Ew. Can we all just agree right now the hygienic practices of
2,000 years ago were f’in disgusting? Okay. Awesome! Have a great day…
When we think of ancient civilizations we tend to have this
romanticized view of them. They had bathhouses, and the rich had a tub, and the
poor had lakes and rivers and majestic waterfalls. They also believed that
getting wet could kill you. No, really. They were afraid of water. Well, not
really, but sort of.
Only the rich, and I mean disgustingly rich, could afford to
go to bathhouses. They were a social hub for the highest classes of very few
cultures. They were also used a maximum of 4 times a month. Let that sink (ha)
in. Once a week you went to a building full of other dirty people, stripped
down, and submerged yourself into a swimming pool full of germs, dirt, and
people-funk without any chlorine or sanitizing anything. Ew!
Okay, bathing rarely happened and was not an option for most
of the populations of the world. Let’s talk about the streets, shall we? Dirt.
There was a whole lot of dirt. And horses, sheep, goats, and other livestock.
Oh! And cats, dogs, rats, and people. All these creatures walking around on
that dirt, beat it into a nice path until it rained. Then it became a muddy,
rutty, treacherous place to be. People had to make way for wagons, which wasn’t
always an easy task. The wagons were essentially locked into one track because
the ruts got so deep. But wait, there’s more.
Though the Roman Empire did introduce aqueducts and
rudimentary plumbing to the areas they conquered, it was not wide spread. Most
of the world still used the trusty old bucket or chamber pot. Now, remember
that they didn’t exactly have a sanitation service available. All that
excrement went out the door, or window, onto the street, and sometimes people,
below. Grossed out yet? Just wait.
So, now we have a muddy, rutty, poopy mess. Add to it the
fact that all those animals I mentioned before weren’t concerned where they
dropped one. NOW factor in the people trudging through this to cross the
street.
Yeah, I know, this is kinda making me gag too. But once they
made it through the gunk, they got to their locations and tracked it all over
the floors there. And, if we wanted to bring this full circle, those caked,
dripping people took off their minimal clothes and dunked themselves into the
bathhouse vat that was most often a stomach churning shade of brown. OR, they took all their clothes to a central place to wash them.
In this instance, the river or lake is a much better option for bathing. Finally! Something
relatively clean!
So, when you read books staged in ancient civilizations, or
watch movies based in those time periods, don’t trust the pristine image in
your mind or on the screen. It was actually quite disgusting and many of
history’s biggest epidemics occurred because it was so dirty in so many ways. Having
said that, I urge you not to research this further. At the very least, don’t go
looking for pictures. Stay with the pretty ones in your imagination because
some things simply can’t be unseen.
No comments:
Post a Comment