New find throws light on life of slaves in Ancient Rome’s Pompeii

The room found at the Civita Giuliana villa contained two beds, two small cabinets, urns and ceramic containers, in which the remains of two mice and a rat were found

The state of the room underlines the ‘conditions of precarity and poor hygiene’ in which people of lower status lived during that time, Italy’s culture ministry said

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A cot with poor mattress, some sideboards that kept some work tools and an amphora at a room assigned to the slaves found in Civita Giuliana, a suburb of the ancient city of Pompeii, Italy. Photo: EPA-EFE/Italian Culture Ministry

Published: 8:42pm, 20 Aug 2023Updated: 8:51pm, 20 Aug 2023

Archaeologists have discovered a small bedroom in a Roman villa near Pompeii that was almost certainly used by slaves, throwing light on their lowly status in the ancient world, the culture ministry said on Sunday.

The room was found at the Civita Giuliana villa, some 600 metres (2,000 feet) north of the walls of Pompeii, which was wiped out by a volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago.

It contained two beds, only one of which had a mattress, two small cabinets and a series of urns and ceramic containers, in which the remains of two mice and a rat were found.

Some sideboards that kept some work tools, some amphorae and baskets and vases kept in a sort of storage shelf at a room assigned to the slaves found in Civita Giuliana, a suburb of the ancient city of Pompeii, Italy. Photo: EPA-EFE/Italian Culture Ministry

“These details once again underline the conditions of precarity and poor hygiene in which the lower echelons of society lived during that time,” the culture ministry said in its statement.