"Lord, make them die a horrible death." Secret pleas from prisoners have been found on the wall of a Roman prison

In Greece, archaeologists have found inscriptions on the remains of a Roman prison. One of the prisoner's pleading phrases sounds surprisingly threatening: "Lord, make them die a horrible death".

The prison found in the Greek city of Corinth is one of the few prisons found in the Roman world. And that's pretty strange, LiveScience writes.

Archaeologist and associate professor of New Testament at the University of Copenhagen Matthew Larsen said that historical records indicate that prisons must have existed in almost every Roman city. However, the archaeological remains of prisons have proven extremely difficult to identify. There is scant evidence of what a Roman prison looked like or where it was located,'' the scholar said.

The prison in Greece dates back to around 1600, the time when the Roman Empire controlled the area and many people converted to Christianity at that time. Matthew Larsen identified the prison by studying the site, graffiti and records from a 1901 excavation.

According to the scholar, the graffiti on the floor of the dungeon is interesting. For here one can read the pleas of the prisoners written in Greek: "May the fate of those who suffer in this lawless place prevail. Lord, have no mercy on the one who threw us here."

Interestingly, there are cracks in the floor. So it was still unclear to researchers whether the prison had ever been elsewhere and the floor from it was reused at this site. However, Larsen found that all the graffiti was written within the cracks. This indicates that there were already cracks when the flooring was placed, and that prisoners wrote requests within the cracks, thus supporting the idea that the site was a prison.

In addition, the archaeologist found the remains of jars and lamps on the eastern passage of the prison, which provided water and light to the prisoners. According to Matthew Larsen, there was also evidence of a small cesspool in one of the prison cells, and it may have been used by prisoners or guards.

The deciphered inscriptions show that the conditions here were appalling. The scientist added that from the graffiti that the prisoners wrote, "you get the sense that they were in a very dark space, that it was impossible to hear."

The prisoners even wintered in the area, although there were no conditions to stay there during the cold season.

According to the researcher, several inscriptions contain images of game boards, indicating that the prisoners may have played some games to pass the time.

Some graffiti pleads with the Almighty to release the prisoner: "Lord God and pure justice, ransom two brothers from this place. Christ, protect both Budis and John...".

However, most of the inscriptions call for revenge against those who imprisoned them: "Lord, make them die a terrible death."

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