When I first decided to take this course, I knew that I would be immersed in ancient history, but it was only during this past week that I realized the extent to which that this was possible. In attempts to work on wall preservation, I re-enacted the process that the Roman slaves would have used—from hammering bricks into dust to slapping the mortar mixture (composed of the aforementioned brick dust, lime, and sand) onto the now-crumbling walls. The moment my TA mentioned that this was eerily similar to the same methods of the Roman slaves, I cannot say that I was thrilled by the comparison. I mean, I volunteered for this, whereas they were forced. I was performing actual slave labor out of my own volition—it made me feel like I could be putting my time to better use. The night after we began wall preservation, the lecture was focused on Roman housing, but a well-phrased question got us on the topic of slavery in the Roman Empire. Slavery was very different from that of the United States—even the field slaves were allowed to get married and had days off. But was perhaps more interesting were the “higher class” slaves—individuals who sold their expertise and service on the streets in the hopes of later acquiring Roman citizenship. Many of these individuals were tutors; it is an odd thought that every teacher and professor I have ever learned from has performed the same work as a slave (insert joke about teachers’ salaries here). Indeed, many of the careers many of my peers aspire to—in teaching, in business—were once shackles to escape on the road to freedom. The parallels to modern day life are unsettling, like those “working for the weekend” or keeping a well-paying job that they hate in the hopes that they will have enough money to do what they actually like in their old age—an unlikely prospect (let’s be real, most of us will be too rickety with arthritis and other ailments by the time we have paid off our student loans to complete the crazier items on our bucket lists). Looking at my future from this perspective, it seems pretty depressing; one form of slavery or another seems inevitable. But unlike the slaves of Rome, I have a choice in what I do, and many more opportunities to create the best life for myself. I do not have to choose from masonry or tutoring, but a whole world of choices. That can sometime seem like a scary problem to deal with—what if I go on the wrong path?—but I am glad to have it nevertheless.
