The Mamertine Prison (or Tullian Prison, in Latin Carcer or Tullianum) is the oldest prison in Rome and is located in the Roman Forum. The Tullianum was built, according to Livy, under Anco Martius in the 7th century BC. It was the symbolic prison for illustrious prisoners in ancient Rome.
For about a thousand years, it housed the great enemies of the people and the state, the great losers and traitors of Rome: from the Samnite king Pontius to the Gauls’ king Vercingetorix, from Peter the Apostle to the conspirators of Catiline.
