Adding descriptions of ancient personal hygiene.

Greetings, I was thinking about adding information about personal hygiene to the public health buildings. While I've been able to find plenty of generic information about it, one topic is giving me trouble: the stinkiest one.

I've recently bumped into an article about people from the desert who cleaned their backs with soft stones and pebbles. So that one is answered.

But what about the non-desert people? Greeks, Celts, Romans? Do we know or believe what they did after answering nature's call #2? Nothing? Water? Leaves? A roll of toilet Parchment?

It seems that we have evidence of the first toilet papers appearing in China by the 14th century going all the way to the 18th century or even 19th century for the rest of the world (not wide-spread initially, of course). How did people helped themselves before this age then?

I know this is bizzare and thousands of jokes can be made. But that's exactly why I'm having so much difficulty figuring this one out. If the Celts and Romans, for example, enjoyed baths, wouldn't they have thought about not entering the baths dirty to avoid contaminating it? Then how would they've cleansed themselves? Bare hands then clean the hands? Yuck!

They used long sticks with sponges on them...No joke...

I saw a thing on the history channel once that said the Romans used a wet sponge on a stick.


Beat me! Great minds...

(Nearly simultanious)...I was trying to remember where I picked up that factoid too. Did I really learn something from the history channel? It might have been mentioned in "decline and fall" the book as well.

And the sponge stick was left at the toilet for the next guy to use, communal sponge stick.

As far as cleaning, the romans would rub themselves with olive oil and then scrap it off with a scaper. In the Rome miniseries (1st season) there is one time when Marc Antony is doing that, I think.

The germans invented soap, basically how we know it, pretty early.

And the chinese made soap out of a type of bean. Also explosives from that bean. They also invented toilet paper.

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Originally Posted by Wardo

I've recently bumped into an article about people from the desert who cleaned their backs with soft stones and pebbles. So that one is answered.

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Holy crap! [No pun intended]

And people complain about rough toilet paper.

i thought that the celts had invented soap?

greeks and romans cleaned themselves by using an oil then a blade type thing, which would remove dirt and hair, before a bath

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Originally Posted by MarcusAureliusAntoninus

And the chinese made soap out of a type of bean. Also explosives from that bean. They also invented toilet paper.

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I'm not surprised they invented toilet paper, what with all those beans around.

Damn, my first reply, and look at the topic... :clown:

Well, the romans had public toilets, a small "cabin" with a hole in the center, and a water flowing in its side, just like a small stream...after the lady or gentleman finished their number 2, there was a stick, with a sponge on its top, left inside the water, to clean it from the last "usage".. I wonder if someone had to go there just after other one finished his/her "job" in the same toilet. yuck.... :P

That's gross. I'd like to believe people at least had their own sponge-sticks to carry around with them. I'm not saying that's what happened, it's just what I'd like to believe!

No, they didn't.

And really, walking around with a used sponge would hardly be a pleasure either.

Incidentally, this is where the expression "to grab the short end of the stick" comes from. Doesn't bear thinking about too much, really.

Just as a side note, there are places in the world up to this day where you actually still wipe your ass with your left hand, sometimes you have a bowl of water so you can get the worst off. I think this tradition is most spread in India though, thats why you at least over there greet other people and eat with your right hand.

(it is a real chocker when you realise that this is the standard even at some of the nicer hotels, at least there they have a sink where you can wash your hand afterward.)

In the Roman world, there were places where the "toilets" didn't even have a shack over it, just and open area. And in some places, like some public baths, there were rooms with a semicircle bench with holes in it that had some running water going under it to carry away waste. Thats all well and good, but the weird thing is the semicicle had a couple dozen close holes. In the Roman world, number two was a social even. With communal sponges...

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Originally Posted by MarcusAureliusAntoninus

In the Roman world, there were places where the "toilets" didn't even have a shack over it, just and open area. And in some places, like some public baths, there were rooms with a semicircle bench with holes in it that had some running water going under it to carry away waste. Thats all well and good, but the weird thing is the semicicle had a couple dozen close holes. In the Roman world, number two was a social even. With communal sponges...

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That's......interesting to say the least.

I was told by a history prof (don't know where he got his info) that the (natural) sponges were semi-disposable, so once they were soiled they were thrown away. That's the same as toilet paper, really.

I wonder if there was a slave whose duty it was to...

Yeah, I read about the spongestick too. Imagine yourself using a toiletbrush to clean afterwards...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Best EB topic since Bartix? :hide:

We're know we're doing something right regarding historical accuracy, when some people show interest in business #2...

:inquisitive:

I believe I know what you all are talking about. I saw a show on the History Channel about the Romans, how they ate, lived, etc, and it included bathroom details. If I recall correctly, they did indeed have a sponge on a stick that they used to clean themselves. Every person had their own, and when they were finished with their business, they cleaned themselves, and then cleaned off the sponge-sticks in a canal filled with water running through the bathroom area.

LOL! Plenty of laughs to be had here. :clown:

Sorry, I know it's bizzare. But in the end, you guys knew the answer! :sweatdrop:

Thanks! I didn't had any of this information. Of course, from now on I can't look at Spongebob the same as before.:no: I have divided my life into before and after earning this knowledge from this thread.:book: :dizzy2: