Description

This book is the first ever in presenting a complete overview of all Roman toilets known in the capital of the Roman empire. Roman toilet specialists, Gemma Jansen, Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow and Richard Neudecker, together with 31 collaborating archaeologists working in Rome, provide a comprehensive description of these excavated toilets with abundant illustrations. Some of these toilets have been known for years, others have been excavated only recently and are presented for the first time in this work. Another first is that this assembly of toilets has been analyzed as a group, and in a greater context. The work discusses not only their cultural context, but also their hygiene, their water supply and drainage, architecture, seat design and their place in the urban and mental environment of the ancient city of Rome. The presented investigations are based on both archaeological remains and Roman text-based sources. This unprecedented compendium does not just aim to address specialists of the field; interested readers will find that they can exit the immediate confines of the toilets and step right into the heart of Roman culture and society.