Danish archaeologists from the University of Copenhagen have uncovered and decoded graffiti left by inmates in an ancient Roman prison at Corinth in Greece. The research, published in the scientific journal Hesperia, sheds new light on how prisoners interpreted life behind these stone walls and how their voices traveled through time.
Scholars note that prisons existed in almost every major Roman city, yet clearly defining what counted as a prison was challenging. Buildings used to detain people often overlapped with other structures such as holding rooms, baths, or administrative facilities, which made the task of separating prison architecture from ordinary urban space tricky. The Corinth discovery adds nuance to this ongoing debate by providing direct, dated records from within a detention space that was likely used for extended confinement.
The graffiti dates to the fifth century after Christ. The prisoners predominantly wrote in Greek, reflecting the language of daily life in Corinth during a period when the population increasingly embraced Christian practices and ideas. Across the messages, there are concerns about the harsh treatment and the conditions endured by inmates, suggesting that the experience behind the walls carried significant distress and intimidation. One inscription calls for mercy and justice for those who were confined in a place described as lawless, while another line appeals to a higher sense of providence for people who played roles in the confinement process.
A number of notes were clearly addressed to loved ones who had been freed, indicating that prisoners maintained contact with the world beyond their cell through their writings. Among the more striking graffiti is a line about the fate of certain individuals who were not yet wed, hinting at the social and moral concerns that occupied prisoners alongside their day to day survival.
Archaeologists also uncovered depictions that look like game boards, suggesting that reading time and leisure activities offered a crucial respite from confinement. These images imply that inmates sought small, ordinary pleasures even while enduring the stark realities of prison life. The team emphasizes that life in the Roman prison would have been harsh: cold stone cells, very little natural light, and months of isolation that could wear down the spirit and body alike.
The Corinth project builds on a broader tradition of uncovering secret histories from within urban structures of the ancient world. Earlier researchers have explored impressive artifacts and inscriptions that survive in forgotten channels and sewer systems, underscoring how daily life and religious experience intertwined even in places designed to control and confine. The discoveries at Corinth contribute a crucial layer to this picture, illustrating how imprisonment intersected with language, faith, and social norms in late antiquity. The findings are presented with careful analysis and are increasing the scholarly conversation about how ancient detention practices operated in the Mediterranean world. All of the material appears in a recent issue of Hesperia, and the team attributes much of the interpretive power to the careful preservation of inscriptions and the methodical dating of the site. These notes stand as a reminder of ordinary voices that rarely survive in the archaeological record, and they illuminate the dignity and fear that coexisted within a prison in ancient Corinth.
[Attribution: Hesperia, University of Copenhagen study, 2023]