Filthy Romans: Dirty secrets of the bath-obsessed ancients (2024)

FAQs

Filthy Romans: Dirty secrets of the bath-obsessed ancients? ›

“If they put clean bodies into dirty clothes they'd still have ectoparasites.” If baths were dirty, toilets were worse. Those in private homes and tenements were often sited in the worst possible place: in or next to the kitchen. Most emptied into cesspits, which was considered preferable to linking to a sewer.

The Roman baths were important to the elite as a place to be seen and carrying on their business. They were inexpensive to use and all citizens took advantage of the accessibility of the baths. People enjoyed the baths as a place to rejuvenate. The baths were a very important part of the ancient Roman culture.

While the baths were enjoyed by almost every Roman, some criticized them. The water was not renewed often and the remains of oil, dirt or even excrement were kept warm, providing a milieu for bacteria. The emperor Marcus Aurelius complained about the dirtiness.

The Romans used a tool called a strigel to scrape dirt off their skin. Urine was used to loosen the dirt from clothing before it was washed in water.

Aside from oils and perfumes and naked dudes, Roman baths had something else: Fleas. Lice. Bedbugs. Human feces and tapeworms.

Roman baths were not just a place to get clean. They were much more like the leisure centres we have today, and would have been places for eating, shopping and games too. Some of this was likely unisex, but the bathing aspect was usually segregated by gender.

Is it true that ancient Romans had unisex public restrooms? Yes, it's true. The Roman Empire built public “baths” throughout Rome and in every place they ruled. Men and women shared facilities.

They also had hot and cold rooms more like modern Turkish baths. The water in the Great Bath now is green and looks dirty. This is because tiny plants called algae grow in it. In Roman times the roof over the bath would have kept the light out and so stopped the algae from growing.

The Romans didn't use soap: they cleaned themselves with olive oil and some sand to remove dead skin cells. Soap supposedly is a Gallic or Germanic invention. The soap was made of animal fats or olive oil and lye of wood ash or sodium hydroxide. The use of soap became widespread in Europe in the 8th and 9th century.

Throughout the countryside, Romans, including women and enslaved people, would wash every day and would have a thorough bath on every feast day if not more often. In Rome itself, baths were taken daily.

What did Romans use instead of toilet paper? ›

A sponge on a stick

If you went to the toilet in ancient Rome, you would not have any toilet paper. Instead you may have used a sponge (Latin: tersorium) to wipe. These ancient devices consisted of a stick with a vinegar- or salt water-soaked sponge attached. They were often shared!

The ammonia in urine was very effective at dissolving grease and dirt, making it an ideal cleaning agent. Urine was used to cleaning everything from clothes to floors, and even to clean the streets in Rome itself.

The Germanic king Odoacer defeated the Roman Empire in 476 AD. However, his invasion was simply the "straw that broke the camel's back". Rome had been in a state of decline for centuries and had suffered two previous sacks by Germanic tribes.

The hot (115 °F [46 °C]) mineral springs on the site attracted the Romans, who founded Bath as Aquae Sulis, dedicated to the goddess Sulis Minerva, an amalgamation of Celtic (Sul) and Roman (Minerva) deities.

Although there were many sewers, public latrines, baths and other sanitation infrastructure, disease was still rampant. Most dwellings were not connected to street drains or sewers. Some apartment buildings (insulae) might have had a latrine and a fountain on the ground floor.

Children were not allowed in. The bathhouse cost very little to get in, so people used them often. The men and the women both used the bathhouse, but at different times during the day. Each group had a scheduled time, although the women's scheduled time was shorter.

To Romans, the baths proved that they were cleaner – and therefore better – than inhabitants of other countries. As the Roman Empire spread across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, the baths followed, bringing daily civilization to millions of people. Most bath complexes were Thermae.

Bathing was a custom introduced to Italy from Greece towards the end of the 3rd century B.C. Early Romans washed their arms and legs everyday, which were dirty from working, but only washed their whole bodies every nine days.

Many in the general public did not have access to the grand libraries in Rome and so as a cultural institution the baths served as an important resource where the more common citizen could enjoy the luxury of books. The Baths of Trajan, of Caracalla, and Diocletian all contained rooms determined to be libraries.