HistoryExtra podcast Going on strike in ancient Rome
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Feb 9, 2026 Sarah E Bond, historian and Roman epigrapher who studies labour and material culture, explores ancient collective action. She discusses early strikes from Egyptian necropolis workers to Rome’s mint lock-in, plebeian secessions, collegia networks, women textile workers in Egypt, and charioteer factions’ power. The conversation traces how people withheld labour and challenged authority across the ancient world.
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Plebeians Fueled Rome And Resented Debt
- Plebeians were simply non-patricians and formed the majority vital to Rome's military expansion.
- Their absenteeism from farms to fight left them vulnerable to debt bondage and political action.
The First Secession Was A Strike
- In 495 BCE plebeians seceded from Rome, withholding military service and sitting outside the city as leverage.
- This collective withdrawal won them political concessions and representation over time.
Historians Project Their Own Era
- Livy reshaped early secession stories to comment on contemporary populism and civic unrest.
- Ancient historians used moralising exempla to teach their own era's political lessons.
