 After having completed his PhD, Chantraine worked from 1957 to 1958 on projects, supervised by Konrad Kraft, that were dealing with ancient Roman coins found in Germany and afterwards served as research associate at the University of Mainz.In 1965, Chantraine finished his habilitation with his work on "Slavery and Release in service for the Roman Emperor" ("Freigelassene und Sklaven im Dienst der römischen Kaiser").Two years later he became chaired professor at the history department of the University of Mannheim (UMA).