What happens when you don’t have toilet paper?
As we are all painfully aware, the threat of running out of toilet paper today is certainly many people’s worst nightmare. But, consider the fact that toilet paper is a relatively modern invention. But, I hear you say, what did they use in the past? Well, you’ll be happy to know that we do have some ancient sources as well as archaeological evidence telling us more about butts in ancient Greece and Rome.
Greece
The red-figure pottery painting from a tondo of a kylix (drinking cup) was painted by the Ambrosios Painter around ca. 510-500 BCE and thus belongs to the Greek Late Archaic period. The piece can be found in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and portrays a rather interesting scene. (Also, who would paint this? I am confident that this was a gag gift which can now be found among other objects deemed “Fine Art”)
The scene depicts a bearded man, wearing only a cape over his shoulders, squatting, and leaning against his staff while wiping himself with his left arm after defecating. But what is he wiping himself with? Even though we cannot know with complete certainty what material is being depicted here, the man is most likely wiping his bum with a pessoi, a small oval stone (pebble). That is right. Since toilet paper did not exist yet, some of the objects used by the ancient Greeks to wipe themselves with were small, rounded pebble stones, and some scholars even believe that smaller pieces of ceramic were also reused for sanitary purposes, of course, after having been trimmed and smoothed for one’s comfort.
Some scholars have even suggested that ostraka (ceramic pieces with names inscribed - that were used in Greece for voting to ostracize a particular person from society) were also used to wipe feces off one's anus. Talk about wiping out your enemy.
Is there really any truth to this matter of stones having been used for hygienic purposes? The ancient Greek writer Aristophanes did mention the use of pessoi for this exact purpose. Then there’s also the ancient Greek proverb, “three stones are enough to wipe one’s arse,” and finally, pessoi have been discovered with traces of fecal remains all over the Mediterranean. It seems the answer is yes, in the absence of toilet paper, one can most definitely use stones.
Rome
Many of us are familiar with the engineering skills of the ancient Romans, especially the aqueducts and sewage systems that made it possible for the Romans to live a more “hygienic” way of life. The Romans not only enjoyed visiting the public baths but also frequently used the public restrooms, which consisted of a room with rows of benches with holes in them and a flowing canal of water underneath them to “flush” away the waste. However, the Roman elite did not use public restrooms and preferred using latrines in their own homes or using a chamber pot, emptied most likely by their slaves. Thus, the frequent visitors of the public restrooms were middle- or lower-class citizens. But what did the Romans wipe themselves with?
What many of us are not familiar with, is that the Romans used a tersorium to wipe themselves with. The tersorium was a toilet stick that consisted of a wooden stick with a sponge attached to one end and was used to wipe one’s anus after having defecated, which was then placed in a bucket filled with salt water or vinegar. Sounds rather pleasant right? However, perhaps we should add here that the Roman tersorium was a SHARED toilet stick, used by all those who visited the public latrines. Thus, not making it as hygienic as one initially might think.
But did all Romans then use toilet sticks? Well, for those “unfortunate” ones that did not have access to a tersorium or simply could not afford one, the ancient Greek toilet rocks or ceramic pieces previously mentioned were used instead.
So, now we know what to do if we are ever in a toilet paper crisis again… Get a sponge or some rocks and hope for a speedy return of our beloved paper.
Text: Linda Andrea Persson. MENAM Archaeology. Copyright 2023.
Images:
1. ♥ Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Accessed from https://collections.mfa.org/objects/153722
2. Wikimedia Commons, photo by D. Herdemerten (Hannibal21), Accessed from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Xylospongium.jpg
3. Flickr, photo by Carole Raddato, accessed from https://flickr.com/photos/41523983@N08/30696479498
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