freedmen, freedwomen
freedmen, freedwomenEmancipated slaves were more prominent in Roman society (little is known of other Italian societies before their enfranchisement) than in Greek city-states or Hellenistic kingdoms (see slavery). In Greek the words apeleutheros/a and exeleutheros/a are used; in Latin libertus/a designates the ex-slave in relation to former owner (patronus/a), libertinus/a in relation to the rest of society. In Greek communities, freed slaves usually merged with other free non-citizens. In Rome, the slave freed by a citizen was normally admitted to citizenship (see citizenship, Roman). A slave might be released from the owner's control by a fictitious claim before a magistrate with executive power (imperium) that he/she was free (manumission vindicta), by being ordered to present himself to the censors for registration as a citizen...
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