved to prostitiutes – Dorcas ‘gazelle’ and Damaris ‘heifer’ are both respectable ladies in the Acts of the Apostles, though these names were also used by courtesans. Others suggest varied characters – Leæna ‘lioness’ sounds exciting, Cerva ‘doe, hind’ (like Dorcas already mentioned) graceful and athletic, Philomela ‘nightingale’ or Hirundo ‘swallow’ more romantic, Passer ‘sparrow’ a cocky wee lass, but Canis ‘dog, bitch’, and certainly Lupa ‘she-wolf’ would have been nasty labels to be stuck with (lupa was a slang word for a whore in general, but used as a personal nickname for some); Rana ‘frog’, Cochlea ‘snail’, and Culex ‘gnat’ sound pretty rude too, all of these probably had double meanings.
Such double meanings or heavy hints are more or less obvious in names like Fava ‘honeycomb’, Patella ‘little dish’ (cf. Epulia already mentioned), Alvea ‘kneading-trough’, Pila ‘mortar’ (as in ‘pestle and’), Scapha ‘skiff, small boat’, Lucatrix ‘wrestler’ (and even Palaestra, ‘wrestling ground’), and Vigilia ‘night-watch’ carries an obvious message.
Diminutives were very popular. Animals include Vitula ‘calf, young heifer’, Lepuscula ‘little hare, leveret’. Facula ‘little firebrand’ is a nice one, Viticula ‘little vine’ – perhaps clingy? Bacula ‘little kiss’ and Lingula ‘little tongue’ quite explicit, Pupilla ‘little girl, doll’ probably all too close to the truth.
Prostitutes in ancient Rome ranged very widely, from aristocratic courtesans, concubines and ‘kept women’ through to wretched paupers and slavegirls in brothels. Sex-workers in public brothels had to be registered and licensed by the Ædiles, civic officials, who recorded both their ‘real’ names and their trade-names, probably given them by their brothel-keepers. Once registered as a meretrix (‘earner’), a girl could never have her name deleted. Although there seems to be no single ‘typical’ whore-name, many of the nicknames were pretty obvious – for example Novellia ‘fresh, young’, Epulia ‘like a feast, tasty’, advertised themselves with graffiti in Pompeii.
Some nicknames refer, not always very politely, to appearance: Eburnea ‘ivory’ sounds attractive, Sila ‘snub-nose’ perhaps just cute, Nuda – well, say no more! Character could range from Venatrix ‘huntress’ to Saga ‘witch’, but Deliciae (sic) ‘darling, sweetheart’ is more obvious.
Words for animals were popular, those of athletic, graceful creatures weren’t necessarily reserved to prostitiutes – Dorcas ‘gazelle’ and Damaris ‘heifer’ are both respectable ladies in the Acts of the Apostles, though these names were also used by courtesans. Others suggest varied characters – Leæna ‘lioness’ sounds exciting, Cerva ‘doe, hind’ (like Dorcas already mentioned) graceful and athletic, Philomela ‘nightingale’ or Hirundo ‘swallow’ more romantic, Passer ‘sparrow’ a cocky wee lass, but Canis ‘dog, bitch’, and certainly Lupa ‘she-wolf’ would have been nasty labels to be stuck with (lupa was a slang word for a whore in general, but used as a personal nickname for some); Rana ‘frog’, Cochlea ‘snail’, and Culex ‘gnat’ sound pretty rude too, all of these probably had double meanings.
Such double meanings or heavy hints are more or less obvious in names like Fava ‘honeycomb’, Patella ‘little dish’ (cf. Epulia already mentioned), Alvea ‘kneading-trough’, Pila ‘mortar’ (as in ‘pestle and’), Scapha ‘skiff, small boat’, Lucatrix ‘wrestler’ (and even Palaestra, ‘wrestling ground’), and Vigilia ‘night-watch’ carries an obvious message.
Diminutives were very popular. Animals include Vitula ‘calf, young heifer’, Lepuscula ‘little hare, leveret’. Facula ‘little firebrand’ is a nice one, Viticula ‘little vine’ – perhaps clingy? Bacula ‘little kiss’ and Lingula ‘little tongue’ quite explicit, Pupilla ‘little girl, doll’ probably all too close to the truth.
Here's something that looks an impressive resource for enthusiasts who want to rebuild Rome with realism:
http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511894640
http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511894640
I can reserve the books in my Library with that link
Marcius
Tribune
I'm not sure whether a Puteoli municipal law (perhaps 27 BCE-14 CE or earlier in I BCE) concerned with crucifixion has been posted and discussed here, but here it goes; the following is from Envisioning Crucifixion by J.G. Cook, Novum Testamentum 50 (2008) 262-285):
The lex Puteoli concerns a municipality which decided to contract out the services of an undertaker who doubled as executioner. ... The requirements for the contracted undertaker include the following: the undertaker has to have at least 32 workers, the workers have to be between the ages of twenty and fifty, cannot be knock-kneed, blind in one eye, maimed, have a limp, blind, or branded with tattoos. The funerary workers cannot enter town except when engaging in their trade (getting a body or performing an execution). They must live outside of town and cannot bathe after the first hour of the night and cannot live beyond a tower in the grove of Libitina—which was apparently where some part of their trade was carried out. The workers, when in town, had to wear a colored cap.
The text directly relevant to crucifixion is as follows:
II. 8 Whoever will want to exact punishment on a male slave or female slave at private expense, as he [the owner] who wants the [punishment] to be inflicted, he [the contractor] exacts the punishment in this manner: if he wants [him] to bring the patibulum to the cross, the contractor will have to provide wooden posts, chains, and cords for the floggers and the floggers themselves. And anyone who will want to exact punishment will have to give four sesterces for each of the workers who bring the patibulum and for the floggers and also for the executioner.
11 Whenever a magistrate exacts punishment at public expense, so shall he decree; and whenever it will have been ordered to be ready to carry out the punishment, the contractor will have gratis to set up stakes (cruces), and will have gratis to provide nails, pitch, wax, candles, and those things which are essential for such matters. Also if he will be commanded to drag [the cadaver] out with a hook, he must drag the cadaver itself out, his workers dressed in red, with a bell ringing, to a place where many cadavers will be.
The lex Puteoli concerns a municipality which decided to contract out the services of an undertaker who doubled as executioner. ... The requirements for the contracted undertaker include the following: the undertaker has to have at least 32 workers, the workers have to be between the ages of twenty and fifty, cannot be knock-kneed, blind in one eye, maimed, have a limp, blind, or branded with tattoos. The funerary workers cannot enter town except when engaging in their trade (getting a body or performing an execution). They must live outside of town and cannot bathe after the first hour of the night and cannot live beyond a tower in the grove of Libitina—which was apparently where some part of their trade was carried out. The workers, when in town, had to wear a colored cap.
The text directly relevant to crucifixion is as follows:
II. 8 Whoever will want to exact punishment on a male slave or female slave at private expense, as he [the owner] who wants the [punishment] to be inflicted, he [the contractor] exacts the punishment in this manner: if he wants [him] to bring the patibulum to the cross, the contractor will have to provide wooden posts, chains, and cords for the floggers and the floggers themselves. And anyone who will want to exact punishment will have to give four sesterces for each of the workers who bring the patibulum and for the floggers and also for the executioner.
11 Whenever a magistrate exacts punishment at public expense, so shall he decree; and whenever it will have been ordered to be ready to carry out the punishment, the contractor will have gratis to set up stakes (cruces), and will have gratis to provide nails, pitch, wax, candles, and those things which are essential for such matters. Also if he will be commanded to drag [the cadaver] out with a hook, he must drag the cadaver itself out, his workers dressed in red, with a bell ringing, to a place where many cadavers will be.
Marcius
Tribune
Thirty-two workers required is a big operation; even supposing the city fathers wanted to avoid the situation where contractors would happen to be busy with a funeral or two, it may mean that crucifying in batches was rather common.
'Wooden posts, chains, and cords for the floggers and the floggers themselves' -- private executions must have been started where there was no permanent whipping post set up; perhaps floggings took place in front of the slaves of the household?)
'Pitch, wax, candles' appear to have been a typical part of an execution.
'Wooden posts, chains, and cords for the floggers and the floggers themselves' -- private executions must have been started where there was no permanent whipping post set up; perhaps floggings took place in front of the slaves of the household?)
'Pitch, wax, candles' appear to have been a typical part of an execution.
Naraku
Draconarius
Found an interesting little article on the Roman Games. The see-saw thing sounds interesting.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/could-stomach-horrors-halftime-ancient-rome-141951626.html
https://www.yahoo.com/news/could-stomach-horrors-halftime-ancient-rome-141951626.html
And if you couldn't make it to the Arena, you could always follow the action streamed live on your ancient laptop
