The ancient Romans branded slaves who were liars or false accusers
with the letters "KAL", or sometimes simply "K" (for "kalumnia",
meaning "lie" or "falsehood"). Runaway slaves were branded with the
letters "FUG", which was an abbreviation of "fugitivus," meaning
"runaway." Thieving slaves received a brand of "FUR", from the Latin
word for thief, "fure," or "CF", representing "cave furem', which
stood for "beware the thief". (It should be noted that the Romans
actually used the letter V in place of the U; there is no letter U in
the Roman alphabet.)
"Slaves sometimes caused trouble by rebelling or trying to run away.
When this happened, more often than not the slave received extremely
harsh punishment. For example, a slave who ran away and was caught was
branded with the letters 'FUG' (for fugitivus, meaning 'runaway') on
his forehead."
Treatment of Slaves
http://bama.ua.edu/~dunla003/treatment.html
"Roman law regarded slaves as mere chattels. They were subject to the
will of their masters, against which they enjoyed no protection.
Punishments inflicted upon slaves were merciless. Hard labour,
whippings, branding, breaking of the joints or bones, branding of the
forehead with letters denoting the slave as a runaway, liar or thief
(FUG, KAL, FUR) and crucifixion were all punishments which were
inflicted upon slaves. So too, being thrown to the wild beasts in the
circuses or even being burnt alive in a cloak soaked in pitch."
Chigwell School: Introduction to Ancient Slavery
http://www.chigwell-school.org/academic/departments/classics/courses/ks3/iiird-form/slavery/
"Roman law would crucify a slave for almost any reason, such as
stealing. They could be branded with the letters C.F (Cave furem,
meaning 'Beware the thief'). If he ran away, he could be branded,
given more labor, or put to death."
Post from alt.messianic newsgroup
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=1993Aug17.200843.4563%40news.mentorg.com&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain
"Runaway slaves (fugitivi) and thieves (fures) were branded on the
forehead with a mark (stigma), whence they are said to be notati or
inscripti."
University of Kansas: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities
http://www.ukans.edu/history/index/europe/ancient_rome/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Servus.html
"To be branded with a K (kalumnia). So, according to the Lex Memmia,
false accusers were branded in the forehead."
Bootleg Books: The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
http://www.bootlegbooks.com/Reference/PhraseAndFable/data/693.htm
Tattooing was sometimes used instead of branding as a means of
permanently marking a slave with the sign of his offense.
"For others, like the Greeks and Romans, slaves were tattooed with
'Stop me' or 'I'm a runaway' on their foreheads."
University of La Verne: La Verne Magazine
http://www.ulaverne.edu/~comms/lvm/win00/tattoo.htm
"For the Romans, as for the Greeks, tattooing usually signified
degradation (that is, a lowering of status), because it was a
treatment customarily reserved for slaves... The available explicit
evidence indicates that the tattoos applied to criminals usually
consisted of the name of their crime. Plato says that a temple robber,
if a slave or an alien, should have his offense tattooed on his hands
and forehead. Plautus makes reference to a 'literate' thief whose
forehead is lettered (it seems) with FVR, clearly indicating his
offense. Cicero indicates that the letter K was the mark put on the
head (caput) of those convicted of calumnia (that is, making a false
accusation). And Petronius mentions foreheads inscribed with large
letters, and whole faces with the inscription of runaway slaves...
Conjectures begin with F or FVG for fugitivus."
University of California Press: Penal Tattooing in Late Antiquity
http://www.ucpress.edu/scan/ca-free/161/gustafson.161.pdf
Google search strategy:
Google Web Search: "slaves" + "roman" + "branded"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=slaves+roman+branded
Thanks for an interesting question. If anything is unclear, or if a
link does not function, please request clarification; I'll be glad to
offer further assistance before you rate my answer.
Best regards,
pinkfreud |
Clarification of Answer by
pinkfreud-ga
on
09 Aug 2003 14:10 PDT
Regarding the etymology of the sign for a liar, "KAL", here's some
interesting information:
"There are a number of DR. seed-words with which this IE root is
genetically connected, but the main ones are kali = dissension,
strife, war (1303-Ta); kalampuka = to quarrel (Ma); kalaku = to
agitate, disturb, perturb (Ka); kal = deceit, falsehood (1372-Ka);
kalavu = theft, lie, cheat (Ma); kalu = false, untrue, fraud,
cheating, lie (Tu); kallari = a lier, deceiver, cheat, rogue (Te).
Note that the word khala = rogue, used in Sanskrit has genetic
relationship with DR."
DISCOVERY OF DRAVIDIAN AS THE COMMON SOURCE OF INDO-EUROPEAN
http://www.datanumeric.com/dravidian/page049.html
In the excerpt above, "DR" represents "Dravidian." "IE" represents
"Indo-European." These were ancient protolanguages which have had
great influence on the development of many of the world's languages.
KAL derives from a very old Latin word (thus the K at the beginning -
in classic Latin, it became a C): kalumnior = To accuse falsely, bring
false information against a person, practice chicanery, trickery, or
subterfuge, etc. A kalumniator was the person who did so.
Many thanks to my friend and colleague scriptor-ga for his erudite
assistance in this research project.
~pinkfreud
|
Clarification of Answer by
pinkfreud-ga
on
09 Aug 2003 14:41 PDT
The quote from my answer, "The ancient Romans branded slaves who were
liars or false accusers with the letters 'KAL', or sometimes simply
'K' (for 'kalumnia',
meaning 'lie' or 'falsehood')" is not citable using online sources
other than Google Answers itself, since it is a statement in my own
words.
For references to the branding of a K or KAL for "kalumnia", note
these items:
"To be branded with a K (kalumnia). So, according to the Lex Memmia,
false accusers were branded in the forehead."
Bootleg Books: The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
http://www.bootlegbooks.com/Reference/PhraseAndFable/data/693.htm
"Roman law regarded slaves as mere chattels. They were subject to the
will of their masters, against which they enjoyed no protection.
Punishments inflicted upon slaves were merciless. Hard labour,
whippings, branding, breaking of the joints or bones, branding of the
forehead with letters denoting the slave as a runaway, liar or thief
(FUG, KAL, FUR) and crucifixion were all punishments which were
inflicted upon slaves. So too, being thrown to the wild beasts in the
circuses or even being burnt alive in a cloak soaked in pitch."
Chigwell School: Introduction to Ancient Slavery
http://www.chigwell-school.org/academic/departments/classics/courses/ks3/iiird-form/slavery/
Thank you very much for the five-star rating and the generous tip.
~pinkfreud
|
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