Talk:Victimarius

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New subject

Very well done WikiTikiTavi63 (talk) 18:49, 5 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Status of the victimarius

Nicely developed article. Could you add some subheads? Victimarius links previously had been going to Glossary of ancient Roman religion#victimarius, and in that listing I've now called this article to the reader's attention.

One question, however. At the glossary, we had a statement that victimarii were freedman, not public slaves, or at least are documented only or primarily as liberti in inscriptions, according to Marietta Horster, "Living on Religion: Professionals and Personnel", in A Companion to Roman Religion (ed. Rüpke), pp. 332–334. Cynwolfe (talk) 14:21, 15 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

When you're checking up on this, keep in mind that the public slaves who were attached to temple duties in this way were in the unusual position of not being owned by elite individuals but by the populus Romanus. That's mainly in the era of the Roman Republic. In the Imperial era, they were also (or maybe eventually only or primarily) imperial slaves, owned by the emperor, part of the imperial household (familia Caesaris) and governmental bureaucracy. Or imperial freedmen, which is probably what Horster is saying—I haven't looked at that for many years. Best wishes to you in all your good work. Cynwolfe (talk) 14:56, 15 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]