Toilets in antiquity
By Nisa Iduna Kirchengast - Editors: Daniel Kunc, Thomas Mauerhofer
To mark World Toilet Day on November 19, it is worth taking a look back at the development of sanitary facilities - and in particular at Roman antiquity. While the hygienic standards of the Romans are not comparable with today's standards, achievements such as baths, water toilets and sewage systems only reached a similar level again in modern times.
The Romans had two main types of toilets: communal flush latrines, which were mainly found in military camps and urban centers, and simple pit latrines, which were similar to modern-day outhouses. While flushing toilets offered hygienic advantages, they made it more difficult to preserve archaeological finds. On the other hand, pit latrines that have not been emptied are real treasure troves today and offer a variety of insights into the Roman way of life. Botanical and zoological remains were discovered in the latrines, for example, which paint a picture of the Roman diet. One particular complex of finds concerns the evidence of parasites, whose eggs were found in the latrines and point to widespread health problems. Public toilets were widespread in Roman cities and were often located near the baths. These latrines varied architecturally, with rectangular, square and apsidal shapes occurring. In the larger facilities, there were usually rows of seats made of wood or stone, and the use of these communal latrines provided an opportunity for social contact and exchange - an unusual aspect of toilet culture in modern times.
In addition to these large communal latrines, some of which were subject to a fee, there were also simpler, single-seat latrines along the streets. In Carnuntum, for example, wooden channels led the wastewater into larger collection systems, which usually lacked screens or seat cushions. In the countryside, on the other hand, simple pit latrines were usually found. Excavations in the civilian town of Carnuntum show that private houses rarely had their own toilets. Where they did exist, they were often located in a separate area of the kitchen - an unusual combination by today's standards, but one that was due to access to sewage disposal.
Chamber pots for young and old
The chamber pot was an indispensable item in Roman households, as most apartments and houses did not have their own toilets. Archaeological finds of chamber pots along the so-called West Street in Carnuntum, today part of the Roman quarter in the Archaeological Park, bear witness to their everyday use. Many fragments and some completely preserved chamber pots were found in ancient sewers and road fills, often in direct connection with layers of faeces and waste. Some of these finds were discovered near a thermal bath, which indicates the versatile use of the vessels in the immediate vicinity of living and working areas. The analysis of the chamber pots distinguishes between two main types: the conical “lasani” without handles, which could hold up to 11 liters, and the flat “trullae” with handles, which were possibly used for urinating at some distance.
© Landessammlungen NÖ, Archäologischer Park Carnuntum (Foto: N.Gail)
Roman authors such as Martial and Juvenal often describe the everyday use of these vessels with humor. Martial, for example, describes how chamber pots were used at banquets to avoid having to leave the room. While the upper classes owned chamber pots made of valuable materials such as gold or silver, simple clay vessels were widespread (Mart. 14, 119). In the morning, the chamber pots were emptied into the nearest latrine or into a urine barrel on a street corner. Urine was also valued as a raw material by tanners and textile processors, which prompted Emperor Vespasian to introduce a urine tax - the basis of his famous saying “pecunia non olet” (“money doesn't stink”). Although it was not allowed to throw the chamber pot or its contents out of the window, there is plenty of evidence of such incidents in Rome, as Juvenal (Juv. 6, 264) reports:
Respice nunc alia ac diversa pericula noctis: quod spatium tectis sublimibus unde cerebrum testa ferit, quotiens rimosa et curta fenestris vasa cadant, quanto percussum pondere signent et laedant silicem. [...] ergo optes votumque feras miserabile tecum, ut sint contentae patulas defundere pelves.
[...] Now turn your attention to other different dangers in the night:
What height the towering houses are from which a shard strikes the brain,
how often leaking and broken vessels fall from the windows,
with what force they hit the pavement, marking and damaging it.
[...] Therefore hope and carry yourself with the miserable wish,
That they will be content with the outpouring of spacious bowls.
These archaeological and literary sources paint a vivid picture of everyday Roman life and social structures in cities such as Carnuntum, where hygiene, food culture, economic cycles and health challenges were interlinked.
Further reading:
B. Petznek – S. Radbauer, Römische Nachttöpfe aus der Zivilstadt von Carnuntum, CarnuntumJb 2008, 51–71.