Portrait of a freed slave (?)

myminifactory

Rome stood out among Greek city-states by granting freed slaves the opportunity to become plebeian citizens. The act of freeing a slave was called manumissio, derived from manus, meaning hand in the sense of possession, and missio, the act of releasing. After manumission, a slave who had belonged to a Roman citizen enjoyed not only passive freedom from ownership but also active political freedom, including the right to vote. A slave who acquired libertas was referred to as a libertinus or liberta in relation to their former master, who was called their patron. As a social class, freed slaves were known as liberti. Later Latin texts used the terms libertinus and liberi interchangeably. Libertini were not entitled to hold public office or state priesthoods, nor could they achieve legitimate senatorial rank. During the early Empire, however, freedmen held key positions in the government bureaucracy, so much so that Hadrian limited their participation by law. Any future children of a freedman would be born free with full rights of citizenship. This object is part of "Scan The World". Scan the World is a non-profit initiative introduced by MyMiniFactory, creating a digital archive of fully 3D printable sculptures artworks and landmarks from across the globe for public access. Scan the World is an open-source community effort where anyone can contribute interesting items around them by emailing stw@myminifactory.com to find out how to help.