Augustus and the Lex Fufia Caninia: Limiting Freedmen in Roman Wills

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Lex Fufia Caninia, a law enacted by Augustus in 2 BCE that restricted the number of slaves a Roman could free in their will. They discuss the social context of manumission in Rome, where freedmen became citizens and often clients of their former masters. The law aimed to prevent overly generous testators from diluting the citizen body and to maintain social hierarchies. Lucas explains how the law set a proportional scale: for 2 to 10 slaves, up to half could be freed; for 11 to 30, up to a third; for 31 to 100, up to a quarter; for 101 to 500, up to a fifth; and no more than 100 total. He connects this to Augustus's broader moral legislation, including the Lex Julia and Lex Papia Poppaea, and to the emperor's concern with maintaining traditional Roman values. The conversation also touches on the role of the praetor fideicommissarius, who oversaw trusts that might circumvent the law, and the eventual relaxation of the law under Justinian. This episode offers a window into the complexities of Roman slavery, citizenship, and Augustus's social engineering. #Augustus #LexFufiaCaninia #RomanLaw #Manumission #Freedmen #Slavery #RomanCitizenship #PaterFamilias #PraetorFideicommissarius #Justinian #LexJulia #LexPapiaPoppaea #RomanWills #SocialHierarchy #AugustanLegislation #AncientRome #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo