you can tell a lot about a civilization by taking a long hard look at their toilets an ancient society's Plumbing could teach us about its diets diseases and even insights on civil engineering and archaeologists have been on a bit of a Roman potty kick as of late learning loads in the process so today we're answering the call of nature to find out what using the bathroom was like in ancient Rome but before we hit the head why don't you hit that subscribe button then head on down to the comments and let us know what other
legendary lavatories you want to hear about for now we're just going to go powder our [Music] nose you can't talk about Rome's greatest achievements without bringing up its military its system of roads and surprisingly its state-of-the-art sewer systems built around 600 BCE Rome's Kaka Maxima or great sewer was a waste disposal Aqueduct so impressive parts of it are still in use over 2500 years later if a modern product's lifetime warranty is anything less than that we don't want it thanks to Rome's sewer system an extensive network of public latrines were built across the Empire which
was great news for anyone with a nose because before that time people pretty much just went wherever like horses in toas if nature called and there was no chamber pot in sight ancient Rome's ancestors would find themselves a nice secluded spot to do their business this meant that the city was absolutely hammered with human waste it was said to be so bad you couldn't walk around at night lest a pot of slop be dumped on your head like Carrie on prom night to their credit the Government tried to intervene posting notices around the city prohibiting
citizens from publicly making deposits one message on the baths of Titus even read 12 gods and goddesses and Jupiter the biggest and the best will be angry with whoever urinates or defecates here the vast Roman latrine system connected directly above Rome's Kaka Maxima provided a home for all the former meals of the Roman citizens but the latrine sat only 380 CM above the sewer making one wonder what do they do about the smell lucky for all the poers and the doers in the city the nearby Tyber River was prone to flooding before the Kaka was
completed the flooding left Rome with an excess of standing water the sewer system was built as a massive conduit to wash away the flood which just happed to be an excellent way to clear out all that waste in the way and send it back to the Tyber Mother Nature's ultimate [Music] flush if you happen to be one of those High flutin rich and fancy Romans you didn't have to squat with a riff raff in a public latrine the rich and Powerful often had their own private toilets installed right in their homes and let's be honest
it was a pretty great idea we're still big fans of it today home home based toilets had the added benefit of preventing rats and other Vermin from climbing into the house during flood season these toilets could then be emptied into Gardens or a field outside of the Town however unlike public latrines these personal potties were not connected to the greater sewer system and would instead allow the waste to pile up in the cess pits ancient latrines also doubled as an ancient garbage disposal allowing Romans to toss all their unwanted food waste and other garbage down
the pit while this catchall for compost was extremely conven venient it also had to be situated in the kitchen for best results maybe the reason you had the Brussels sprouts was to cover up the pit [Music] stink archeologists speculate that Roman latrines were so popular they often had people waiting in extremely long lines this theory is backed up by the presence of graffiti alongside the latrine entrances suggesting people had plenty of time to carve messages into the wall while waiting to do their business and most of it is pretty similar to the kind of stuff
you'd find in a dive bar bathroom in 2024 messages have been translated declaring nuggets of wisdom such as defecator May everything turn out okay so that you can leave this place or a pinarus the doctor of the emperor Titus defecated well here and of course the ever Charming we have wet the bed host I confess we have done wrong if you want to know why there was no chamber pot honestly that's kind of the host's fault at least no one left a phone number promising a good [Music] time thank whoever you need to than that
you were born in a time when Beday and toilet paper were readily available before the Advent of such things leaves cloth scraps and various other found materials were common waste wipers but back in Roman times public latrine frequenters would use something called a Zillo spum don't let the fancy name fool you it's just a grandiose name for sponge on a stick that was shared by everyone like a communal loofah for your bum Roman latrines fitted all their toilets with the device which set comfortably inside a keyhole-shaped slit in the front of the seat like the
communal windshield washing stick at your local gas station Roman potty goers would use the device on themselves before dipping them in the small gutters alongside the toilet seats for rinsing ready for the next lucky user and while we're discussing a lack of boundaries Roman public of the day had a row of toilets surrounding an open floor plan in a semicircular pattern that meant that no matter where you were doing your business you could see everyone else just as clearly as they could see you Major League Baseball stadiums evidently loved this classic design personal space was
apparently not a consideration as a 2014 excavation of a public latrine in Rome's palentine Hill showed that the toilets were only 56 CM apart from each other just slightly more than a foot that's all that stood between you and up to 20 other folks who were also engaging in porcelain diplomacy despite the shockingly vast amounts of knowledge scientists seem to have about Roman toilets they still don't know who exactly used them or if they were for both women and men or primarily for men evidenced in the 2 century when public latrines were mainly located in
areas of town where men conducted business but it's likely that the public atrians were primarily used by the lower classes and slaves since the wealthy Romans all had fancy built-in toilets at home those fat cats wouldn't be caught dead in the underground poorly decorated latrines discovered by [Music] archaeologists if the decision was made to use a Roman latrine it had to be understood that everyone else in the room was going to Bear witness and every restroom Rendevous had the potential to turn into a Chuck Berry Peep Show go ahead and Google that reference because we
can never make an episode about that still the citizens of ancient Rome could provide themselves a modum of modesty if they had the foresight to dress appropriately anthropologists observed that toas or tunics with a relaxed fit could double as a stall divider if the situation called for it living in the future nobody really wants to strip naked in a public bathroom we also forced to reckon with the modern innovation of pants which we pull down when doing our business at least hopefully that's what you do but the togus of your allowed for almost complete coverage
over any exposed body part below the belt so you can enjoy some modesty simply by flipping up the back of your garment to take a seat and letting your Toga hide your [Music] shame the Romans were on the right track When developing their sewage system however not even the biggest sewer in the world could save Rome from some nasty risks the Romans were well aware of the dangers concerning exposure to human waste and introduced legislation to combat waste build up unfortunately there is evidence that suggests this did little to improve Public Health whipworms round worms
and entameba were just some of the colorful parasites working their way through the Roman Empire as they did during the earlier iron and bronze ages when sanitation was even less developed but when it comes to the danger of a Roman public toilet we're not just talking about the occasional Vermin climbing up and giving you a pinch we're talking about massive methane gas buildups that could blow the whole place Skyhigh or at least cause some pretty impressive Flames to combat this they applied not science but religion to their latrines erecting shrines to Fortuna the Roman goddess
of luck The Hope was that Fortuna would protect Woodby Poopers from any dangers that could affect them while making their ones and twos including illness Vermin and yes the occasional toilet fire we have to imagine Fortuna was not stoked about being on toilet detail [Music] the Romans realized early on that human waste and humans did mesh well together so the powers that be mandated that all human droppings be dropped off in the countryside far from the cities the waste was used to fertilized crops which is not totally uncommon even today however for lack of a
better word you can't just dump human feces on your crops willy-nilly because it contains parasitic eggs and lots of bacteria it must decompose for several months before it could be used used the Romans had no way of knowing this and thus contaminated their food supply during their cleanup operations this is cited as one likely reason the Romans ended up with such a parasite [Music] problem the Romans seemed pretty squeamish when it came to writing about menstruation if their surviving literature is to be believed they believed menstrual blood turned wine sour killed crops took the edge
of off steel caused dogs to go rabid well basically anything that could go wrong in the world might be blamed on the discharge of women's menstrual cycles hey we said they were good at sewers not biology however Romans did use sanitary devices in the form of Woolen tampons soaked in a substance to relieve discomfort this ranged from poppies in bitter almond oil to boiled honey sea onion Ox marrow and in some cases good oldfashioned opium now if you want personal hygiene products laced with opium you got to know someone so what do you think what
was the craziest fact about Roman bathrooms let us know in the comments below and while you're at it check out some of these other videos from our weird history
