For the most part, slaves in ancient Rome were mainly prisoners-of-war, defeated barbarian tribes or other conquered foreigners.
However, others could be condemned to slavery. Fathers, as the 'paterfamilias', had the right to sell their sons into slavery (extremely rare) and the bankrupt enslaved to pay his debts are just two examples.
The Roman penal system did allow for criminals to be sentenced to slavery and one form of punishment used was known as 'damnatio ad metalla'. This meant the condemned was sent to the quarries or mines - itself a death sentence.
Artwork by Baron (another artist who captures slavery so realistically): text is mine
N.B. Baron is a digital artist who specialises in historical portrayals of slavery. His attention to detail is extraordinary and marks him out as one of the greats who contribute to the genre of slave art and fiction. There is so much of his work on the internet that isn't credited to him and wherever possible I will try to identify it and feature it as his in this blog. He deserves the recognition!
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