How They Did It - Going to the Bathroom in Ancient Rome

Welcome to How They Did It, a show where we take a look at the daily lives of our ancestors. Today we'll be remembering the wise words of Jurassic Park, when you gotta go, you gotta go. But what if you happen to be in ancient Rome? Well, if you have the patience of a man who takes a dump in the face of a T-Rex, then you could decide to just pretty much let loose immediately. And in doing so you might find yourself in good company, as public urination and defecation don't appear to have been that much of an unusual sight in the past. Sound familiar? This is indicated by ancient signage and graffiti we find in cities like Pompeii. Here we discover such pleasant declarations as this one. Poop with comfort and good cheer, so long as you do not do it here. Or if you poop against the walls and we catch you, you will be punished. And lastly, whoever refrains from pissing or pooping on this street, may the goddesses favor. Let's assume for the sake of discussion that you have better manners than this. Your next option might be to head home and use your own facilities. Generally this means rushing to your chamber pot and going there. You squat down, do your business, and feel much better. Oh man, there's no way to flush. No problem, just toss it out the window. No but seriously, it appears that the contents of these chamber pots were often thrown into the streets. Better designed cities like Pompeii appear to have accounted for this and had high curbs with stepping stones to allow some degree of separation from the waste. Eventually it was expected that the overflow from fountains and rains would wash away the grime through gutters and into sewers. Yep, don't see that in movies too often. And it's pretty gross until you consider that it's not just what's below you, but sometimes you gotta worry about what's above you. This is stated by Juvenal in his satires, where he warns of such perils stating that there's death in every open window as you pass along the night, obviously indicating that you might have an unexpected rain. Well, things do get a little better if you're moderately well off, and yeah, isn't that a lesson throughout history? Anyways, if you have the money and you have the space at your disposal, all of a sudden your home might actually include a private latrine, oh boy. This would generally consist of a stone or wooden seat set over a cesspit. These were often actually located by the kitchens as there'd be other garbage that would also be thrown into the cesspit. Though it should be noted that this facility wasn't actually connected to a sewer or drainage system, and that actually there'd have to be some sort of slave or someone given this dirty duty, this dirty job you could say. Although there were actually people whose job it was to come by, these people were known as the manure merchants, and they actually came through and they cleaned out the contents in this cesspit, and they actually turned it into what was called night soil to then sell as fertilizer for agricultural farmers. So those are the real old school dirty jobs. Okay, okay, you're probably thinking at this point, come on now, we're in ancient Rome, this is supposed to be the height of ancient civilization, what do they have to offer? Well, drum roll please, the answer is a public bathroom! Woo! And actually, to our modern ears, this doesn't seem very appealing, but back in the day this was actually pretty luxurious. So these public bathrooms would generally be co-located with public baths or aqueducts, and that's because these facilities would have running water! And that is a huge bonus, something we take for granted nowadays. So in this case, individuals would actually sit atop wood or stone seats and go into a channel that was just below them. We even have remains of a pretty pimpin' chariot style seat from the Bath of Caracalla, so that's pretty cool. Next you'd have constantly supplied water which would flush away the contents into a nearby sewer. Such accommodations were pretty awesome by the standards of the day. They were even doubly so because they served as great places to socialize. Many of these luxury latrines would have seats one next to another where individuals could chat, relax, and literally shoot the shit. Nonetheless, at the end of the day, regardless of your toilet selection, or lack thereof, you're inevitably going to be faced with another decision. How do I wipe? And no, this isn't going to be a discussion of the correct toilet paper orientation. You'd be jumping the gun on this conversation by quite some time, as the first mention of toilet paper in the western world comes from around the 16th century. China actually had some sort of toilet paper by the 2nd century BC, while Japan used wooden instruments around the 8th century AD. Other cultures which did not use toilet paper had to manage by other means. This might involve using water, leaves, grass, stone, animal furs, sticks, snow, seashells, or even hands. During the Greco-Roman period, a sponge fixed to a stick was often used to clean the butt after a defecation. The sponge was then placed in a bucket filled with salt water and vinegar. Another technique involved using smooth ceramic fragments known as pissoi. In fact, we find many of these in the vicinity of latrines around the Mediterranean world. As for technique, one would do well to follow the example shown on this Greek wine cup. Squat down, raise your clothes, find your balance, and start your business. Apparently there is even a Greek proverb for reference which stated that, Yet this method was certainly not perfect. Irritations were sure to arise due to the abrasive surface, and it's hard to know when you were done. Horace alludes to such problems in his 8th epode where he states, Well said, my friend. And with that pleasant image, we will conclude our look at the bathrooms of ancient Rome. I hope you enjoyed. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the correct orientation is over. For more history, be sure to like the video and subscribe to our channel. This is a bit more of a goofy take and we do actually have some serious history, but nonetheless we hope it was enlightening or at least refreshing. And with that being said, I do look forward to hearing your comments below about what types of topics you would like us to feature and focus on in the future. Thanks for watching, see you in the next one.