Ancient Roman slaves often ate better than ordinary people, new discoveries show

A view of the archaeological site of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii as it reopens to the public after months of closure due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Pompeii, Italy, May 26, 2020. REUTERS/Ciro De Luca

While slaves in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii were considered no more than "speaking tools", some received better food than ordinary people, Italy's culture ministry said on Friday, citing evidence from recent excavations.

Amphora jugs with fava beans and a large bowl with fruits - pears, apples and sorbs - were found on the first floor of a servants' quarter of a large villa in Civita Giuliana, a northern suburb of ancient Pompeii, the statement said.

The slaves lived on the ground floor, in rat-infested 16-square-metre cells that contained up to three people, but archaeologists think their nutrition was enhanced to keep up their productivity, the statement said.

"It could thus happen that the slaves of the villas around Pompeii were better fed than many formally free citizens, whose families lacked the bare minimum to live on and who were therefore forced to beg from the city's notables," the ministry said. Ordinary working-class people typically relied on a simple wheat-based diet.

The findings expose "the absurdity of the ancient slave system", the Director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, was quoted as saying in the statement, which noted ancient Romans referred to slaves as speaking tools.

The once-thriving city of Pompeii, near Naples, and its surroundings were destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, but its remains have survived after being submerged for centuries by a thick blanket of ash and lava.