(WARNING: if you are a bit squeamish, I recommend you to read another post in this blog. In any case, this article about the Romans butts should not be read right before or after a meal. I am not responsible for any grievances).
When I decided to publish this blog, my main intention was to bring closer to the general public the study of history and science in all their full meaning, the great events, peoples and characters that left their names in our planet. But mainly, I wanted to write about little known but interesting aspects of life in the past. In that sense, today’s topic aims to publicize a hidden but relevant element of daily life in Rome and it is simply their habits when going to the throne, the bathroom one, of course. Those Romans…
Clean Romans.
The inhabitants of ancient Rome were famous, among other things, because of their baths and hygiene practices. The capital of the Republic was the first large city in the world with running water and public fountains to which a series of aqueducts supplied the precious liquid. To study and admire Roman customs we have tens of examples of the most famous ruins: The Caracalla’s Baths, the City of Bath itself and the recently unearthed Ostia Antica, a Spa with dozens of bath houses, on the beaches closest to Rome. Well known is the bathing ritual of the Romans which, in addition to its inherent prophylactic and purifying function, doubled as a meeting point where citizens socialized and conspired. However, as interesting as the dipping may be, we will leave this matter for a future article to focus on public bathrooms.
To begin with, we have to say that this type of facilities in Rome actually serve their purpose because they were public in more than one way, not only because any citizen was allowed in, but because once inside, the physiologic needs of senators, soldiers, merchants or artisans were done in front of everybody, without shyness or walls or panels isolating the W.C.’s, graciously sculpted in stone or carved in wood. Just like that, as if the bathrooms of any airport were suddenly stripped of all divisions and the hurried travelers had to discharge their digestive process’ residual product under the pernicious gaze of their neighbors. An image is worth a thousand words. Don’t think on their butts though…
This is how a Roman public bath looked in ancient times:
This is how it looks now:
For us, descendants of those men and women who happily defecated while discussing the last debate in the Senate, the latest fashion show or last week’s gladiators combat, the sight of this spectacle would probably seem disgusting but, for them, it was nothing more than combining a physiological need with a social one.
Wiping their butts.
More striking, if possible, was the method used by the visitors to the baths to wipe their butts. In absence of toilette paper, the butts cleaning device was a wooden stick with a sponge attached at one of the ends (often, literally a sea sponge), or some type of cloth or animal wool. If you look carefully at the illustrations, you can see the gutters just in front of the seats, where sea water ran continuously so they could rinse their sponges after each use. To make matters worse, the sponges were also public and only the wealthier carried their own.
A second option for the Romans to wipe their butts, when public bathrooms sat in the poorer neighborhoods, was simply to use the hand (not very differently to how is currently done in some countries), which was rapidly washed in a fountain installed for that purpose. I think you don’t need any more details. In those days it was a common practice, except in China, where paper had been used for the private parts since the second century b.C. I imagine that some of you are already sending a prayer to the inventor of modern toilette paper, I sometimes do.
Love of Romans.
During the years that I have been studying the Romans and their traditions, this has been the most noteworthy and strange aspect I have found. I cannot criticize them for these practices because, truth to be told, they didn’t have many options and they were the victims of the limitations of their time. In any case, it wasn’t that bad. What is important for me is that many of their public bathrooms have survived and have given us the opportunity to better know the culture of our ancestors. I hope that, as nasty as the matter may be, you have learned something new about the Romans.
View Comments (76)
"Another technique was to use oval or circular fragments of ceramic known as “pessoi” (meaning pebbles"
http://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e8287?ijkey=Z4x0dFjAxZUWNnU&keytype=ref
That is correct Balázs, thank you for commenting on it and for the link.
Cheers!
Great article thanks. It beats later cultures using hay and a bucket in the corner. Japanese used sticks and Aztecs used corn cobs. :/
Thank you Gargarean, some people have commented that paper is anti-hygienic, but it still beats the s... out of my butt...;;)
Cheers!
Excellent read, very interesting. Often wondered about that. Personally, I don't think you should ever apologise for writing about a topic that is based on historical fact; that relates to such an important period in the history of civilisation and that allows the reader to compare to glean genuine insight and curiousity from the past while comparing it to today.
Thank you very much Peter for your kind comment. I thought this curiosity was interesting and thar it would also be interesting for my readers. I also think that there is no reason to apologize, I did it more as a joke, it's kiand of my style, but maybe I dind't translate the satetment properly... ;) History is what it is and it should be thaught as such, with no remorse or subjectivity, when our capacity llows it to do it. In any case, one more story about those Romans and their thousand peculiarities.
Thank you again and best regatds.
This is a great article, I have red this in many other sourses.
I have a little extention for that ,,
You westeners havent been able find out the difference of the water that is used for daily needs and for others..
The water suply is the most importent key for usuing it as it is where need to be used..
If you go back to Europian 1700 hundreds.. with the lack of wc paper ?? we dongt need aany question for that.
Same time perion even much earlier, Middle east, Every town has at least a proper public bath.
After this reality, We dont care how you clean yourselves..
They would have been overjoyed by the appearance of a Sears and Roebuck mail-order catalog!
Hehe, I would too Ann...;)
Thank you and best regards.
The orginal cloaca-room!
That's right Claude! ;)
The scholar Francois Rabelais reported that the best of all breech-wipes, discovered by Gargantua, is the soft downy neck of a goose.
Jeje, it is probably true Mark, but I am not goung to be the one who does the field research...:P Let me know if you hear about the brave persone to do it...
Thank you very much for your comment. Best regards.
I've always loved learning about the Ancient Romans (I'm a classical civilizations minor in college). However, the first picture intrigued me because it shows the patrons of the bathroom wearing pants, though if I'm correct, the Ancient Romans didn't wear pants until late in the empire. Just a small detail that I instantly saw. :) Other than that, this was a fun article to read nonetheless. :)
Hi Mark,
you are right to point out the anachronism of the trousers. Romans saw them used by the Gauls, but did not adapt them until about the second century A.D. The picture is modern and I used because it was the one that best illustrated the use of the public bathrooms. I apologize if it causes any confusion aming the readers and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain.
Best regards.
Recuerdo haber leído sobre los inodoros colectivos romanos, pero jamás paso por mi cabeza la forma en que se limpiaban el ano tanto patricios como plebeyos. En cualquier caso, fue gracias a la ingeniería hidráulica que cualquier ciudadano romano tenia acceso al agua, elemento indispensable para su limpieza rectal. Muy buen articulo.
Hola Roberto,
muchas veces los historiadores se fijan más en las grandes obras que en los pequeños detalles, probablemente porque es lo que más demanda el lector. Como bien dices, los romanos se distinguieron por sus grandes obras de ingeniería, especialmente las hidráulicas, y fueron la primera civilización que contó con agua corriente en sus hogares. Eso sí, a la hora de limpiarse el trasero hacían lo mejor que podían con lo que tenían, muy respetable en mi opinión, pero no deja de llamarnos la atención.
Muchas gracias por comentar. Un cordial saludo.
Where the same bathrooms used by both men and women at the same time?
Only in a few cases, in small towns. Never in the big cities. Thank you for your comment