Was Rome at one time a safe haven for runaway slaves?<\/p>\n\t
Roman law in regard to slaves was quite severe. A Roman master could treat his slave as he pleased — sell him, beat him, or put him to death. However, morality and practical matters caused most masters to restrain their hands. After all, slaves cost money, so few were inclined to ruin their investment.<\/p>\n
A runaway slave could not be harbored by Roman law. A master could pursue his slave at any time and Roman authorities were required to give the master aid in recovering the slave. Runaway slaves could not be sold while on the lam. Hence, Roman law did everything possible to cause a slave to be returned to his master when found. Of course, a slave who tended to run away became less valuable on the market, leading to masters being less than kind to a returning runaway. A runaway status could not be hidden because runaway slaves were branded on the forehead when found.<\/p>\n
Because of the high number of slaves within the Roman society, the more popular penalties for a runaway slave tended to be those of the severest kind. So, no, Rome would not be a safe haven for a runaway slave. However, being one of the largest cities in the world at that time, it would be a great place in which to get lost among the crowds. A newcomer in a small town stands out. A newcomer in a large city is just one of too many.<\/p>\n
Question: Was Rome at one time a safe haven for runaway slaves? Answer: Roman law in regard to slaves was quite severe. A Roman master could treat his slave as he pleased — sell him, beat him, or put him to death. However, morality and practical matters caused most masters to restrain their hands. After…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[279,626,1515],"class_list":["post-3141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-history","tag-roman-empire","tag-slavery"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3144,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-masters-under-the-old-testament-law-beat-or-kill-their-slaves\/","url_meta":{"origin":3141,"position":0},"title":"Could masters under the Old Testament law beat or kill their slaves?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 24, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I know what the Scriptures teach about how we Christians today\u00a0are to treat our fellow man and that it is a serious sin to murder, that being so, Is it true that during the Old Testament age\u00a0the slave\u00a0masters had the right to severely beat or to even kill their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40480,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/slavery-in-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":3141,"position":1},"title":"Slavery in the Bible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Romans 6:15-23 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At times you will run into people who attempt to discredit the Bible by stating that some aspect of its teaching was immoral or at least shady. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The idea is that if it was wrong about one concept, then it can be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62081,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-continuation-of-slavery\/","url_meta":{"origin":3141,"position":2},"title":"The Continuation of Slavery","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: John 8:28-36 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is difficult to imagine, but slavery continues in the United States \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Oh, I know that slavery officially ended with the passing of the thirteenth amendment on December 6, 1865. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Yet slavery continues to this day. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps you are thinking, \u201cI\u2019m an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29845,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-we-are-slaves-to-god-then-arent-we-forced-to-obey-him\/","url_meta":{"origin":3141,"position":3},"title":"If we are slaves to God, then aren’t we forced to obey Him?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: \"And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ\" (I Corinthians 7:22 NLT). Does this mean that if you were a slave\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3136,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-we-say-for-sure-that-onesimus-stole-from-his-master\/","url_meta":{"origin":3141,"position":4},"title":"Can we say for sure that Onesimus stole from his master?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 24, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In regards to Philemon 18, can we say for sure that Onesimus stole from his master? Answer: Paul tells us in the book of Philemon that Onesimus was a slave (Philemon 16) who became a Christian after meeting Paul while Paul was in prison in Rome (Philemon 10). Paul\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54134,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-not-become-slaves-of-men\/","url_meta":{"origin":3141,"position":5},"title":"Do Not Become Slaves Of Men","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Sewell Hall \"Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you are able also to become free, rather do that. For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord's freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}