Liberati

Liberati is the Latin term for freedmen, slaves who had been manumitted and granted freedom in ancient Rome. The plural liberati appears in Latin sources and modern scholarship to describe this social group, which occupied an intermediate position between enslaved people and freeborn citizens.

Manumission, the act of freeing a slave, could occur in several ways, including a formal ritual (vindicta), by the master’s will (manumission in testament), or through informal arrangements among friends (inter amicos). Upon manumission, the former slave gained personal liberty and Roman citizenship, with rights to own property, conduct business, and marry. However, freedmen remained within a patronage system: they owed certain duties to their former master (patronus) and relied on patronage for social standing, legal protection, and opportunities. The relationship could be influential for social mobility, as freedmen and their descendants often built networks of clients and business ties.

The children of freedmen were born free and could progress in society, sometimes adopting the nomen of their former master as part of their own name. Freedmen typically faced restrictions on certain political offices and high magistracies, especially in earlier periods, though opportunities broadened in the later Roman Empire. Many liberati found roles as merchants, craftsmen, or local officials and could accumulate wealth that elevated their status within urban communities.

In modern usage, liberati can also appear as a surname in Italian and other contexts. The term is mainly of historical interest, tracing the status and experiences of freed slaves in ancient Rome and the evolving dynamics of manumission, citizenship, and patronage.