‘Bakery-Prison’ Forcibly Operated By Slaves Emerges On Pompeii Site
Image via Pompeii Sites
More somber news coming in hot from the ancient city of Pompeii nearly 2,000 years on—amid the ruins, archaeologists have unearthed a dual-purpose bakery that also served as a grim prison, hauntingly laying bare the exploitation of humans and animals enslaved under Roman rule.
The site, situated in the Regio IX sector of the city, presents a stark dichotomy. On one side, walls adorned with refined frescoes speak of a certain degree of affluence, while the other side reveals a darker narrative. There, a cramped, poorly-lit area with small, barred windows once held enslaved individuals and a donkey captive. They toiled endlessly, operating a grain mill to produce bread, essential to daily Roman life.
Image via Pompeii Sites
Image via Pompeii Sites
The design of the bakery-prison is particularly revealing, with its flooring showing semicircular grooves in the hard basalt stone. These markings suggest the synchronized labor of people and a blindfolded animal, moving in an endless, forced circle.
Image via Pompeii Sites
The grooves, initially thought to be mere footprints, are now understood as purposeful modifications to provide traction and guide the laborers’ path.
Image via Pompeii Sites
This discovery not only deepens our understanding of ancient milling practices but also exposes the societal layers where the majority endured as the lower class, far removed from the opulence often associated with Roman cities.
Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of Pompeii Archaeological Park, sheds light on this stark aspect of ancient slavery, where people were stripped of their freedom and subjected to unrelenting, violent control.
“It is the most shocking side of ancient slavery, the one devoid of both trusting relationships and promises of manumission, where we were reduced to brute violence,” Zuchtriegel notes.
The dehumanizing conditions of the bakery-prison echo the writings of the Roman author Apuleius, who depicted the severe realities for enslaved men and women in the second century CE. The new findings at Pompeii add a tangible reality to these historical accounts.
As the excavation continues, the site will contribute to the upcoming exhibition, The Other Pompeii: Common Lives in the Shadow of Vesuvius, offering visitors a stark reminder of the socioeconomic disparities that prevailed in Pompeian society.
“It is spaces like this that also help us understand why there were those who thought it necessary to change that world,” Zuchtriegel reflects.
[via Smithsonian Magazine, Archaeology Magazine, Pompeii Sites, images via Pompeii Sites]
