Imagine taking a shit next to someone with out the barriers we have today. Wonder did they have conversations? Also did they keep a buffer zone way most men do at a urinal?
No word on the buffer zone, but Romans regarded the latrines as a great place to meet people and gossip. There’s even evidence of Roman board games being played between seats in some public latrines, lmao
Sponge onna stick! (‘Xylospongium’) Communal - but don’t worry - it was rinsed in water (There’s a channel for water in front of the toilet seats in the pic) and then soaked in a bowl of vinegar between uses.
Yikes! They all shared that? Wonder how many diseases were spread by that even with vigar and water?
Quite a few, it’s suspected. Parasites more than bacteria. Worm eggs, in particular. 😬 The sad thing is that Roman hygiene was still a step up from the previous (and later) European urban solution of “Toss it wherever”
The rich generally used their own home latrines, but just about anyone who was out and about could end up using the public latrines, just like today.
According to medieval historian Philip Daileader, it is likely that over four years, 45–50% of the European population died of plague.[126][g] Norwegian historian Ole Benedictow suggests it could have been as much as 60% of the European population.[127][h] In 1348, the disease spread so rapidly that before any physicians or government authorities had time to reflect upon its origins, about a third of the European population had already perished. In crowded cities, it was not uncommon for as much as 50% of the population to die.[30] Half of Paris’ population of 100,000 people died. In Italy, the population of Florence was reduced from between 110,000 and 120,000 inhabitants in 1338 down to 50,000 in 1351. At least 60% of the population of Hamburg and Bremen perished,[128] and a similar percentage of Londoners may have died from the disease as well,[58] with a death toll of approximately 62,000 between 1346 and 1353.[47][i]
If a modern country had even a tenth of the death toll %s that the black death caused, countries would collapse. The Black Plague depopulated Europe on a somewhat routine basis.
Now we have COVID, Ebola, AIDS, tuberculosis and the plague, and the few headlines I’ve read tonight make me feel I woke up in the “idiocracy” part of the multiverse. Or one of the Hitchhiker’s books of Adam’s series.
Funny enough, in the early Medieval period Germanic bathing practices still dominated - in which people would bathe in rivers. Maybe not as good or regular as a Roman bath, but certainly better than nothing! It wasn’t until the later Medieval periods that bathing became seen as vain and sinful. Poland, in particular, welcomed Jewish populations (which traditionally have an emphasis on ritual cleanliness, including hand-washing) and was notably spared the worst of the Black Plague.
My dad and brother and I would go with family friends to their hunting cabin. This was out in the woods. There was a propane fridge, oven, and stove, but no plumbing. There was a spring for water, and an outhouse.
The outhouse was what they referred to as a “double-barrel”, as in “one bench - two seats”. The patriarch of the family whose cabin it was would think nothing of joining you in there for a team grunt. And yes, he would strike up a conversation.
Imagine taking a shit next to someone with out the barriers we have today. Wonder did they have conversations? Also did they keep a buffer zone way most men do at a urinal?
No word on the buffer zone, but Romans regarded the latrines as a great place to meet people and gossip. There’s even evidence of Roman board games being played between seats in some public latrines, lmao
Fuck…imagine doing that today. Strange times did they have toilet paper our how did they wash afterwards or did they even do that?
Sponge onna stick! (‘Xylospongium’) Communal - but don’t worry - it was rinsed in water (There’s a channel for water in front of the toilet seats in the pic) and then soaked in a bowl of vinegar between uses.
How odd the past is. XD
Imagine how hard it would be to not step into the shit-water trench after blasting your guts out after a night of drinking.
Ease up on the cheap wine, Gaius!
Yikes! They all shared that? Wonder how many diseases were spread by that even with vigar and water?
Did the rich use these places too our did they have private facilities?
Quite a few, it’s suspected. Parasites more than bacteria. Worm eggs, in particular. 😬 The sad thing is that Roman hygiene was still a step up from the previous (and later) European urban solution of “Toss it wherever”
The rich generally used their own home latrines, but just about anyone who was out and about could end up using the public latrines, just like today.
Yes I read about Europe and hygiene practices. They also didn’t believe in baths. Wonder they didn’t wipe themselves out with the black plague.
They actually did wipe themselves out with the Black Plague, regularly.
If a modern country had even a tenth of the death toll %s that the black death caused, countries would collapse. The Black Plague depopulated Europe on a somewhat routine basis.
Now we have COVID, Ebola, AIDS, tuberculosis and the plague, and the few headlines I’ve read tonight make me feel I woke up in the “idiocracy” part of the multiverse. Or one of the Hitchhiker’s books of Adam’s series.
Funny enough, in the early Medieval period Germanic bathing practices still dominated - in which people would bathe in rivers. Maybe not as good or regular as a Roman bath, but certainly better than nothing! It wasn’t until the later Medieval periods that bathing became seen as vain and sinful. Poland, in particular, welcomed Jewish populations (which traditionally have an emphasis on ritual cleanliness, including hand-washing) and was notably spared the worst of the Black Plague.
deleted by creator
My dad and brother and I would go with family friends to their hunting cabin. This was out in the woods. There was a propane fridge, oven, and stove, but no plumbing. There was a spring for water, and an outhouse.
The outhouse was what they referred to as a “double-barrel”, as in “one bench - two seats”. The patriarch of the family whose cabin it was would think nothing of joining you in there for a team grunt. And yes, he would strike up a conversation.
:(