This gold armband, found with the body of a woman in the Building of the Triclinia in Moregine, is in the shape of a snake, with glass paste eyes. The interior of the bracelet is inscribed DOMNUS ANCILLAE SUAE (“from the master to his slave-girl”), and was carried along with several other pieces of fine gold jewelry by the woman, who was about thirty years of age.
Slavery was not unusual in the ancient world, and was a common practice in the Roman Empire. Some estimates place the slave population of Pompeii at as high as thirty percent of the overall population. Female slaves often would be expected to provide sexual services to their masters.
