17 September 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

‘Bakery Prison’ found in Ancient Rome’s Pompeii

Archaeologists working on the ongoing excavations in Region IX, Insula 10, near the slopes of the ancient city of Pompeii, have uncovered a bakery prison where enslaved workers and blindfolded donkeys were confined and exploited to produce bread.

The latest discovery at Pompeii shows the cruelest side of Ancient Roman society. A cramped room with no view of the outside world and small windows high in the wall with iron bars was uncovered during the excavations, which are part of a larger project to secure the slopes around the unexplored areas of the city.

In an article just published by the official E-Journal of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, the discoverers accurately describe this claustrophobic facility as “a bakery-prison, where enslaved workers and donkeys were confined and exploited to grind the grain needed to make bread.”

The bakery hardly resembled a modern bread-making facility. The tiny windows that have been found in the room, pierced by iron bars, let in a meager light and did not open to the outside, but to another room of the dwelling. Inside, enslaved men and women and animals lived, slept and ground grain to make bread together.

The donkeys had to walk in a circle for hours, both day and night, blindfolded, to move the millstone, accompanied by a person who, in addition to pushing the millstone, had to whip the animal and monitor the milling process, adding grain and taking out the flour when it was time. The pavement still preserves the notches that were made to prevent the beasts from slipping and that, at the same time, traced a kind of circular itinerary.

Photo: Pompeii Archaeological Park

The ancient ruined bakery, which was still presumably in use when the eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried Pompeii in a mountain of ash and lava in 79 AD, reveals the extreme cruelty for which the Roman Empire was known.

“It is a space in which we have to imagine the presence of people of servile status … it is the most shocking side of ancient slavery” and its “brute violence”, said Pompeii’s director Gabriel Zuchtriegel.

The management of the Pompeii Archaeological Park has explained that the brutality of the working conditions in the mills of antiquity was already documented in the work The Golden Ass, also known as the Metamorphoses by the writer Apuleius, who lived in the 2nd century AD.

The grim reality of daily life in this space complements the narrative presented in the upcoming exhibition, “The Other Pompeii: Ordinary Lives in the Shadow of Vesuvius,” opening on 15 December at the Palestra Grande in Pompeii.

The exhibition sheds light on the forgotten individuals, such as slaves, who, though often overlooked by historical sources, constituted the majority of the population, significantly contributing to the economy, culture, and social fabric of Roman civilization.

Pompeii Archaeological Park

Cover Photo: The bakery prison seen from above. Photo: Pompeii Archaeological Park

Related Articles

World’s first deepwater archaeological park inaugurated off Xlendi, Malta

10 August 2023

10 August 2023

The world’s first deepwater archaeological park has been inaugurated for divers off the coast of Xlendi in Gozo. This unique...

Ancient Latin texts written on papyrus reveal new information about the Roman world

11 January 2023

11 January 2023

Researchers funded by the European Union have deciphered ancient Latin texts written on papyrus. This work could reveal a lot...

Italian Versailles being returned to its former glory through

17 May 2023

17 May 2023

The Italian Royal Palace of Caserta, a long-neglected near Naples, is being restored to its former glory through a vast...

1,600-Year-Old Rare Greek Letter-Shaped Weights and Scale Found in Türkiye’s Uzuncaburç

9 July 2025

9 July 2025

Archaeologists have made a significant discovery at the ancient city of Uzuncaburç in Türkiye’s southern Mersin province — a complete...

Ruins of the 700-year-old wharf, possibly used by royalty, found in Oslo

6 March 2023

6 March 2023

An excavation by NIKU archaeologists in Oslo’s seaside neighborhood of Bjørvika has uncovered the remains of a long section of...

Mummy of Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep ‘unwrapped’ for the first time in 3,500 years!

30 December 2021

30 December 2021

Egyptian scientists have digitally unwrapped the 3,500-year-old mummy of pharaoh Amenhotep I. For the first time, a team in Egypt...

Romanian Police Find the Stolen Viking Helmet

21 February 2021

21 February 2021

Romanian police specializing in heritage crimes recovered a medieval helmet of “Viking origin” on February 7, which had disappeared a...

Ancient settlements that challenge traditional thinking “Karahantepe and Taş Tepeler”

5 December 2021

5 December 2021

After Göbeklitepe in Şanlıurfa, which sheds light on 12,000 years ago in human history and is considered one of the...

Archaeologists unearth mosaic floors in the ruins of a building they believe is the lost Church of the Apostles

23 October 2021

23 October 2021

In the historical village of Bethsaida on the edge of the Sea of Galilee, archaeologists discovered mosaic floors in the...

Lost medieval road thought to have been used by famous Scottish king Robert the Bruce found

27 June 2021

27 June 2021

Excavating a hill considered to have played a critical part in the Battle of Bannockburn, archaeologists discovered a forgotten medieval...

Magnificent Romanesque and Peasant war fury in the lost Kaltenborn monastery near Allstedt

18 August 2023

18 August 2023

From the 12th to the 16th century, the Kaltenborn monastery near Allstedt was a religious, cultural, and economic center of...

8000-year-old unique “fish-figure” small home tool found in Turkey

20 October 2021

20 October 2021

During this year’s excavations in the Yeşilova and Yassıtepe mounds in İzmir, a unique “fish-figure” small home tool was found....

The inhabitants of Pınarbaşı Höyük in central Turkey may be the ancestors of the Boncuklu Höyük and Çatalhöyük neolithic human communities

27 July 2022

27 July 2022

The Department of Excavations and Researchs, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Turkey, attracted...

Archaeologists discovered the first evidence of early administrative management in eastern Iran

21 June 2022

21 June 2022

Iranian archaeologists believe they have discovered the first evidence of early administrative management in an eastern Iranian province, which they...

Spectacular Roman Mosaics Unearthed in Thalheim bei Wels: A Unique Discovery in Upper Austria

10 June 2025

10 June 2025

Archaeologists from the University of Salzburg uncovered three exceptionally preserved Roman mosaics during excavations A remarkable archaeological discovery has captivated...