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Archaeologists have unearthed a prison in ancient Pompeii showing the “most shocking side of ancient slavery.”
The ruins of an ash-covered stone structure found at the Italian site were once a bakery where humans and animals were forced to grind grains to make bread.
The animals walked in circles for hours blindfolded, spinning the grinder, while the humans continually poured grains.
The prison only had windows near the ceiling to let in light and a door that led to a luxurious house owned by the enslavers.
The remains of three people were found inside the ancient prison, suggesting it was operational when Mount Vesuvius exploded.
The ruins of an ash-covered stone structure that was once a bakery tell the story of humans and animals forced to grind grains to make bread.
Two thousand years ago, Pompeii, located 14 miles southeast of Naples, was a bustling city with about 15,000 residents before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius destroyed it on August 24, 79 AD.
The eruption is believed to have killed 16,000 people in Pompeii and surrounding cities, making it one of the most destructive volcanic eruptions in history.
Pompeii director Gabriel Zuchtriegel said: “It is the most shocking side of ancient slavery, the one that lacked both relationships of trust and promises of manumission, where we were reduced to brute violence, an impression that is entirely confirmed by obtaining the Few windows with iron bars.
The only exit leads to the atrium of the house; Not even the stable has direct access to the street.
“It is, in other words, a space in which we have to imagine the presence of servile people whose freedom of movement the owner felt the need to restrict,” Zuchtriegel said.
The team found several semicircular indentations in the volcanic basalt slabs around the millstones that looked like “footprints,” but further analysis showed that the carvings were made deliberately to prevent the animals from slipping.
The ruins align with the harrowing stories of the writer Apuleius from the 2nd century AD. C., who describes the exhausting work that men, women and animals endured at the hands of the ancient Romans.
The room, with no view of the outside world, had small windows high on the wall with iron bars to let in light and notches in the floor to coordinate the movement of the animals, forced to walk for hours blindfolded ( artist’s impression).
“The wear of the different grooves can be attributed to the endless cycles, always the same, carried out according to the pattern drawn on the pavement,” the researchers said.
“More than just a slot, it reminds us of the gears of a clockwork mechanism designed to synchronize movement around the four tight millstones found in this area.”
Archaeologists first discovered the ruins of Pompeii in 1549, when an Italian named Domenico Fontana dug a water canal through Pompeii, but the dead city was buried.
And they continually discover more of the city covered in ashes.
Iron bars were found at the site that once covered small windows near the roof.
The team found several semicircular indentations in the volcanic basalt slabs around the millstones that looked like “footprints,” but further analysis showed that the carvings were made deliberately to prevent the animals from slipping.
The remains of three people were found inside the ancient prison, suggesting it was operational when Mount Vesuvius exploded.
Experts have drawn on ancient texts to understand what happened in 79 AD
Pliny the Younger, administrator and poet, watched the disaster unfold from a distance, and his letters describing the horrible event were found in the 16th century.
His writings suggest that the eruption took the residents of Pompeii by surprise.
Plinio said that a column of smoke “like a stone pine” rose from the volcano and caused the cities around it to become as black as night.
Two thousand years ago, Pompeii, located 14 miles southeast of Naples, was a bustling city with about 15,000 residents before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius destroyed it on August 24, 79 AD.
Although the eruption lasted about 24 hours, at midnight the first pyroclastic waves began, causing the collapse of the volcano’s column.
An avalanche of hot ash, rock and poisonous gases rushed down the volcano’s side at 200 kilometers per hour, burying victims and the remains of daily life.
Hundreds of refugees taking shelter in the vaulted arches on the seashore at Herculaneum, clutching their jewels and money, died instantly.
This event ended the life of the cities but at the same time preserved them until their rediscovery by archaeologists almost 1700 years later.
Excavations at Pompeii, the region’s industrial center, and Herculaneum, a small seaside resort, have provided an unrivaled insight into Roman life.