Ancient Rome’s grandeur tends to overshadow the grim reality of everyday life. The empire had many achievements, but the daily experiences of the citizens were far from glamorous.
Filthy streets, unsanitary public baths, and bizarre remedies challenged survival in Rome.
Life in the Mighty Roman Empire was replete with nauseating details that expose a much grimmer aspect of Roman history. Whether it be parasites or appalling meals, they had it all.
Lavish Banquets And Messy Floors Of Roman Dinner Parties
Roman dinner parties were lavish yet messy affairs. Guests reclined on sofas while indulging in lavish feasts, discarding bones, skins, seafood shells, and olive pits onto the floor. The discarded refuse was left for slaves to clean up, reflecting a stark difference from modern dining etiquette.
While the myth of — vomitoriums — suggests that Romans purged themselves to eat more, the reality was that these gatherings prioritized excess and indulgence, often overlooking cleanliness in favor of opulence and comfort. Despite all the Roman the glamor, the dining experience was far from refined by today’s standards.
The Womb, The Paunch, And Romans Taste Buds
In Ancient Rome, one of the more unusual dishes was a spayed sow’s womb, seasoned with pepper, celery seed, mint, laser root, honey, vinegar, and broth. The celebrated Roman gourmet Apicius recorded the dainty, who created a cookbook based on well-known recipes from the Empire.
The favorite dish was the — paunch from a suckling pig — stuffed with minced pork, brains and raw eggs. Such dishes show the sumptuous uniqueness of Roman culinary culture: nothing prevents one from using meat bits, even from unusual animal parts.
Sweat, Oil, And Roman Community
In ancient Rome, bathing was more than just a wash; it was a ritual. Romans would visit public baths and coat their skin in olive oil before entering the heated rooms. This wasn’t just for luxury—it helped remove dirt and sweat. Using a curved tool called a strigil, they scraped the oil off, along with dead skin.
The oil, however, didn’t go to waste. It was either reused for the next guest or, surprisingly, repurposed by women as a hair conditioner. This process blended practicality with personal care in a communal setting.
Urine And The Art Of Laundry
In ancient Rome, laundering clothes was a rather unconventional process — fullers used urine as a cleaning agent. Though it is repulsive to the modern eye, urine contains ammonia, which is a good stain remover for togas.
Fullers would place pots around towns and plead with people walking by to contribute their urine to them, in this way securing their free supply. Emperor Vespasian cleverly capitalized on this practice by instituting a — urine tax, which generated substantial revenue from the public bins where urine was collected.
This tax proved beneficial during a financially challenging period for the Empire. When Vespasian’s son expressed his disapproval of the initiative, his father humorously emphasized the irony of its value. He held a coin from the first payment to his son’s nose, pointing out its origins.
The Roman Sponge Stick
In ancient Rome, hygiene took on a rather unconventional form. After a visit to the public latrines, Romans didn’t use toilet paper as we do today. Instead, they reached for a tool called a Xylospongium—a sponge attached to a stick. This sponge stick was designed to clean those hard-to-reach areas after one squatted over a stone bench with holes. Conveniently, these sponge sticks were often attached to the latrine benches, saving Romans the trouble of carrying them around the bustling city.
However, there was a grim downside: the sponge was communal. Multiple people likely used the same sponge, possibly cleaned by attendants or rinsed in a trough of vinegar or saltwater between uses. While the system might have been efficient, the hygiene standards are hard to imagine, which makes one grateful for modern toilet paper!
Sanitation That Could Literally Kill
Ancient Rome’s sanitation was paradoxically advanced yet disturbingly inadequate. While the city boasted a complex sewer system designed primarily for draining standing water, it largely neglected the removal of human waste and debris.
Romans accepted unsanitary conditions as part of daily life, exhibiting minimal concern for the excrement and decaying food littering their streets. Roman faeces from archaeological excavations have shown concerning health risks, such as high concentrations of parasites like roundworm and dysentery that afflicted the populace.
Romans often used their waste as fertilizer, recycling excrement directly onto crops. Their favorite condiment, garum — a fermented fish sauce — may have further exacerbated health issues, potentially allowing tapeworms to thrive.
Forced Labor Behind The Glory
The Roman Empire heavily relied on slavery to build its cities, infrastructure, and economy. Slaves were captured in wars, bought from markets, or seized from neighboring communities.
These individuals constituted a significant portion of the population, making up between one-third and three-fifths of Italy’s total inhabitants—about four million slaves. They were used as serf labor to support the empire’s rapid expansion in the construction and agricultural industries, as well as in domestic work.
Probably the greatest example of this entrenched exploitation is the myth of the kidnapping of the Sabine women, who were kidnapped and taken to bear children for Rome.
Ancient Roman life was far from glamorous. The prevalence of practices that shock modern sensibilities is boundless. From lack of hygiene to violence and cruelties practiced daily, the life of the Romans reveals a society struggling with stark realities.
However, amidst such grossness, some outstanding developments in architecture, governance, and culture formed the bedrock of the West. Understand these sour truths to introduce the description of elderly Roman life and to ominously remind us that history is a scarily balanced mix of the extraordinary and the repugnant, which molds succeeding societies in any number of profound ways.
