One of the earliest documented prisons is also among the grimmest in history. This is the Tullianum of Ancient Rome, today called the Mamertime prison. Surviving the centuries because it gained a reputation as a Christian holy site where the saints Peter and Paul might have been held, the Tullianum carcer, or jail, dates back to the 7th century BCE. Some of Rome’s most famous executions occurred in this bleak stone chamber.
Prisons in Ancient Rome weren’t for punishment — you more likely got a fine, or were sent off to hard labor in the mines if your conviction didn’t warrant the death penalty. For prisoners of the Tullianum, execution was a certain prospect. Moreover, you were likely someone convicted by the state for treason or other extremely severe crimes.
The Tullianum was deliberately built adjacent to Rome’s Forum, to make a public example of how Rome treated its worst offenders. When there was a political “Triumph” (a sort of military parade after a big battle success), captured enemies might be dragged through Rome’s streets, and eventually forced into the building. The top floor had a hole in the ceiling, and then 12 feel below there was the darkest of chambers, added in the 4th century BCE.
Stone walls suuounded the prisoner on all sides, and “foul from neglect, darkness, and stench, it is an altogether terrifying sight” recorded the statesman and historian Sallust in the first century BCE. There, lowered down, an executioner would either strangle or decapitate the convicted. No wonder people such as Cleopatra preferred to commit suicide rather than face death in this prison.
Sources: Errata, above source is from columbia.edu, “Michael Foucault’s college de France Lectures. “A dispatch from Rome: the Mamertime Peison,” Isadora Ruyter-Harcourt, Oct 17, 2015, Michael
