Aug 29, 2026 10:29 PM
https://www.popsci.com/science/ancient-roman-toilets/
EXCERPTS: Imagine answering the call of nature in a dark, stinking chamber alongside dozens of strangers, all while making pleasant conversation. When it’s time to wipe, perhaps you reach for a communal sponge on a stick, hoping that the person before you rinsed it well. You’re also hoping that the hole you’re sitting over won’t suddenly release rats, or flames.
This might sound like some kind of punishment or endurance challenge today, but in Ancient Rome this was just a standard public restroom. So what exactly was it like to use a Roman toilet? Here are all the smelly details.
At home, the poorest Romans relieved themselves in chamber pots. Some apartment buildings were equipped with a shared pit toilet on the ground floor, while wealthier homes might have their own private ones. Unfortunately, these private toilets were often placed near the kitchen, likely because it was also on the lowest level of a Roman home and close to a source of water for washing.
While some of these latrines connected to pipes that moved waste underground, very few drained into Ancient Rome’s sewer system. [...] As Rome’s population grew, public toilets were installed in high-traffic areas for the free access of all (although in practice, they were used mostly by men). By the third century, the city had 144 such facilities. Known as foricae (singular forica), they are also found in other Roman settlements, such as Ostia and Pompeii.
Foricae were generally connected to city sewers and equipped with running water. [...] From there, the sewers carried waste off into the river or ocean, where it ran the risk of contaminating water sources. The second-century physician Galen warned against eating fish from “the outlets of rivers which clean out the sewers, the tavern, and the baths,” suggesting that at least some Romans were aware of the health risks.
[...] Inside a forica, stone benches lined the walls, with open holes to sit on over the drainage channel below. ... The absence of privacy in these open rooms was a nonissue for the Romans, who also slept, ate, and bathed in view of one another.
[...] Lacking modern long-distance communication, Romans relished any opportunity for connecting with each other in person, even in the restroom. Ancient writers like the first-century satirist Martial described foricae as a hub for socialization.
[...] Foricae could also be quite scary. Hydrogen sulfide and methane gas rising from the cesspits were known to suddenly burst into flames, not unlike the natural phenomenon of burning marsh gas. Superstitious Romans imagined demons lurking in the darkness under the toilet seats. Many toilet walls bore images of Fortuna, the goddess of luck, just in case.
[...] When it came to wiping, Romans had several options. The humblest was leaves or moss. One could also scrape oneself clean with discs of pottery called pessoi, made by rounding off the edges on broken potshards.
A gentler method was a natural sea sponge on a stick, known as a tersorium, which means “wiper” in Latin, or xylospongium, “sponge stick” in Ancient Greek. These were likely found in public foricae. After using a sponge stick, you would rinse it off in the running water channel if there was one, or else in a provided bucket of water or vinegar, and pass it to the next person.
As horrifying as this might sound, remember that the Romans didn’t know about germs. If something looked clean, they likely assumed it was... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: Imagine answering the call of nature in a dark, stinking chamber alongside dozens of strangers, all while making pleasant conversation. When it’s time to wipe, perhaps you reach for a communal sponge on a stick, hoping that the person before you rinsed it well. You’re also hoping that the hole you’re sitting over won’t suddenly release rats, or flames.
This might sound like some kind of punishment or endurance challenge today, but in Ancient Rome this was just a standard public restroom. So what exactly was it like to use a Roman toilet? Here are all the smelly details.
At home, the poorest Romans relieved themselves in chamber pots. Some apartment buildings were equipped with a shared pit toilet on the ground floor, while wealthier homes might have their own private ones. Unfortunately, these private toilets were often placed near the kitchen, likely because it was also on the lowest level of a Roman home and close to a source of water for washing.
While some of these latrines connected to pipes that moved waste underground, very few drained into Ancient Rome’s sewer system. [...] As Rome’s population grew, public toilets were installed in high-traffic areas for the free access of all (although in practice, they were used mostly by men). By the third century, the city had 144 such facilities. Known as foricae (singular forica), they are also found in other Roman settlements, such as Ostia and Pompeii.
Foricae were generally connected to city sewers and equipped with running water. [...] From there, the sewers carried waste off into the river or ocean, where it ran the risk of contaminating water sources. The second-century physician Galen warned against eating fish from “the outlets of rivers which clean out the sewers, the tavern, and the baths,” suggesting that at least some Romans were aware of the health risks.
[...] Inside a forica, stone benches lined the walls, with open holes to sit on over the drainage channel below. ... The absence of privacy in these open rooms was a nonissue for the Romans, who also slept, ate, and bathed in view of one another.
[...] Lacking modern long-distance communication, Romans relished any opportunity for connecting with each other in person, even in the restroom. Ancient writers like the first-century satirist Martial described foricae as a hub for socialization.
[...] Foricae could also be quite scary. Hydrogen sulfide and methane gas rising from the cesspits were known to suddenly burst into flames, not unlike the natural phenomenon of burning marsh gas. Superstitious Romans imagined demons lurking in the darkness under the toilet seats. Many toilet walls bore images of Fortuna, the goddess of luck, just in case.
[...] When it came to wiping, Romans had several options. The humblest was leaves or moss. One could also scrape oneself clean with discs of pottery called pessoi, made by rounding off the edges on broken potshards.
A gentler method was a natural sea sponge on a stick, known as a tersorium, which means “wiper” in Latin, or xylospongium, “sponge stick” in Ancient Greek. These were likely found in public foricae. After using a sponge stick, you would rinse it off in the running water channel if there was one, or else in a provided bucket of water or vinegar, and pass it to the next person.
As horrifying as this might sound, remember that the Romans didn’t know about germs. If something looked clean, they likely assumed it was... (MORE - missing details)
