Imperial Roman slaves and freedmen

Epictetus ( ; , Epíktētos; 50 135 AD) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was born into slavery at Hierapolis, Phrygia (present-day Pamukkale, in western Turkey) and lived in Rome until his banishment, after which he spent the rest of his life in Nicopolis in northwestern Greece.

Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia. As with other Illyrian soldiers of the period, Diocles rose through the ranks of the military early in his career, serving under Aurelian and Probus, and eventually becoming a cavalry commander for the army of Emperor Carus. After the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on a campaign in Persia, Diocles was proclaimed emperor by the troops, taking the name "Diocletianus". The title was also claimed by C

pope

Latin fabulist and probably a Thracian slave

Italian consort of Phraates IV

Onesimus (, meaning "useful") was a Christian mentioned in the New Testament. He was a slave to Philemon, a Christian, and is the subject of Paul's Epistle to Philemon.

Roman lexicographer and writer (55 BC-20 AD)

6th-century Byzantine empress

legendary figure

2nd century Roman freedman and writer

Roman grammarian

mistress and concubine of Roman emperor Commodus

Greek botanist and physician to Emperor Augustus (-62-14)

Bathyllus () was a dancer/performer of pantomimus in Rome during the period of Augustus. Born in Alexandria, he was the favorite and lover of Maecenas.

Roman slave and imposter for Agrippa Postumus

Roman freedwoman and member of the Pisonian conspiracy against emperor Nero

Aedemon () was a freedman of North African origins from Mauretania who lived in the 1st century AD. Aedemon was a loyal former household slave to the client King Ptolemy of Mauretania who led an uprising against Roman rule in Mauretania in 40 AD after his former master's murder.

goth-Roman rhetorician, philosopher and educator

Bissula (flourished in 4th century AD) was an Alemannic woman in the 4th century. She was captured by the Romans in 368 at the Battle of Solicinium, in the area of Württemberg, at a young age and became a slave of the Roman poet Ausonius who had participated in the campaign. Ausonius, who by then was a widower of about 60 years of age, fell in love with Bissula and released her from slavery. He wrote a poem on her, de Bissula ("About Bissula"), which he sent to his friend Paulus.

group of Hellenistic Jews mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles