Archaeologists have found the most shocking evidence of Roman slavery in Pompeii

Archaeologists have unearthed “the most shocking example of Roman slavery” in ancient Pompeii – a cramped bakery with barred windows where enslaved people are believed to have been forced to work by their masters.

A bakery where enslaved people were imprisoned and exploited to produce bread has been discovered in the ruins of Pompeii, in what has been described as the most shocking example of slavery in the ancient Roman city, The Guardian writes.

The cramped bakery with small windows covered with iron bars was part of a house discovered during excavations in the Reggio IX area of ​​the Pompeii archaeological park in southern Italy.

According to details of the discovery provided by the park, enslaved people and donkeys were locked together and used to power a mill to grind grain to make bread.

The discovery provides more evidence about the daily lives of the enslaved people of Pompeii, who are often forgotten by historical accounts but who made up the majority of the population and whose hard work supported the city’s economy as well as the culture and foundations of Roman civilization.

It is believed that the house was undergoing renovation work when it was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. But in recent months, the remains of three victims were found in one of the bakery’s premises, indicating that the house was still occupied.

Indentations used to coordinate the movements of enslaved workers and blindfolded animals were discovered on the floor of the bakery.

Archaeologists believe that the indentations in the floor slabs were not made by repeated movements, but were cut to prevent donkeys and other animals from slipping on the stones and forcing them to walk only in circular motions, grinding the grain, almost like clockwork.

The house was divided into living quarters, decorated with luxurious frescoes, and a bakery, where enslaved people were forced to grind the grain needed to make bread. The bakery was cut off from the outside world, and the only exit led to the main hall of the house.

“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 has found it necessary to limit,” says Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park. “This is the most shocking side of ancient slavery, devoid of both trust and promise of liberation, when we were reduced to brutal violence, an impression which is fully confirmed by the fact that several windows were covered with iron bars.”

Suchtriegel says such prison bakeries were previously described by the Roman writer Apuleius in the 2nd century AD. in his novel Metamorphoses (also known as The Golden Ass), in which the main character, Lucius, was “turned into an ass and sold to a miller.” Suchtriegel said the episode was based on the writer’s first-hand knowledge of animals and humans living and working together.

“Iconographic and literary sources, in particular reliefs from the tomb of Eurystheus in Rome, suggest that the millstone was usually moved by a pair consisting of a donkey and a slave,” explains Zuchtriegel. “The latter, in addition to pushing the millstone, had the task of encouraging the animal and monitoring the grinding process, adding grain and removing flour.”

The discovery was made in the Regio IX area of ​​the popular tourist site, where archaeological excavations are also underway. The area is currently being excavated as part of a larger project aimed at protecting and maintaining previously excavated areas of the Roman city.

In 2021, in the territory of a former vast villa in Civita Giuliana, a suburb of ancient Pompeii, a room in which enslaved people lived was found, with three wooden beds, a chamber pot and a wooden chest, The Guardian recalls. The remains of two victims, presumably the master and the man he enslaved, were found in the same villa a year earlier.

The partially mummified remains, including hair and bones, of a former enslaved man who rose through the ranks were found in a tomb in the necropolis of Porta Sarno, one of the main gates to Pompeii, in 2021. The tomb is believed to date back to a decade before the city was razed to the ground.

An exhibition dedicated to the enslaved population of Pompeii will open at the archaeological park on December 15.