Slave-run bakery-prison unearthed in Pompeii's Regio IX

Excavations in Pompeii's Regio IX, Insula 10, have uncovered a house divided into several rooms, including a bakery with ovens and a stable with semicircular carvings in volcanic basalt slabs designed to guide blindfolded animals around millstones. The layout reveals the brutal conditions of slave labor, as described by Apuleius in his Metamorphoses. Director Gabriel Zuchtriegel described it as a space where the owner restricted the movement of servile people, with barred windows confirming the use of brute violence. He linked the discovery to early Christian calls for spiritual servitude. Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano praised the site as uniquely envied worldwide. The find coincides with an upcoming exhibition on daily life in Pompeii and ongoing high-speed rail connecting Rome to Pompeii in 2024.