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Illustration of a Roman latrine. Roman latrines had two purposes, of course - relieving oneself, and social networking!
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this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2024
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Illustrations of history
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I wonder how historians find out about this. Do we entirely rely on surviving written records? Or is there any other way to know what a seeningly poop stick was and how hygienic latrines were?
There are various written sources, including graffiti and poetry, for the use of the tersorium (poop stick), including one mosaic in an ancient latrine reminding users to "Make use of the tersorium" before leaving.
As for finding out about hygiene, ancient poop, believe it or not, is often an important archeological find because of the details we can get from it. Ain't science grand? There are other matters too, of course - Romans wrote effusively on their bathhouses, many of which survive to this day, as well as poetry admonishing men to groom themselves properly, physician's manuals, finding nit combs, etc etc.
Thank you! History and archeology really are fascinating