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This is effectively a Roman banking question but specifically with respect to the custody and record keeping of slaves wages.

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities indicates a need for a lot of record keeping activity.

Slaves commonly had a peculium (money set aside for them) and there were debts back and forth between slaves, underslaves, slave owners.

Who was responsible for keeping the peculium records, the actual funds?

Were the debt records held in common with the peculium records or elsewhere, or were they informal?

Was there a public ledger or were the records only accessible to the slaver?

*- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875.

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  • A peculium was money a master allowed a slave to keep for his own use, although technically it belonged to the owner. So why would the State be interested?
    – TheHonRose
    Sep 16, 2019 at 22:43
  • @TheHonRose state? I’m not following.
    – Amethyst Wizard
    Sep 17, 2019 at 2:50
  • Who else would be keeping the public ledger in your last para?
    – simon at rcl
    Sep 19, 2019 at 11:53
  • @simonatrcl It could be a business such as a bank. It is quite profitable to keep records, notice the tallest buildings in most any city is a bank. Taller than any church steeple.
    – Amethyst Wizard
    Sep 19, 2019 at 13:38
  • Banks are profitable. No profitable bank makes account ledgers public - they'd rather keep their customers.
    – simon at rcl
    Sep 19, 2019 at 13:41

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