Delatores – Who Were The Professional Gossip Collectors In Ancient Rome?

Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – In the past, there were many unusual professions that were well-paid, but some of these jobs were not respectable.

In ancient Rome, some people worked as delatores. They were professional informants who were paid for collecting gossips about the city’s inhabitants. Delatores provided the prosecutors with needed information that was used in a trial.

A delatore in ancient Rome could earn a lot of money by collecting gossips about citizens. Credit: Massimo Todaro – Adobe Stock

“In the administration of Roman law, there was no public officer corresponding to a modern attorney-general. The prosecution of offenses against public law was left to private citizens. It is even said to have been regarded as the palladium of Roman freedom – this right of the citizens to originate a prosecution, and bring before the proper tribunal, the praetor, or the Senate, any offender whom his vigilance had detected; and there to make good his accusation by his own address and eloquence.

Source: AncientPages.com – Read rest of the article here