‘Most shocking side of ancient slavery’ is discovered in Pompeii – a ‘bakery prison’ where humans and animals were forced to grind grain for bread
Archaeologists have excavated an ancient prison Pompeii, showing “the most shocking side of ancient slavery.”
The ruins of an ash-covered stone structure found in Italy were once a bakery where people and animals were forced to grind grain for bread.
Animals walked in circles for hours, blindfolded, turning the meat grinder, and people kept throwing grains.
The prison had only skylights through which light entered, and one door leading to a luxurious house that belonged to the enslavers.
The remains of three people were found inside the ancient prison, suggesting it was in operation when Vesuvius exploded.
The ruins of an ash-covered stone structure that was once a bakery tell the story of people and animals forced to grind grain to bake bread.
Two thousand years ago, Pompeii, located 14 miles southeast of Naples, was a bustling city of about 15,000 people before the eruption of Vesuvius destroyed it on August 24, 79 AD.
The volcanic eruption is believed to have killed 16,000 people in Pompeii and nearby towns, making it one of the most destructive volcanic eruptions in history.
Pompeii director Gabriel Zuchtriegel said: “This is the most shocking side of ancient slavery, devoid of both trust and promise of liberation, as we were reduced to brutal violence, an impression which is fully confirmed by the provision of several windows with iron bars.”
The only exit leads into the atrium of the house – even from the stables there is no direct access to the street.
“In other words, this is a space in which we have to imagine the presence of people with a slave status, whose freedom of movement the owner felt it necessary to limit,” said Zuchtriegel.
The team found several semicircular indentations in the volcanic basalt slabs around the millstones that looked like “footprints,” but deeper analysis revealed that the carvings were intentional to prevent the animals from slipping.
The ruins match the harrowing accounts of the second-century AD writer Apuleius, who described the grueling labor endured by men, women and animals at the hands of the ancient Romans.
The room, which had no view of the outside world, had small windows high in the wall with iron bars to let in light and depressions in the floor to coordinate the movements of animals forced to walk blindfolded for hours (an artist’s impression).
“Wear of the various grooves can be explained by endless cycles, always the same ones, carried out according to a pattern applied to the pavement,” the researchers shared.
“More than just a groove, it reminds us of the gears of a clock mechanism designed to synchronize the movement of the four closely spaced millstones found in this area.”
Archaeologists first discovered the ruins of Pompeii in 1549, when an Italian named Domenico Fontana dug a water channel through Pompeii, but the dead city remained buried.
And they are constantly discovering new details in the ash-covered city.
Iron bars were found in a place that once covered small windows in the ceiling.
The team found several semicircular indentations in the volcanic basalt slabs around the millstones that looked like “footprints,” but deeper analysis revealed that the carvings were intentional to prevent the animals from slipping.
The remains of three people were found inside the ancient prison, suggesting it was in operation when Vesuvius exploded.
Experts relied on ancient texts to understand what happened in 79 AD.
Pliny the Younger, an administrator and poet, watched the disaster unfold from a distance, and his letters describing the terrible event were found in the 16th century.
His letter suggests that the eruption took the inhabitants of Pompeii by surprise.
Pliny said that a column of smoke “like an umbrella pine” rose from the volcano and turned the cities around it black as night.
Two thousand years ago, Pompeii, located 14 miles southeast of Naples, was a bustling city of about 15,000 people before the eruption of Vesuvius destroyed it on August 24, 79 AD.
Although the eruption lasted for about 24 hours, the first pyroclastic waves began at midnight, causing the volcanic column to collapse.
An avalanche of hot ash, rocks and toxic gas rushed down the volcano’s slope at 124 mph, burying victims and the remnants of everyday life.
Hundreds of refugees who took refuge in the vaulted arcades on the seashore at Herculaneum, clutching their jewelry and money, were killed instantly.
This event marked the end of the cities, but at the same time preserved them until rediscovery by archaeologists almost 1,700 years later.
Excavations at Pompeii, the region’s industrial center, and Herculaneum, a small seaside resort, have provided unprecedented insight into Roman life.