LAUTŬMĬAE

LAUTŎMIAE, LĀTOMIAE, Or LĀTUMIAE ( λιθοτομίαι , λατομίαι, Lat. Lapicidinae ), literally places where stones are cut, or quarries, and more particularly the public prison of Syracuse. It lay in the steep and almost inacce ible part of the town which was called Epipolae, and had been built by Dionysius the tyrant. It was cut to an immense depth into the solid rock, so that nothing could be imagined to be a safer or stronger prison, though it had no roof, and thus left the prisoners exposed to the heat of the sun, the rain, and the coldne of the nights. The Tullianum at Rome was also sometimes called lautumiae. [ Carcer . ]