Manumission inscriptions at Delphi

In antiquity, manumission was the act of freeing slaves by their owners. Slaves belonged to their masters until they served long enough or until they gathered the necessary sum of money for their liberation. When that moment came, the act of manumission had to be guaranteed by a god, most commonly Apollo. The slave was thus fictitiously sold to the deity, so that the sale action could never be violated. The act was recorded on inscriptions with a rather formulaic expression. The majority of the manumission inscriptions of Delphi are gathered in two main spots: on the supporting wall of the parodoi of the theatre and on the polygonal wall, particularly the part which served as back wall to the portico of the Athenians. Most of the inscriptions date between 200 B.C. and 100 A.D.^[1]

Despite their stylized expressions, these inscriptions offer an insights into Greek social and demographic history. Over 60% of the manumission inscriptions of Delphi concern female slaves. A comparison of prices proves that most female slaves were manumitted at a price roughly 20% lower than men. However, it seems that liberation in many cases was not complete: slaves are required under a paramone clause to stay with their ex masters for a specific period of time or until the latter passed away. One wonders what kind of freedom this was, but it seems that in some cases this was considered better than nothing, as the master did not have complete rights of life and death over them; furthermore, there were cases in which the slaves had become almost members of the family, so they did not want to be separated from their social environment, yet they would rather have the choice. The manumission acts were usually attended by witnesses, whose names are also mentioned on the inscription. The other people mentioned are the priests of the temple of Apollo and thus manumission inscriptions constitute an excellent source for tracing the succession lists of the priesthood of Delphi.

A careful examination of the names and place of origin of those who liberated their slaves proves that the "trend" of liberating slaves in Delphi came with the advent of the Aetolians.^[2] The majority of masters were of Aetolian origin at least in the first century. However, the trend soon spread and the next two largest categories are, naturally, Locrians and Phocians, who lived nearby.

One inscription from Delphi (IJO 1, Ach44) records the manumission of a slave by a Jewish man named "Ioudaios." This act is considered unusual, as Jews typically did not manumit slaves within pagan temples. Given that Ioudaios translates to "Jew" in Greek and could serve as both a personal name and an ethnic identifier, it is possible that the manumitter may have been a former slave himself (perhaps adopting the ethnonym as a personal name upon gaining his freedom).^[3]

• Slavery in ancient Greece