Ergastulum
Anergastulum(plural:ergastula) was aRomanworkhouse building used as a type of factory withslavesheld in chains or to punish slaves.[1]The ergastulum was usually built as a deep, roofed pit below ground level, large enough to allow the slaves to work within it, and containing narrow spaces in which they slept. Ergastula were common structures on all slave-using farms (latifundia).[2]The etymology is disputed between two possible Greek roots:ergasterios"workshop" andergastylos"pillar to which slaves are tethered."
Augustus instituted inspections ofergastulabecause travelers were being illegally seized and held in them.[3]The ergastulum was made illegal during the reign ofHadrianas part of a series of reforms to improve conditions for slaves.[4]
Columellain hisDe re rustica[5]states that an underground ergastulum should be as healthful as possible and lit by windows with narrow bars, which are far enough from the ground that it is not possible to reach them by hand.[6]In theLoeb Classical Library1941 edition[7][8]H. B. Ash translates a later section in Book 1, Chapter 8 ofDe re rusticaas: "Again, it is the established custom of all men of caution to inspect the inmates of the workhouse [ergastuli[9]], to find out whether they are carefully chained, whether the places of confinement are quite safe and properly guarded, whether the overseer has put anyone in fetters or removed his shackles without the master's knowledge. "[10]Ash translates the termergastulisas "chain-gangs"[11]upon its first appearance inDe re rusticain Book 1, Chapter 3.[12]
Examples
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Christopher Francese (2007).Ancient Rome in So Many Words.Hippocrene Books. pp. 170–.ISBN978-0-7818-1153-8.
- ^Annalisa Marzano (2007).Roman Villas in Central Italy: A Social and Economic History.BRILL. pp. 149–.ISBN978-90-04-16037-8.
- ^"C. Suetonius Tranquillus, Divus Augustus, chapter 32".www.perseus.tufts.edu.Retrieved2023-08-16.
- ^William Smith (1875). "Ergastulum".A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.London: John Murray.
- ^"Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus, Res Rustica, Books I-IV, book 1, chapter pr".www.perseus.tufts.edu.Retrieved2018-02-05.
- ^"Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus, Res Rustica, Books I-IV, book 1, chapter 6, section 3".www.perseus.tufts.edu.Retrieved2018-02-05.
- ^Columella (1941).On Agriculture: Volume 1, Books 1-4.Translated by Harrison Boyd Ash. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- ^"LacusCurtius • Columella, De Re Rustica — Book I".penelope.uchicago.edu.Retrieved2018-02-05.
- ^"Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus, Res Rustica, Books I-IV, book 1, chapter 8".www.perseus.tufts.edu.Retrieved2018-02-05.
- ^"LacusCurtius • Columella, De Re Rustica — Book I".penelope.uchicago.edu.Retrieved2018-02-05.
- ^"LacusCurtius • Columella, De Re Rustica — Book I".penelope.uchicago.edu.Retrieved2018-02-05.
- ^"Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus, Res Rustica, Books I-IV, book 1, chapter 3".www.perseus.tufts.edu.Retrieved2018-02-05.
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