From archaic Greek the, stone and tomiai , plural nominative of tomé , ( of the Temno verb), cutting, amputation. Quarry, deep cave that resulted from the extraction of stone for the construction of walls, temples or public buildings in antiquity, then sometimes used as a prison for prisoners of war or wrongdoers, as happened in the city of Syracuse by saying of Cicero, where the tyrant Dionysus I imprisoned his enemies.