The Cambridge Companion to by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2016-04-12T16:00:00+00:00

Services

In dealing with the mass of service-providers in the capital, we need to distinguish between those operating on the free market and those associated with large households. As the living standards of wealthy Romans required flocks of servants, many service activities were in fact carried out by their familiae of slaves and freedmen (Juvenal 1.64–8; Martial, Epigr. 3.82). Joshel claims that in Rome nearly 75 per cent of the slaves with an occupational title can be linked to a wealthy household. The famous columbarium of the Statilii lists nearly 120 slaves working in the household as teachers, architects, surveyors, doctors, midwives, barbers, hairdressers, masseurs, oilers, readers, entertainers, bath attendants, child nurses, bodyguards, room and table servants, cooks, provisioners, caretakers, gardeners, social organizers, animal tenders, runners and bearers, financial agents, administrators, secretaries and copyists (CIL 6.6243–6381).42

The same occupational diversity is visible in the inscriptions of service-providers working outside the household. It is obviously impossible here to cover in its entirety the wide range of economic activities that can be qualified as services, but we shall mention some of the most important sectors.

We can start with Juvenal’s famous attack on Greek influences on Roman mores, where he provides a quick list of Greek trades, many of which can easily be considered as services:

Grammarian, orator, geometrician, painter, masseur,

soothsayer, rope-dancer,

doctor or magician: a hungry Greek claims to be a

professional in every science.

Let him go to hell!

(3.76–8)

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