Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 2 - Government, Society, and Culture in the Roman Empire

Condemnation to Hard Labour 147

accidentalallusionrevealsadevelopmentofsomesignificanceandofwholly
unknown(andundatable)origin.Bytheendofthefourthcenturyimperial
baphia(dyeworks),gynaecea(woollenmills),andtoamuchlesserextentliny-
phia(linenmills)werescatteredacrosstheEmpire,providingclothingex-
clusively(sofarasisknown)forthearmyandthecourt.^48 Sofarascanbe
discerned, the bulk of their workers were in principle free but bound to
theiroccupation.^49 Nonethelesswedohaveevidencefromthefirsthalfof
thefourthcenturyforthecondemnationoffreepeopletotheseestablish-
ments.Under Galerius, after 305, Lactantius reports that ladies of free and
evennoblebirthwerethrownin gynaeceum(De Mort. Pers.21,4).Constan-
tine,afterhisvictoryin324,recordsthatunderLiciniusChristianshadbeen
condemnedtobethrownintogynaeceaorlinyphia‘‘toendureunwontedand
wretchedtoil’’or(and?)tobeconsidered‘‘slavesofthefiscus’’(Eusebius,Vit.
Const.2,34).Finally,Constantineagain,attheendofalettertoapraetorian
prefectreadoutinCarthageinAugust336,says‘‘AsforthesonofLicinianus,
whohasbeencapturedinflight,lethimbeboundwithshacklesandcon-
signedtotheserviceofthegynaeceuminCarthage’’(CTh4,3,6;thissentence
omitted fromCJV, 27, 1).The man concerned was an illegitimate son of
Licinius,evidentlybyaslaveorfreedwoman,whomConstantinehadearlier
thatyearorderedtohavehispropertyconfiscatedandtobebeaten,shackled,
andreducedtohisoriginalstatus(CTh4,6,2).
Theseitemsofevidence,howeverinadequate,areenoughtoshowthat
convictsrepresentedatleastonesourceoflabourfortheimperialclothing
factorieswhichhadbeencreatedbytheearlyfourthcentury.Itmaywellbe
righttoseetheestablishmentsthemselvesasinsomewayattemptstocom-
pensate for the decline of slave labour.^50 Butonceagaintheobjectivesof
thisnewsystem,whosescaleinthisearlyperiodiswhollyunknown,were
strictlylimitedincharacter.

48. SeeJones,LRE,836–37,and‘‘TheClothIndustryundertheRomanEmpire,’’inP.A.
    Brunt,ed.,The Roman Economy(1974),350.


49. SeeN.Charbonnel,‘‘LaconditiondesouvriersdanslesatéliersimpériauxauxIVe
    et Vesiècles,’’ in F. Burdeau et al.,Aspects de l’Empire Romain(1964), 61, esp. 77–78. Note
    also, for thefabricaat Sardis, C. Foss,Byzantine and Turkish Sardis(1976), 7–8, 14–15, and
    ‘‘TheFabricensesDucenariiofSardis,’’ZPE35(1979):279(SEGXXIX,1206).Fortheim-
    perialdyeworksatTyre,notetoothesarcophagus‘‘ofThioktistus,dyerofthemostsacred
    imperialpurple’’;seeJ.-P.Rey-Coquais,Inscriptions de la Nécropole(1977),no.28.


50. SeeCharbonnel(n.49),70–71.