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1 correction found
they did introduce the first laws against the forcible prostitution of slaves.
This is too strong: pre-Christian Roman emperors had already enacted legal protections against forcing slaves into prostitution. Evidence for such measures appears under Hadrian (117–138 CE) and Septimius Severus (193–211 CE), centuries before Christian imperial legislation.
Full reasoning
The claim says Christians introduced the first laws against the forcible prostitution of slaves. But surviving Roman legal sources show pre-Christian emperors had already created such protections.
- A later compilation of Roman law preserves an earlier rule of Hadrian (ruled 117–138 CE): if a female slave was sold on condition that she not be prostituted, the prefect was to enforce that protection, and if the condition was violated she could become free. That source explicitly says this power came from "the constitution of the divine Hadrian."
- Another Roman legal source says Septimius Severus (ruled 193–211 CE) imposed on the urban prefect a duty to protect slaves from being prostituted by their masters.
Both Hadrian and Severus were long before the Christian emperors. So Christian rulers may have expanded or hardened penalties later, but they did not introduce the first laws on this subject.
In other words, the accurate version would be something like: Christian emperors added further anti-prostitution measures, but they were not the first Roman rulers to legislate against the forced prostitution of slaves.
2 sources
- Justinian Code, Book IV, Title LVI: If a slave is sold upon condition not to be prostituted
"If a female slave was sold upon condition that she should be taken away ... if she should be prostituted ... [the seller has] the power to take her away; but if the prefect learns that such person ... has permitted the woman to be used for dishonorable gain, she is, according to the rule laid down by the same emperor, entitled to liberty" — and this right is said to come from "the constitution of the divine Hadrian."
- The Digest or Pandects, Title XII, Concerning the Office of Prefect of the City
"It was also a duty imposed upon the Prefect of the City by the Divine Severus, that he should protect slaves from being prostituted by their masters."