Slave Auction & Roman Festival Auction of Promises

Saturday 18th June - bid for prizes in the Roman Festival Auction

Slaves were very important to the Romans, frequently people captured in battle and sent back to Rome to be sold. However, abandoned children could also be brought up as slaves, and the children of slaves would also become slaves themselves. The law also stated that fathers could sell their older children if they were in need of money.

However, it is a mistake to think that slaves were badly treated simply because they were slaves. In fact, a good master looked after a good slave as an equally good replacement might be hard to acquire, or expensive.

Our auction at York Roman Festival will present a super lot of lots to bid for in the auction of promises, with prizes donated by generous local companies.

The auction will be held at The Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York on Saturday 18th June 2011. Map.

Please register for bidding at 7pm. The price is £5.00 which includes entry into the raffle.

The fun starts at 8pm with the chance to own a slave for the evening. Buyers will be expected to treat their slave well and all slaves will be over the age of 18 as they will undoubtedly be expected to run errands to the bar.

The main auction takes place at 9pm.

York Roman Festival Main Auction Lots

Auction lots, some worth hundreds of pounds, are up for grabs. Examples include hotel stays, restaurant meals including wine, tickets for plays, York Races, autographed books, F1 racing, English Heritage passes, a Roman sword, and entry into a variety of visitor attractions in York and elsewhere.

Download the full list of auction lots as a PDF file.