What were Roman artisans and merchants called?

Answer 1

Perioeci

Answer 2

The Latin word for artisan is artitianus, which comes from artitus (skilled) and ars (art, skill).

Negotiatores were merchants, wholesale merchants and money lenders. They were in part bankers because they lent money on interest and part traders because they also bought and sold staples in bulk or did wholesale commerce

The mercatores were shop keepers, market stall holders and street vendors. They also traded with soldiers at the military camps, selling food and clothes to the soldiers and buying items of booty from them. Some of them hawked goods by the side of the road. They were plebeians or freedmen.

The argentarii were sometimes considered as a subset of the negotiatores and sometimes as a separate group. They acted as agents at auctions, kept money deposits cashed cheques and served as moneychangers. Sometimes they also engaged in wholesale trade.