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People are so prissy about bodily functions and genitals and so on these days.
Nope, the separator structures just didn't survive so we don't know how "communal bathrooms" looked they could have had wooden walls around them but you know wood doesn't last very long.
We have more to go off, though.
Surviving texts speak of the social aspect of shitting.
Yes but Rome was huge to apply one scenario to all the empire is kinda silly.
I don't think that's the case here
Is that an opinion among history experts, or a deduction based on your observations? I've never heard this theory before, but I'd love to read more if you've got information.
I too want to read more about historical toilets.
I mean, the spacing looks like it would be pretty squishy if you had little wall separators between each spot
The scary part was the communal sponge
If there is flowing water beneath just rinse it
Flowing water with bobbing turds.
Me using this in Roman times.
Roman 1: Is that poor guy dying?
Roman 2: No that's just him every morning.
Romans had a lot of fiber in their diet from eating a lot of grains.
You misunderstand. I don't have an issue with things not moving enough. Mine is moving too much.
Fiber helps with that as well.
My problems are beyond your fiber's skills or magic. I was born with IBS and I will die with it.
No I'm pretty sure fiber will fix it
True. If your gut has decided that its purpose is to hate you and everything you eat, then no amount of fiber will convince it otherwise.
IBS isn't always lifelong though. I hope you can work out a diet that avoids angering the growling intenstinal gremlins.
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Imagine:
It's 72 degrees, 9am, blue skies, green trees, you're under just a bit of shade, there's a cool, fresh breeze, and ~~shitting~~ sitting on a bench like the one in the picture with your honey, both giggling while the sounds of a river directly underneath you sweep away and clean all the waste as birds chip and you both talk about something inane like how jjk is just naruto on adderall and what's going to be for breakfast.
We used to have it all
You didn't mention the communal ass wiping sponge!
And shared a sponge stick to wash their ass.
Current research doesn't support that.
Most likely, the sponge sticks were used as a toilet brush, and pieces of cloth were used to wipe.
Also "without privacy" is also in question, because you could use cloth partitions hanging from a rod; something known to be used in stadiums to separate class.
Afaik there's an original source that makes fun of a guy who hung out on the toilet all day, hoping to strike up a conversation that'll get him invited to dinner.
That would imply it was a social thing.
Source?
"Vacerra spends hours in all the privies, sitting all day long.
Vacerra doesn’t want a shit, he wants a dinner."
(Martial, XI.LXXVII)
https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0506%3Abook%3D11%3Apoem%3D77
It would imply that guy thought it was a social thing. Y'never know, maybe he was a weirdo even then. He could've been the proto-creeper whose descendants haunt public restrooms to this day.
You can do that in a stall. My proof that there were no curtains would be the temptation to wipe an ass on them. My guess is most people wore enough robes to cover up their stuff while sitting
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Source?
I don't mean that in an "I don't believe you" way.
I literally mean that in an "I majored in Archaeology and would be interested in reading that since it's been more than 20 years since my knowledge was up to date."
- Gilbert Wiplinger: "Der Gebrauch des Xylospongiums – eine neue Theorie zu den hygienischen Verhältnissen in römischen Latrinen". In: SPA . SANITAS PER AQUAM. Tagungsband des Internationalen Frontinus-Symposiums zur Technik – und Kulturgeschichte der antiken Thermen Aachen, 18. – 22. März 2009. Frontinus-Gesellschaft e.V. & Peeters, Leiden 2012. ISBN 978-90-429-2661-5. pp. 295–304.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylospongium
Ask and you shall receive ☝️
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Imagine if you're taking a shit and a thicc brother sits beside you and now you are touching butts
I haven't seen one in a while but a "two hole drop" is a rural Australian long drop toilet. One bench seat with two pooping holes in it.
In the US that's called a two seater
Dual wielding
my family's old farmhouse has communal outhouses. this was the norm until like 150-200 years ago, and was still common here into the early 1900s.
150?
Try 60
Faustinus: Corn for dinner last night, Octavius?
Octavious: No, what's corn?
Marius: might want to see a doctor or a spiritual medium about that
Some places in China still have the shitter trough. Pro tip is to sit upstream or else it all goes by you. Last time I went in one of though was in a smaller* town’s bus station. Still cracks me up that two uncles were both using it and one of them got up and turned to the other and said 慢慢拉. This phrase is typically used for something like 慢慢来 to mean take your time but he used it to say poo slowly or take your time pooing. Makes it even better that these squat stalls on the trough were like four feet tall so when you stand up you can see everyone.
Also makes me think of my father’s story from playing football in college. The toilets were facing each other with no stalls so men setup a table and played chess as they pooped. Simpler times.
How long are these people pooping for??
Maybe it’s a quick game. They gotta get back on the field
Ah, no need for a courtesy flush if there's flowing water!
Love me some co-op shitting
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this post was submitted on 06 May 2025
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