ergastulum
{{Short description|Roman building used to hold in chains dangerous slaves, or to punish other slaves}}
An ergastulum (plural: ergastula) was a Roman workhouse building used as a type of factory with slaves held in chains or to punish slaves.{{cite book|author=Christopher Francese|title=Ancient Rome in So Many Words|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gl5T47CvuDsC&pg=PA170|year=2007|publisher=Hippocrene Books|isbn=978-0-7818-1153-8|pages=170–}} 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).{{cite book |author=Annalisa Marzano |title=Roman Villas in Central Italy: A Social and Economic History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hSUsb6Gf5KgC&pg=PA149 |year=2007 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-16037-8 |pages=149–}} The etymology is disputed between two possible Greek roots: ergasterios "workshop" and ergastylos "pillar to which slaves are tethered."
Augustus instituted inspections of ergastula because travelers were being illegally seized and held in them.{{Cite web |title=C. Suetonius Tranquillus, Divus Augustus, chapter 32 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0132:life=aug.:chapter=32 |access-date=2023-08-16 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu |archive-date=2023-08-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230816154314/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0132:life=aug.:chapter=32 |url-status=live }} The ergastulum was made illegal during the reign of Hadrian as part of a series of reforms to improve conditions for slaves.{{cite book |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Ergastulum.html |entry=Ergastulum |title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities |publisher=John Murray |location=London |date=1875 |author=William Smith}}
Columella in his De re rustica{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0504 |title=Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus, Res Rustica, Books I-IV, book 1, chapter pr |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu |accessdate=2018-02-05 |archive-date=2022-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521201435/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0504 |url-status=live }} 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0504:book=1:chapter=6:section=3 |title=Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus, Res Rustica, Books I-IV, book 1, chapter 6, section 3 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu |accessdate=2018-02-05 |archive-date=2022-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521201438/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0504:book=1:chapter=6:section=3 |url-status=live }} In the Loeb Classical Library 1941 edition{{cite book |title=On Agriculture: Volume 1, Books 1-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/onagriculturewit01coluuoft |author=Columella |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1941 |location=Cambridge, MA |translator=Harrison Boyd Ash}}{{cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/columella/de_re_rustica/1*.html|title=LacusCurtius • Columella, De Re Rustica — Book I|website=penelope.uchicago.edu|accessdate=2018-02-05|archive-date=2023-12-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231229215439/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Columella/de_Re_Rustica/1%2A.html|url-status=live}} H. B. Ash translates a later section in Book 1, Chapter 8 of De re rustica as: "Again, it is the established custom of all men of caution to inspect the inmates of the workhouse [ergastuli{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0504:book=1:chapter=8&highlight=ergastuli |title=Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus, Res Rustica, Books I-IV, book 1, chapter 8 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu |accessdate=2018-02-05 |archive-date=2022-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521201441/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0504:book=1:chapter=8&highlight=ergastuli |url-status=live }}], 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."{{cite web |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/columella/de_re_rustica/1*.html |title=LacusCurtius • Columella, De Re Rustica — Book I |website=penelope.uchicago.edu |access-date=2018-02-05 |archive-date=2023-12-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231229215439/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Columella/de_Re_Rustica/1%2A.html |url-status=live }} Ash translates the term ergastulis as "chain-gangs"{{cite web |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/columella/de_re_rustica/1*.html |title=LacusCurtius • Columella, De Re Rustica — Book I |website=penelope.uchicago.edu |language=en |accessdate=2018-02-05 |archive-date=2023-12-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231229215439/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Columella/de_Re_Rustica/1%2A.html |url-status=live }} upon its first appearance in De re rustica in Book 1, Chapter 3.{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0504:book=1:chapter=3&highlight=ergastulis |title=Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus, Res Rustica, Books I-IV, book 1, chapter 3 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu |accessdate=2018-02-05 |archive-date=2022-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521201439/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0504:book=1:chapter=3&highlight=ergastulis |url-status=live }}