Prisoners

[Lucius Galerius Falconius]

When accused criminals were being tried in court where were they held as their case went on? The prison Tullianum? Or is it not known?

[Carlton Bach]

I don't know, but:

Krause, Jens-Uwe: Gefängnisse im Römischen Reich, Heidelberger althistorische Beiträge und epigraphische Studien 23, Stuttgart : Steiner, 1996, ISBN 3-515-06976-3

does.

Good hunting.

[Jona Lendering]

Heidelberger althistorische Beiträge und epigraphische Studien

Lovely title. Somehow, things sound better in German. My favorite is the journal called "Münsterschen Beiträge zur Antiken Handelsgeschichte": even a subject as boring as ancient trade history starts to sound interesting once you say it in German. Who can resist an article that is called "Zum Waren- und Dienstleistungsaustausch zwischen dem römischen Reich und dem freien Germanien in der Zeit des Prinzipats. Eine Bestandsaufnahme"?

(And no, there is no hidden sarcasm in this remark.)

[Lucius Galerius Falconius]

Welll, can anyone give a straightforward answer? I'm not very fluent in German :lol:

[Robert Vermaat]

Welll, can anyone give a straightforward answer? I'm not very fluent in German :lol:

You are right, you deserve an answer. Prisoners were probably held in holding cells close to their place of trial.
Here's an article about holding cells in ancient Palestine.

[john m roberts]

High-ranking prisoners were sometimes held in the homes of their peers. Some of the Catilinarian conspirators were kept in the homes of ex-consuls.

[Lucius Galerius Falconius]

Thanks Robert and John! Very interesting!

[M. Demetrius]

So it's not like Rome HBO, where the defendant is in a box, and people throw things at him, etc? Darn. And I was so sure that show had something right.