The Romans Were Surprisingly Unhygienic
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One cannot deny the fact that the Roman Empire was a powerful force to reckon with in ancient times.
In a little more than 1500 years, the Romans managed to conquer half of Europe, parts of Asia, and parts of Africa. They unified their vast territory with astounding scientific, philosophical, medical, and technological advancements. Even today, remnants of Roman architecture can be found across much of their ancient territory, and their culture has thoroughly influenced our world today.
Despite all these advancements, other aspects of ancient Rome remain mysterious and controversial. And one of these things is the extremely poor level of hygiene practiced by ancient Romans. It is almost impossible to imagine how such an advanced civilization had such poor hygienic habits.
There are countless examples of Roman squalor. Despite their incredible bathhouses and sanitation systems, the Romans still lived their daily lives with a host of parasites and diseases. Some of their medical remedies (dung, excreta, urine, etc.) were absolutely disgusting.
Even some of their emperors were the most debauched in world history, as they practiced incest, seducing their siblings, and so forth. And the famed Roman feasts were made up of unusual items, from dolphin meatballs to flamingo tongues.
While some of the facts surrounding the famous "vomitorium" are highly questionable, emperors like Vitellius are best remembered for their incredible appetites, feasting up to four times a day on exotic items like pheasant brains and the aforementioned flamingo tongue.
In this article, we will cover the following five gross hygienic topics related to the ancient Romans' dubious habits:
Roman Toilets Were Dangerous Places
One Sponge for Everyone
Urine for Whitening Teeth
Dirty Graffiti
Weird Roman Medicine