BARATHRUM, in antiquity, a deep dark pit at Athens, into which condemned persons were cast headlong. It had sharp spikes at the top, that no man might escape out; and others at the bottom, to pierce and torment such as were cast in. Its depth and capaciousness made it to be applied proverbially to a covetous person: to a glutton, called Barathro by the Romans (Lucretius, Horace); and Barathrum in the same sense (Horace); and for a common prostitute (Plautus).