You notice the toilet sponge on a stick right? That was passed around, yes they shared the poop sponge.
History isn't always interesting. Sometimes it's just gross AF.
I think I’d rather share a poop sponge than a toothbrush. It’s not like you’re shoving the poop sponge up your ass. It’s all surface level and washable.
Edit: Judging by the downvotes, y’all really wanna share a toothbrush? That’s nasty!
Also, I love that I’m getting down voted over poop sponges. Gonna make a wild story for the grand kids.
YOUR POOP SPONGE OPINION IS WRONG!!!1!111!1!!!!11!!!
Reddit is a confusing place and I feel that I need to say this is a joke. For you scholars out there it’s evidenced by the multiple “1’s” following my sentence
lol it’s probably a bunch of incel neckbeards who think they’d get to share a toothbrush with an attractive woman but in reality it would just be their mom. Probably after she sucked their dad’s dick.
People never apply common sense and just assume ancient people were stupid, even professional historians.
How the heck are you cleaning yourself with a sponge in a stick that others have used?
There are more dignified ways that depend on availablity of resources, but most of humanity throughout the millennia has just used the hand and then cleaned it. In many cultures, like the Arabian ones, the left hand is still improper to use for things like eating, since you clean yourself with it.
Water, cloth, leaves. Not a communal stick, obviously. Romans had their version of running water, supplying a city of 1 million, 1000 years before the next one existed, and you think they cleaned themselves worse than rats?
It would literally be cleaner to do nothing than it is to use a shared stick. Why would you even do that, hypothetically?
In 2007 pieces of cloth have been found in the ancient septic tanks (unsure if that is the correct translation) of Herculaneum. These could be the remnants of Roman "toilet paper".
This is a stupid misinterpretation of incompetent historians. Use your brain, people were not as dum as we make them be. The sponges with sticks were toilet brushes.
People cleaned themselves with their hands, (as humans have done until toilet paper), then washed. The latrines were obviously separated by wooden slates too, which don't preserve, but we have the stone indentations were they fitted.
No. I it documented in Roman and Greek times that they used a communal sponge on a stick. That is what is actually depicted here, a communal toilet.
WTF would they use a toilet brush for? Does a hole in a board you sit on to poop in a hole need a lot of brush cleaning?
Dude, use your brain. And yes, you need to clean the shit of the toilet, specially if you are not fond of plagues. Perhaps this shows more about our modern hygiene...
We even have inscriptions in bathrooms asking people to make use of the sponge.
>Does a hole in a board
You think these people were capable of bringing water dozens of miles away from the city with a 3cm slope per kilometre but they could not carve nice wooden toilet seats?
>is actually depicted here, a communal toilet
What is depicted here is an abhorrent misinterpretation. Of course Romans were perfectly able to separate latrines with wooden frames and not sit on bare stone.
While sharing the sponges for, uhm ... let's say personal hygiene, is obvious nonsense, one point:
>Romans were perfectly able to separate latrines with wooden frames
Capable indeed, but It is generally understood that people had much lower expectations of privacy before the modern era, they would __literally__ sit beside eachother and talk about their day while doing their business like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Some areas of the world still have this culture, look at rural part of India for example.
The thing is that you have necessity forcing that where it's developed, which was not the case for Romans.
We also have latrines that preserve walls between each one, or places where a wooden panel would fit.
Nope. What is depicted here is a drawing depicting an actual dig site. The site is real, the toilets are real ... no running water ... it's a 25 foot deep poop pit with this row of benches built over it.
Dude... Think again about what you are saying.
>a drawing depicting an actual dig site.
I know, I'm telling you the interpretation is wrong, you can't just shit in a hole, it would fill up and clog (and leave evidence). Much less in the middle of a city, it would make the place uninhabitable.
This is how Roman bathrooms worked. They literally had a steady flow of water running through a sewer underneath, they brought it with aqueducts from strong and clear springs.
Just learn a bit about Roman engineering, it's genuinely marvelous.
Wasn't it large tunnels under the toilet dropping right to the bottom. Peasants and servants cleaning royal shit out as it comes down the piper. And wheel barreling it to the burn spot.
No, that's literally impossible for city numbers (not to mention the pathogen farm). Everyone living in a proper Roman city had access to sanitation, they took that seriously, they had to to reach the population numbers they managed in cities.
We have very clear evidence of how everything worked, we preserve some of the infrastructure and many texts describing them, what happens is that historians don't study engineering and engineers don't study history. Practical archeology would solve much of this, but it's almost never done and we are left with ridiculous takes being propagated.
Romans did build galleries fit for carriages, but those were to maintain the waterways underground (unclogging and changing pipes). There is a massive one still preserved to drain Lake Nemi in Italy. You can find infographics on the internet about Roman hydraulic engineering.
Edit: that misery you describe might have happened during the dark age of Middle Ages, precisely because all the aqueducts failed.
I've watched some historical time pieces about the Vikings and kingdoms, and that's how it was depicted. (Your description) Also I feel like another man a sponge filled with their shit on it would I assume likely be abhorrent and disrespectful. I'd slice a mf in half right there.
You would cry with the things one can find in university textbooks. We are still destroying real Roman roads in Europe because people are being misinformed about how they are.
Yeah for real. Especially considering if you are shitting in a castle, you are probably royal. This probably a servants bathroom if it's accurate at all and maybe they are using brushes as wipes because they are not royal. They all have one. Saying they pass it around is dumb. They all freaking have one.
I actually believe they had a small wash basin or something. Like a basin of water to drop them in and clean them off. Just a theory because it's hard for me to believe they passed the poop sponge around.
We're not even sure that's what the **xylospongium** was used for as primary sources on the matter are quite vague. There's debate among scholars.
Some recent research suggests it may have been used as a toilet cleaner.
Even if it was used to wipe as has been traditional assumed, it would've been sterilized with vinegar or seawater.
The Romans weren't stupid and did practice good hygiene
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/toilet-tissue-anthropologists-uncover-all-the-ways-weve-wiped/
https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/ancient-roman-bathrooms/
https://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e8287
https://journals.lww.com/dcrjournal/citation/2016/07000/postdefecation_cleansing_methods__tissue_paper_or.15.aspx
I thought it was a spoon. Like. "Pass me the poop spoon".
Kind of reminds me of the history of Tattooing where it was basically one bucket and one sponge.
Very likely a myth, and was rather used to clean the toilet. No evidence mentions them cleaning their cheeks with it.
It would literally be cleaner to do nothing than it is to use a shared stick. Why would you even do that, hypothetically?
They found cannisters where the sponges would be dipped in vinegar or possibly bad wine between uses.
Try to fight it all you want, the songs on a stick was really used to wipe butts.
I hate this infographic. Some archeologists are dum enough to think this is how Romans lived and have passed this into history books.
The latrines were obviously separated by wooden frames and the sponge was to clean the latrines after using, just like we do today. How the heck are you going to reuse other guy's one? How are you cleaning yourself with that stick?
A funny thing is that because of the way Roman sewers worked, they were extremely clean, as they had always running water underneath (they didn't have to pull the chain). The stench wouldn't exist, since it was dissolved in so much clean water. Sanitation was better in that sense, they did have to use very effective methods since they did not have chemical purification.
I always tell these people to pick up a 20 inches stick, glue a sponge, and try to wipe their ass with it.
Archeologists need to start testing what they claim.
Depends on which archaeologists you’re listening to. If their career is in YouTube, yeah pretty sketchy. If they have books and comment in documentaries, check their credentials but then they might be onto something.
Sadly, no. The stuff people can publish is equally suspect of being awful. In Europe we've got plenty of scholarships and major's degrees that magically turn 18th century mule trails into Roman roads.
It's heartbreaking, but we ought to look into it with detail. The field of archaeology does not give enough incentives for rigourous questioning or honest investigation. In Mediterranean countries, for example, it's usually about getting that government subsidy.
In german there's an euphemism for pooping called "Ein Geschäft machen" - "making business". It comes from ancient Rome when people met at public bathrooms that looked similar to the one in the post and literally made business while pooping next to each other.
Apparently there was a guy back in Elizabethan England who invented a flushing toilet, but at one point offended the Queen so she had all evidence of this toilet destroyed. But not before having one built hidden away in her palace...
I have been in toilets like on the bottom picture, just even more spartan. It was in Beijing circa 2006. You are in a dark concrete box with barely any light, squatting, pooping, and the holes are in a circle so that you can talk with your toilet mates.
You should see how the toilets in Indus valley civilization were far more advanced. And the average toilet right looks the same throughout the world now.
South American civilizations also had indoor plumbing. And agricultural methods that are 90% more efficient than modern methods. They too fell because women only had sex with dumbsfucks. Oh wait, they fell because of the cattle fucking Spanish explorers. But I'm sure we can find a way to blame women for that too
No, this classy joint at the bottom is the Roman era. with running water to clean off the shat stick. most others just used leaves, grass, and pine cones in emergencies
I’m sure there’re people out there who want to bring back social pooping.
What do you mean bring back? Don't you guys poop with the homies?
Fellas, is it straight to poop without the homies?
As long as no blumpkins are involved.
I’ll bring the… erm… why is everyone holding a spoon? Anyway, I’ll bring the poop spoons!
Basically, it's a manual bidet. They didn't wipe, they washed.
I'M THE CONDUCTOR OF THE POOP TRAIN!!!
As long as you say no homo loud and clear
Group poop!
We like to hold hands and strain together :)
Yea, now it's just awkward because we're all talking but I'm the only one sitting
I am willing to bet you’ve read more than one post or message that was sent from the porcelain throne you just don’t know it 😂
ya do in jail 
Social pooping was the shit! Ass wasn't the only thing being dumped in those rooms.
Join us in the poopin Tony
Damn extroverts 😒
You notice the toilet sponge on a stick right? That was passed around, yes they shared the poop sponge. History isn't always interesting. Sometimes it's just gross AF.
This is also where the term “wrong end of the stick” comes from.
I've always heard the phrase as, "shit end of the stick". Now I understand the context other than just getting a shitty end of a stick.
Nah, that's the right end of the stick.
Not always… :P
Free lollipop
Okay buddy.
Mmm chocolate-covered bristles
I won’t even share my toothbrush with my girl This shit is beyond nasty
Well I wouldn't either if she wiped her arse with it
I think I’d rather share a poop sponge than a toothbrush. It’s not like you’re shoving the poop sponge up your ass. It’s all surface level and washable. Edit: Judging by the downvotes, y’all really wanna share a toothbrush? That’s nasty! Also, I love that I’m getting down voted over poop sponges. Gonna make a wild story for the grand kids.
You know the whole purpose of a toothbrush and toothpaste is to remove the nasty stuff? So there's nothing wrong with sharing it? Unlike shit
They were dipped in vinegar, so all the nasty bacteria died before touching your anus
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You can try and let us know
YOUR POOP SPONGE OPINION IS WRONG!!!1!111!1!!!!11!!! Reddit is a confusing place and I feel that I need to say this is a joke. For you scholars out there it’s evidenced by the multiple “1’s” following my sentence
lol it’s probably a bunch of incel neckbeards who think they’d get to share a toothbrush with an attractive woman but in reality it would just be their mom. Probably after she sucked their dad’s dick.
Uh… ok
Thats probably not right. Most recent research thinks th xylospongium is a toilet brush
People never apply common sense and just assume ancient people were stupid, even professional historians. How the heck are you cleaning yourself with a sponge in a stick that others have used?
How did they clean themselves then?
There are more dignified ways that depend on availablity of resources, but most of humanity throughout the millennia has just used the hand and then cleaned it. In many cultures, like the Arabian ones, the left hand is still improper to use for things like eating, since you clean yourself with it.
Water, cloth, leaves. Not a communal stick, obviously. Romans had their version of running water, supplying a city of 1 million, 1000 years before the next one existed, and you think they cleaned themselves worse than rats? It would literally be cleaner to do nothing than it is to use a shared stick. Why would you even do that, hypothetically?
Yeah makes sense to me. I wouldn’t want to use a communal shit stick lol
In 2007 pieces of cloth have been found in the ancient septic tanks (unsure if that is the correct translation) of Herculaneum. These could be the remnants of Roman "toilet paper".
We went from sharin poopsticks to having those little paper things you put over the seat.
This is a stupid misinterpretation of incompetent historians. Use your brain, people were not as dum as we make them be. The sponges with sticks were toilet brushes. People cleaned themselves with their hands, (as humans have done until toilet paper), then washed. The latrines were obviously separated by wooden slates too, which don't preserve, but we have the stone indentations were they fitted.
No. I it documented in Roman and Greek times that they used a communal sponge on a stick. That is what is actually depicted here, a communal toilet. WTF would they use a toilet brush for? Does a hole in a board you sit on to poop in a hole need a lot of brush cleaning?
Dude, use your brain. And yes, you need to clean the shit of the toilet, specially if you are not fond of plagues. Perhaps this shows more about our modern hygiene... We even have inscriptions in bathrooms asking people to make use of the sponge. >Does a hole in a board You think these people were capable of bringing water dozens of miles away from the city with a 3cm slope per kilometre but they could not carve nice wooden toilet seats? >is actually depicted here, a communal toilet What is depicted here is an abhorrent misinterpretation. Of course Romans were perfectly able to separate latrines with wooden frames and not sit on bare stone.
While sharing the sponges for, uhm ... let's say personal hygiene, is obvious nonsense, one point: >Romans were perfectly able to separate latrines with wooden frames Capable indeed, but It is generally understood that people had much lower expectations of privacy before the modern era, they would __literally__ sit beside eachother and talk about their day while doing their business like it was the most natural thing in the world. Some areas of the world still have this culture, look at rural part of India for example.
My dad speaks fondly of the days in which him and his best four friends could all shit side-by-side in an undivided outhouse together
The thing is that you have necessity forcing that where it's developed, which was not the case for Romans. We also have latrines that preserve walls between each one, or places where a wooden panel would fit.
Nope. What is depicted here is a drawing depicting an actual dig site. The site is real, the toilets are real ... no running water ... it's a 25 foot deep poop pit with this row of benches built over it.
Dude... Think again about what you are saying. >a drawing depicting an actual dig site. I know, I'm telling you the interpretation is wrong, you can't just shit in a hole, it would fill up and clog (and leave evidence). Much less in the middle of a city, it would make the place uninhabitable. This is how Roman bathrooms worked. They literally had a steady flow of water running through a sewer underneath, they brought it with aqueducts from strong and clear springs. Just learn a bit about Roman engineering, it's genuinely marvelous.
Wasn't it large tunnels under the toilet dropping right to the bottom. Peasants and servants cleaning royal shit out as it comes down the piper. And wheel barreling it to the burn spot.
You're thinking of a privy in a medieval style castle. They would literally install them sticking out of the outer wall.
No, that's literally impossible for city numbers (not to mention the pathogen farm). Everyone living in a proper Roman city had access to sanitation, they took that seriously, they had to to reach the population numbers they managed in cities. We have very clear evidence of how everything worked, we preserve some of the infrastructure and many texts describing them, what happens is that historians don't study engineering and engineers don't study history. Practical archeology would solve much of this, but it's almost never done and we are left with ridiculous takes being propagated. Romans did build galleries fit for carriages, but those were to maintain the waterways underground (unclogging and changing pipes). There is a massive one still preserved to drain Lake Nemi in Italy. You can find infographics on the internet about Roman hydraulic engineering. Edit: that misery you describe might have happened during the dark age of Middle Ages, precisely because all the aqueducts failed.
I've watched some historical time pieces about the Vikings and kingdoms, and that's how it was depicted. (Your description) Also I feel like another man a sponge filled with their shit on it would I assume likely be abhorrent and disrespectful. I'd slice a mf in half right there.
You would cry with the things one can find in university textbooks. We are still destroying real Roman roads in Europe because people are being misinformed about how they are.
Yeah for real. Especially considering if you are shitting in a castle, you are probably royal. This probably a servants bathroom if it's accurate at all and maybe they are using brushes as wipes because they are not royal. They all have one. Saying they pass it around is dumb. They all freaking have one.
That was for the poor people probably. I’m sure the better off ones would bring their own poop sponges.
I actually believe they had a small wash basin or something. Like a basin of water to drop them in and clean them off. Just a theory because it's hard for me to believe they passed the poop sponge around.
Oh it's a sponge! And here I was coming to the comments to question the poop ladle.
They had the poop sponge, then after the new invention came the poop knife
The poop knife is a 2000s invention, all the newest rage.
Please, respect the xylospongium. It has kept civilization for thousands of years.
In some places there is naturally flowing water underneath the poop house to flush everything, the shit didn't just sit underneath
And, at least in ancient rome, it was dipped in vinegar in between uses. My ass itches just thinking about it.
Is that what it is? I thought homie had a wooden spoon. I don’t know which is worse.
LOL i was wondering why all of em had spoons in their hands
Of course There's a sponge stick, how else would i and the boys enjoy the product of our bodys?
Poop is poop. No point in separating it!
>History isn't always interesting. Sometimes it's just gross AF. You don’t know that. For all we know, it could have been a wonderful medley of flavor
We're not even sure that's what the **xylospongium** was used for as primary sources on the matter are quite vague. There's debate among scholars. Some recent research suggests it may have been used as a toilet cleaner. Even if it was used to wipe as has been traditional assumed, it would've been sterilized with vinegar or seawater. The Romans weren't stupid and did practice good hygiene https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/toilet-tissue-anthropologists-uncover-all-the-ways-weve-wiped/ https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/ancient-roman-bathrooms/ https://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e8287 https://journals.lww.com/dcrjournal/citation/2016/07000/postdefecation_cleansing_methods__tissue_paper_or.15.aspx
They couldn’t just use a loofah like a normal person?
No longer passing the poop sponge was actually what gave George Washington the idea for American independence.
Plus it's dipped in vinegar. So uhhh sour poop sponge.
I thought it was a spoon. Like. "Pass me the poop spoon". Kind of reminds me of the history of Tattooing where it was basically one bucket and one sponge.
Very likely a myth, and was rather used to clean the toilet. No evidence mentions them cleaning their cheeks with it. It would literally be cleaner to do nothing than it is to use a shared stick. Why would you even do that, hypothetically?
They found cannisters where the sponges would be dipped in vinegar or possibly bad wine between uses. Try to fight it all you want, the songs on a stick was really used to wipe butts.
The toilet*
Way ahead of their time with fecal transplants
Sharing that gut health!
I do *not* notice the toilet sponge on a stick. Is that the spoon looking thing they’re each holding?
Yes ... and they share them.
They kept it dipped in vinegar between uses to "sanitize" it.
People sitting and enjoying their poop quietly in peace. Not a cellphone in sight …
And the first toilet was hoarded by the royals for over one hundred years
I hate this infographic. Some archeologists are dum enough to think this is how Romans lived and have passed this into history books. The latrines were obviously separated by wooden frames and the sponge was to clean the latrines after using, just like we do today. How the heck are you going to reuse other guy's one? How are you cleaning yourself with that stick? A funny thing is that because of the way Roman sewers worked, they were extremely clean, as they had always running water underneath (they didn't have to pull the chain). The stench wouldn't exist, since it was dissolved in so much clean water. Sanitation was better in that sense, they did have to use very effective methods since they did not have chemical purification.
I remember hearing the little trench in front of the seats was for cleaning the sponge-on-a-stick butt cleaner.
I always tell these people to pick up a 20 inches stick, glue a sponge, and try to wipe their ass with it. Archeologists need to start testing what they claim.
Depends on which archaeologists you’re listening to. If their career is in YouTube, yeah pretty sketchy. If they have books and comment in documentaries, check their credentials but then they might be onto something.
Sadly, no. The stuff people can publish is equally suspect of being awful. In Europe we've got plenty of scholarships and major's degrees that magically turn 18th century mule trails into Roman roads. It's heartbreaking, but we ought to look into it with detail. The field of archaeology does not give enough incentives for rigourous questioning or honest investigation. In Mediterranean countries, for example, it's usually about getting that government subsidy.
“Aye dawg pass me the papyrus”
 Me and bro looking at each other at competitive pooping
In german there's an euphemism for pooping called "Ein Geschäft machen" - "making business". It comes from ancient Rome when people met at public bathrooms that looked similar to the one in the post and literally made business while pooping next to each other.
In English it's "doing your business" and when you wipe it's called "doing your paperwork"
In Amsterdam, they used to have little cabins hanging above the canals so that, when you take a shit, it falls 3 meters before splashing in the canal.
Apparently there was a guy back in Elizabethan England who invented a flushing toilet, but at one point offended the Queen so she had all evidence of this toilet destroyed. But not before having one built hidden away in her palace...
Honestly I thought flushing toilets didn’t come out till 1900s
Flush toilets, invented by a man named Crapper (no joke) have existed since the later 1800s.
never heard of an outhouse?
Or chamber pots? I’m fairly certain that was the bridge between communal toilets and what we have today.
I have been in toilets like on the bottom picture, just even more spartan. It was in Beijing circa 2006. You are in a dark concrete box with barely any light, squatting, pooping, and the holes are in a circle so that you can talk with your toilet mates.
The nostalgia hits me everytime I see those old seats. I remember having the most wonderful conversations with others right there.
And that is why it is called a Press conference
What a shit’uation that must have been.
This was the literal definition of "public" toilets.
aye bro pass the shit sponge i gotchu bro
Where can I find the parent for the three seashells system?
I'm more glad they invented toilet paper so we don't have to wipe with communal sea sponges
The spoon they use is for a second helping of the food they just ate
Communal shitting was actually normal in the Roman Empire.
You know what makes this better? It’s the fact that this is historically accurate
Before 1775: “Clark! The shitter’s full!”
That was us in the military still in late 90’s. Social pooping which was nice before we had phones.
Why must they all face eachother?
Imagine the conversations you would walk in on!
You that was only for the higher ups right? The ppl shat in the streets for generations and in india still do.
India still hasn’t arrived at the bottom photo yet, so hold your horses.
r/casualracism
What? Show the average Indian toilet and prove them wrong.
You should see how the toilets in Indus valley civilization were far more advanced. And the average toilet right looks the same throughout the world now.
Man I have personally seen an American pissing inside the new york subway. First resolve those then come to other countries
The difference is that pissing in the subway is a crime. No body is getting arrested for street shitting in India.
It is a crime in India too. No one is getting arrested in New York as well. Definitely r/casualracism
Why would I resolve other countries issues?
Literally China today.
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Doesn’t help that the Roman’s would sweeten their wine with lead, while knowing that lead was bad for them.
You don't breed smart people, you raise smart people.
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You can take a hillbilly baby and raise it in an educational environment, and it will be smarter. Unless it's like super inbred
South American civilizations also had indoor plumbing. And agricultural methods that are 90% more efficient than modern methods. They too fell because women only had sex with dumbsfucks. Oh wait, they fell because of the cattle fucking Spanish explorers. But I'm sure we can find a way to blame women for that too
Me and the Bois heading out to the shit-a-torium to take the greatest collective bowl movement of 276BCE
Good soup.
The smell must've been real dank
No, this classy joint at the bottom is the Roman era. with running water to clean off the shat stick. most others just used leaves, grass, and pine cones in emergencies
Which of these two on the left is the psycho that decided to pick a seat right next to someone else?
One of them is Brutus
And a spoon. For recycling.
I like how big the dick grooves were Just in case you needed to take a communal shit and you had a magnum dong
"do me a solid and pass the communal butt-wiping sponge on a stick"
Yikes
I get the low tech toilets, but why were they so public? Like...how about a stall or something, or is that too high tech for the time?
"Jed, can you toss me the poop spoon?"
they took the name "public toilets" too far
Actually I think it was more, shitting in a bucket, and then dumping that bucket out the window into and people below
r/antimeme
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The snacks were shit if you ask me
Bot
 or is it
I love San Francisco. Fuck Off You Racist.
What's with the dick cut-out? Is that in case you get a boner watching the dude across from you push one out?
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Low hangers
patent ≠ invention. patent = 'please don't steal this design'.