You know about the Roman Baths , but do you know about the Roman Loo?

Roman Baths in Ephesus

The Romans were fond of their baths and everywhere they conquered and settled they built remarkable communal baths. These baths were centers of socialization and health treatments and usually consisted of several huge pools of varying temperatures. Their ruins still stand all over Europe and the Mediterranean today. Mr. M and I have seen the remnants of Roman baths from England to Ephesus (Turkey). Everyone has heard about these Roman  baths and how ingenious the heating of the caldarium and tepidarium was. But I found that the communal Roman loo (toilet) was really amazing. Yes, communal bathrooms! Those Romans were REALLY social!

A small part of the communal Roman toilets

The communal toilets were carved out of marble and had maybe a dozen on two adjacent walls of a huge beautifully appointed room. The toilets were ingeniously created and even had continuously running water. A cutaway view shows how a water filled aqueduct under the seats continuously carried away waste.

Cutaway view of communal toilets’ aqueduct

A peek inside at the original aqueduct

The aqueduct that is part of the original running water toilet system

As you can imagine, the continuously running water helped to disguise any noise made by bodily functions. To insure the disguise and to soothe patrons, musicians continuously played on a mosaic dais.

Inlaid mosaic floor in the Roman toilet

The entire building was filled with marble sculptures and carved bias relief.

Bias relief with a ram

The Roman toilet was amazing and its communal and social nature is a far cry from the privacy of current toilets, even in our own homes. I ask you: what do you think of the Roman toilet?