Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow

Water was a crucial element in Greco‐Roman urbanism, due to the quantity and nature of precipitation in the Mediterranean: the emergence and growth of cities was intricately linked to the degree they were able to draw upon available water sources, and to dispose of or store excess rainfall. This chapter reviews the development of urban water infrastructure between the classical Greek period and the Roman imperial period through the lens of six Mediterranean cities, including Athens, Corinth, Syracuse and Pergamon for the Greek and Hellenistic period, and Rome, Pompeii and Herculaneum for the Roman period. It highlights the combined importance of several technologies of water collection and storage, including wells, cisterns and aqueducts, and sketches the ways in which water was distributed over the city and made accessible to the population. Innovations like the inverted siphon played a crucial role in expanding urban water networks, whereas the emergence of lead pipes facilitated the consumption of water in the private realm.

This chapter looks at two influential theoretical frameworks. The first, “formation processes,” states that every archaeological feature, including a Roman toilet, is associated with human behaviors and activities that determine its construction, use, and abandonment. The second, called “social theory of architectural design,” aims to unravel the human decisions and actions leading to the creation of an archaeological feature. Such anthropological theories, which helped create sounder interpretations of nineteenth-century privies, must be applied to Roman toilets and sewers. While the builders of early Roman public latrines, sewers, and water-supply systems in Italy had little or no understanding of any “ideal” for public sanitation, investigation of sanitary installations and water systems has much to tell about the experience of Roman daily life.

This chapter considers how the study of Roman baths and bathing customs is related to public latrines and their use. First, public latrines have become more common in baths and within urban settings. The increasing frequency of toilet services in cities was becoming a part of Roman cultural identity, much like baths. Second, the existence of baths and public latrines in Roman cities is very to be related to the social custom of communal living for an expanding urban population. Third, simultaneous improvements in Roman building technology also have contributed to the building of baths and latrines in cities. Developments particularly related to the production of more durable concrete allowed for increasingly larger, more elaborately designed, and more lasting structures. The final and perhaps most important reason for explaining the spread of baths and latrines relates to the influences of trade and travel, since these two are most often the mechanisms for technology transfers.

This chapter explores Roman toilets and assesses basic facts about their use and function during earlier times, relying strictly on archaeological observation and literary references. Combining the archaeology of Roman toilets with literary references regarding matters of sanitation provides sufficient information for assumptions about how Romans used their toilets and even what rituals of hygiene they followed. The chapter states that the driving force behind the construction of the fancier latrine architecture of the second century AD did not result from the social forces outlined in writings that favor regimentation to promote order. Rather, it was a natural progression from much older Roman cultural notions combined with the more effective usage of water to remove dirt.

This chapter discusses how latrines and sewers, like other Roman building types and technologies that became staple features of Roman cities, depicted part of the architecture of Romanization and helped to establish a Roman presence throughout Italy. At the same time, the political motives behind the construction of these structures were much more subtle and not always philanthropic. Sewers and latrines were used in various texts to declare political ideas and to promote civic and cultural convictions, but little was done to reveal the archaeological truths about these features in the context of Roman cities. The chapter calls for a critical examination of latrines and sewers that are no longer sanitized by self-conscious embarrassment—something that has often clouded historical and archaeological observations.

This introductory chapter presents an overview of the nature of the existing archaeological evidence for Roman toilets, including various sizes, types, locations for these facilities, their builders, and their client users. It suggests a number of important points for future water research that directly affects this study and future studies of ancient urban infrastructures outside of Roman Italy. The quality of the archaeological remains examined here leads to a much needed step toward an appreciation for the engineering of Roman sewer networks, toilets, and Roman beliefs about hygiene. In order to shed light on the realities of Roman sanitation, one must look at the dark and unsightly places and shatter some age-old illusions along the way.

Roman toilets, sewers, and drains are important archaeological features that embody ideas relevant to Roman society about cleanliness, physical health, concepts of beauty, and even notions of privacy. If toilets are excavated properly, they can provide valuable data even about the diet and socioeconomic status of users, divisions between households where they are found, construction methods, and maintenance. While the understanding that outhouse archaeology is significant has made major strides in nineteenth-century American historical circles,¹ this perception has been slow to affect the archaeology of the Roman world. Part of the problem, of course, is that many Roman toilets and