Danish archaeologists from the University of Copenhagen have discovered and deciphered graffiti left by inmates at an ancient Roman prison in Corinth, Greece. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Hesperia.
According to scholars, prisons existed in almost every Roman city, but they are extremely difficult to define and distinguish from other buildings in the Roman Empire.
As the study shows, the records found date back to the 5th century AD. The prisoners wrote on the ground mostly in Greek. By this time, most of the inhabitants of Corinth had converted to Christianity, and this was reflected in the content of the messages.
Many of the messages included complaints about detention conditions and insults towards guards.
“May the fate of those who suffer in this lawless place prevail. Lord, have mercy on those who threw us here,” reads one of the notes scribbled on the stone floor.
Some of the messages were sent to our loved ones who were freed.
“The fate of beautiful girls who love unmarried men triumphs,” reads another graffiti.
Archaeologists have also found images of game boards that suggest prisoners passed the time by playing some sort of game.
The team noted that conditions in the Roman prison were very harsh, with people held in cold stone cells with little lighting for months.
Earlier scientists to create Hidden from Christians in an ancient Roman sewer is a statue of the god Hermes.
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Source: Gazeta
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