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Pompeii archaeologists uncover bakery that doubled as a prison
An ancient bakery operated by slaves has been discovered in the ruins of Pompeii, the Pompeii Archaeological Park said in a statement released Friday.
Enslaved people and donkeys were locked up together and used to power a mill to grind grain for bread, according to details of the discovery provided by the park.
The site consists of a narrow room with no external view but only small, high windows covered by bars through which minimal light passed. There were also indentations in the floor “to coordinate the movement of the animals, forced to walk around for hours, blindfolded,” the statement said.
The discovery was made in the Regio IX section of the popular tourist site, which is also an ongoing archaeological dig. The area is currently being excavated as part of a larger project designed to secure and maintain previously excavated areas of the Roman city.
Archaeologists discovered the bakery while excavating an ancient Pompeiian home that was being renovated when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 C.E., covering the city of Pompeii with ash.
The bodies of three victims of the eruption were found in recent months, believed to be residents of the home rather than slaves. The house was divided into a residential section with “refined frescoes” on one side, and a commercial bakery on the other.
Next to the bakery was the dimly lit prison area, Pompeii Archaeological Park director Gabriel Zuchtriegel said in an interview posted on the site’s YouTube channel.
“What has emerged is testimony of the backbreaking work to which men, women, and animals were subjected in the ancient mill-bakeries,” he added.
Zuchtriegel said these prison bakeries were previously described by the Roman writer Apuleius in the 2nd century C.E., in his novel “Metamorphoses” (also known as “The Golden Ass”), in which the protagonist, Lucius, “transformed into a donkey and was sold to a miller.” Zuchtriegel said the episode was based on the writer’s direct knowledge of the animals and humans living and working together.
The newly discovered prison area had no doors to the outside, only to the inner atrium.
“It is, in other words, a space in which we must imagine the presence of people of servile status whose owner felt the need to limit the freedom of movement,” Zuchtriegel said.
“It is the most shocking side of ancient slavery, the side devoid of relationships of trust, where it was reduced to brute violence, an impression which is fully confirmed by the closing of the few windows with iron grates.”
Archaeologists also believe that the indentations in the slab flooring were not made by repetitive movement but were carved to prevent the donkeys and other animals from slipping on the pavement and to force them to only walk in a circular motion to grind the grain, almost like a clockwork mechanism.
“The iconographic and literary sources, in particular the reliefs from the tomb of Eurysaces in Rome, suggest that a millstone was normally moved by a couple made up of a donkey and a slave,” Zuchtriegel said.
“The latter, in addition to pushing the grindstone, had the task of encouraging the animal and monitoring the grinding process, adding grain and removing flour.”
The site will complement an exhibition that opens December 15, called “The Other Pompeii: common lives in the shadow of Vesuvius,” which is dedicated to what Zuchtriegel calls the “myriad of individuals often forgotten by historical chronicles, such as the slaves, who constituted the majority of the population and whose work contributed significantly to the economy, but also to the culture and social fabric of Roman civilization.”
注释：
indentation: n
表示"刻痕；印压；缩进；"，如：For this reason, the continuation lines of the long literal do not have the normal indentation. 正因如此，长字符串字面值的后继行才不会有正常的缩进。
refine: v
表示" 精炼；改进；"，如：Their daily work is to refine crude oil. 他们每天的工作是精炼原油。
fresco: n
表示" 壁画"，means "a mural done with watercolors on wet plaster"，如：This is a masterpiece in fresco. 这是一幅壁画法的杰作。
protagonist: n
表示" 主角；支持者"，如：Everybody is the protagonist in oneself story. 每个人都是自己故事里旳主角。
atrium: n
表示" 中庭；天井"，如：The reception was held in the atrium. 招待会在中庭举行。
devoid: adj
表示" 全无的；缺乏的"，如：In the universe which appears to be uderly devoid of humor.We enjoy the superior luxury. 在一个幽默全无的宇宙里，我们享有这一至高无上的财富。
slab: n
表示" 平板；厚板；"，如：A slab of stone laid flat over a grave. 平放在墓上的纪念碑石
iconographic: adj
表示" 肖像的；肖像学的"，如：This image is typical for the Moscow iconographic type. 这个形象是典型的莫斯科肖像类型。
中文简要说明：
近2000年前因维苏威火山爆发遭大量火山灰瞬间掩埋毁灭的意大利古城庞贝（Pompeii），最近又有最新考古发现出炉。考古学家在当地一处遗址发现一座狭小的「面包店监狱」，据遗迹分析，当时关着奴隶与牲口从事磨碎谷物的苦役，置身小屋里看不到外面的世界，无法通往屋外街道，考古学家视为「古代奴隶制度令人震惊的一面」。
综合美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）、英国《每日邮报》报导，这次的考古遗址位于庞贝古城一大片未开发的保护区，考古学家挖掘一座大宅时发现这间附属于面包店的监狱工作坊。
「监狱」遗址位于大宅一侧的工作区，房屋墙壁高处设置附铁栅栏的小窗户，从房内看不到外面，石磨周围地板有几道半圆形凹痕，看起来像是牲口重复走动磨损而城，然而进一步分析显示可能是为了让驴子按轨迹走动、防止滑倒而刻意凿成。
考古学家分析，牲口每天在蒙眼状态下被迫绕圈走动推磨好几个小时，就像上了发条一样，奴隶制作的面包对外贩卖。大宅另一侧是主人居住区，有精美的湿壁画，出土时状态良好，火山爆发当天大宅正在整修。
庞贝城考古园区主任赫特里格尔（Gabriel Zuchtriegel）说，这处狭小阴暗的空间让考古学家不得不想象当时人们卑微的模样，这是古代奴隶制度与残暴手段「令人最为震惊的一面」，缺乏信任关系的印象透过附带铁栅栏的窗户紧闭得到证明，唯一出口通往大宅中庭，换言之，这里有如监狱，同在工作区的马厩亦无法直接通往屋外道路。
赫特里格尔说，当时的男人、女人、牲口遭囚禁于面包店隔壁的斗室从事艰苦的劳务，主人显然认为奴隶与牲口必须限制行动自由。经由其他图像与文献数据得知，那个年代的磨坊通常由一头驴子与一名奴隶搭配运作，奴隶的工作除了帮忙推磨，也要催促驴子劳动、照看磨榖过程、给石磨添加榖物、取出面粉等等。
赫特里格尔指出，这处遗址符合公元2世纪古罗马作家阿普列乌斯（Apuleius）叙事诗作品《变形记》（Metamorphoses，又名《金驴记》）情节，作品主人翁变成一头驴之后被卖给磨坊主人，相关情节是阿普列乌斯以个人所知当时牲口与人类一同生活劳动的情况写成。
庞贝古城毁于公元79年8月24日，全城居民1.5万人完全不知城底下有一座欧洲最大的火山之一。维苏威火山（Mount Vesuvius）大爆发持续24小时，厚厚的火山灰掩埋全城，瞬间保存居民遗体与建物，直到1549年首度由后人挖掘水道时发掘出土。
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