Idle Expectations

ancientpeoples:

Roman Bathroom Habits

The Romans were not shy when it came to doing their “business”. Something that we today regard as an act that demands a certain level of privacy, in ancient Rome, bathroom habits were much more open and, to a great extent, totally lacking in privacy. In a city of over one-million people, ninety-five percent of them did not have access to a private bathroom. Only wealthy Romans could afford the luxury of having a private bathroom by tapping directly into the public aqueducts, which brought running water into their homes. However, for the majority of Romans lacking their own bathroom, there were two options available.

The first option was to go in any ordinary pot that you kept in your home or place of business; moreover, in the city of Rome itself, large urinal pots stood at several street corners. These “piss pots” actually had a very significant role in everyday life. The pots were collected by fullers because the urine functioned as an ancient form of bleach. Stale urine, known as wash, was a source of ammonium salts and assisted in cleansing and whitening cloth; urine made your whites white! In addition, tanners soaked animal skins in urine in order to remove hair fibers before tanning. Oddly enough these pots were eventually taxed by the emperor Vespasian which resulted in the piss pots being nicknamed after him. Flying waste was also a very common problem in Ancient Rome. Ancient writers mention anecdotes involving citizens emptying their pots from third or fourth-story windows on to whoever was walking in the street. There were laws enacted solely for the purpose of protecting those who had been hit by flying waste, “Damages to be paid by throwers of waste into the street if the person hit was injured, no damages paid for clothing or if hit outside of daylight hours.” Nevertheless, the simplest way of disposing of your waste was to throw it into the street, because the streets of Rome were naturally angled towards the center allowing waste to roll into the gutters. Some Insulae,(multi-story apartment buildings), however, could be linked by gravity-fed pipes that led to a main cesspit. Farmers would collect “night-soil” from these cesspits in order to fertilize their fields.

The second option available to the inhabitants of Rome was to head to a public bathroom. Ancient Roman public bathrooms were made out of long rows of massive stone with a hole cut into the stone every few feet. Located in front of the seating area is a channel or elongated basin where your sponge sticks are located. Sponge sticks you say, what the devil for? The Romans obviously did not use toilet paper, but used sponges soaked in water. You would grab a sponge attached to a stick and clean yourself, if you need more cleaning you could plunge the sponge stick back into the little stream and clean some more. Once you are finished with the sponge stick, you scrape the sponge against the side of the stone hole you are seated on and let it fall into the flowing water; quite a logical system reminiscent of modern day bidets. Underneath those Roman derrières flowed a system of plumbing that rivaled modern day cities like New York City. Constant running water flushes away the waste into an enormous sewage systems that runs under the streets of Rome, the Cloaca Maxima (Great Drain). This system is made possible by several aqueducts that flow into the city keeping it supplied with fresh flowing water. The Roman’s effective sewage system was not in place in order to combat the possibility of disease, but more so to combat smell; the role of impure water in causing disease seemed to be little understood by the Romans.

In some ancient bathrooms there is space for one-hundred people at a time. The bathrooms are open to all genders and all ages, so imagine men, women, and children all standing or sitting, doing their business next to one another in an open space. People are discussing business or gossiping to one another while going to the bathroom. Since for most Romans privacy is a unheard of aspect of life, why would it be different in this situation? However, the public bathrooms are not only visited by the common citizen, the wealthy also frequent them. Every location in ancient Rome where large crowds gather is an opportunity for wealthy Romans to pander to their constituents. Most upper-class Romans were running for some sort of political office, so the public bathrooms were a great location for mingling with the Roman people. Therefore, if you wished to hear the local gossip, chat with a friend or stranger, or simply do your business, the public bathrooms are always a good choice. Roman bathroom habits were communal, lacking in privacy, and surprisingly efficient, and they also allowed one to say, “I had a lovely conversation with a few people while sitting on the toilet the other day.”

This is some good quality shit.

Reblogged 1 day ago from ancientpeoples

565 notes

ancient poopy adventures, just because, no I couldn't pass up on that one, sorry, history,

enochnochjoke:

this is the one “tutorial” that really helped kick my ass into shading properly

Not to be a bitchy know-it-all or anything, but comparing that relief (which is Babylonian by the looks of it) on the left with the sculpture on the right is comparing apples and oranges.

For one thing; one is a relief and the other is a sculpture. Secondly, this type of art from the near East (Babylonian, Egyptian, Assyrian, etc.) is not devoid of contrast, nor unrealistic. It just doesn’t conform to our modern conventions of perspective. This doesn’t mean that it’s “flat” or “spaceless” art.

Please don’t project these conventions back on contemporary pieces of art. It doesn’t get your point across, and it takes away from the incredible amount of skill that went into creating those reliefs.

Here is a nice article on perspective in Egyptian art, for those who are interested.

Reblogged 3 weeks ago from makimonstrous

2,360 notes

history, art, sonja rants, I might be nitpicking here but it bothers me when people imply that near Eastern art is somehow lesser than perspective art, I can almost guarantee you that making that sculpture is a lot easier than correctly making use of near Eastern conventions, I'm all for art tutorials and shading mind you!, just don't use an example that doesn't work please,

acertainidontknowwhat:

ancientpeoples:

Rhyton (Drinking Vessel) in the Shape of a Donkey Head

c. 460 BC

Greek, Attica

This drinking cup could not have been set down without its contents spilling. It is fashioned after the head of a bridled donkey with a white muzzle, teeth, and ears. Like the naked satyr chasing a fleeing maenad on the vessel’s neck, the donkey belongs to the retinue of the wine god Dionysos. Douris, one of the great Athenian vase painters of first half of the fifth century B.C., decorated this amusing cup.

Source: The Art Institute of Chicago

He obviously just made an amazing pun; that’s the “I made an amazing pun now bask in it’s glory” face.

“If you know what I mean *wink wink nudge nudge*”

Reblogged 4 weeks ago from acertainidontknowwhat

455 notes

history,

Guess which coins I’ll be flippin’ for Ral Zarek’s ultimate?

(Replica) Roman ones. Because historian style is obviously the best style.

I got these in Germany a couple of years ago for Mike. They’re replicas of coins they found in the area (Baden-Baden, in Baden-Württemberg).

Posted 1 month ago

18 notes

mtg, coins, roman coins, history, rome, ral zarek, dragon's maze, mtgdgm, izzet historian for life yo,

My cosplay for the Theros prerelease. We have just decided that we’re going to do a lady ‘walkers pantheon. So girls! Join in on the fun!

I’m not even kidding, I could totally get away with Nikè’s sass. And helloo-oo, Goddess of Victory, anyone?

(Terracotta statuette originating from Myrina, Anatolia. ca. 210-200 B.C. Leiden Museum of Antiquities.)

Posted 1 month ago

3 notes

history, mtg, magic: the gathering, theros, nike, Νίκη, victory, cosplay,

ancientpeoples:

Bronze sword with bevelled edges. The hilt and guard are inlaid with turqouise in a symmetrical pattern of stylized curls.

China, Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Warring States Period (ca. 475 - 221 B.C.)

Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Reblogged 1 month ago from ancientpeoples

284 notes

history, china, weapons,

Rare Ten Commandments scroll to be displayed in U.S.

archaeologicalnews:

CINCINNATI – The Ten Commandments scroll – one of the most important of the Dead Sea Scrolls in existence – is going on display in Cincinnati beginning Friday.

The tightly guarded scroll, one of the approximately 900 Dead Sea Scrolls in existence, can be seen through April 14 at the Cincinnati Museum Center.

The Ten Commandments scroll will be added for the last 17 days of the exhibit “Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Ancient Times,” which also features 10 other scroll fragments from Israel. The scrolls are of great historical and religious significance because they include the earliest known surviving manuscripts of text included in the Hebrew Bible.

The Ten Commandments scroll is one of only two ancient manuscripts to feature the commandments, the foundation of Jewish and Christian religions. Read more.

Reblogged 1 month ago from archaeologicalnews

46 notes

history, archaeology,

ancientpeoples:

Bone plaque with an erotic depiction featuring a man penetrating a woman. The woman is holding a third, smaller figure, probably a child. All are decked out in copious amounts of jewellery. Particular attention was paid to the hairstyles, and the recurring flower theme.

Shunga Period, first century B.C., India.

Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Historians: posting ancient erotica with straight-faced explanations, because that’s just how we roll.

Reblogged 1 month ago from ancientpeoples

114 notes

history, nsfw, erotica,

ancientpeoples:

iphisquandary said: I take issue with the phrase “enjoyed an easy life” even if you’re working “for a wealthy master” it’s a bit of a stretch to use word like “enjoy” and “easy life” when referring to slavery. that strikes me as objectionable, couldn’t you rephrase that

(Via this post: [x])

I will clarify what I meant: Roman slaves, especially those working in wealthy villas, had much more freedom than other slaves that were used in construction, poorer establishments, farms, or mines. Wealthy house slaves, if they possessed a certain intelligence, could work as scribes or personal assistants to their master, a job that included a salary and a lot of personal freedom. There is evidence that some Roman slaves were treated like members of the family and adored by the master’s children who they helped raise and educate. For most slaves this is not the case, however slaves in wealthier homes were just simply treated better, and yes I dare say it, enjoyed a certain about of leisure.

ETA: This admin would also like to stress that slavery in ancient times did not always have the negative connotation it has earned in more modern times, as evidenced by what my colleague explained here. It wasn’t just a Roman thing, either: Egyptian slaves weren’t so much the slaves as we imagine them nowadays, as they were workers who did not have a nominal freedom. In fact, as a slave, it was not impossible (even likely!) to be better off than when you were a farmer, as you were certain to have a roof over your head and food in your stomach in most cases.

Modern and ancient slavery really can’t be compared, because they were two completely different institutions. Projecting a modern convention back on it by saying that slavery was by default an evil institution and that slaves were always maltreated would be doing a disservice to history.

Reblogged 2 months ago from ancientpeoples

76 notes

slavery, history,

ancientpeoples:

Bronze wine vessel, covered in green patina and finely decorated.

Shang dynasty (ca. 1600-1046 B.C.), China.

Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Look, it’s the vessel that looks like a butt on stilts!

Reblogged 2 months ago from ancientpeoples

68 notes

history, ancient peoples adventures,

fuckyeahdutchhistory:

On this day in Dutch history

On the 24th of March 1607, Michiel de Ruyter was born in Vlissingen. De Ruyter was one of the best and widely respected admirals of his time.

He was born Michiel Adriaenszoon and didn’t take the last name ‘De Ruyter’ until the 1630s. He was thrown out of school due to bad behaviour and was also fired from his job as a ropemaker for the same reason. As a boy he got into many fights and scraps, and when he was 11, he became a sailor.

He worked his way up the ranks, and by the time he was 15 he joined his uncle, a soldier in the Dutch army, as a musketeer during the Siege and Relief of Bergen op Zoom. His mother’s side of the family came from this town.

Once the battle was over, De Ruyter went back to sea and joined a warship for the first time. By 1631, he was a trader in Dublin and also married Maayke Velders. She died on the 31st of December giving birth to their first child, who died three weeks later.

In 1633, he captained a whaler for a few years, and worked as a privateer on the searoute to South America. He also married his second wife, Neeltje Engels, with whom he had four children. Engels passed away in 1650. One of his sons eventually became a vice admiral in the navy.

In the following years, De Ruyter kept working in the navy. Under admiral Gijsels, he captained a ship to assist the Portuguese revolt against the Spanish. He also worked as a captain for traders, usually on the warships protecting the trade fleet. He journeyed to Morocco and the West Indies, trading goods and occasionally fighting off pirates.

In 1652, he married his third wife, Anna van Gelder, a widow who already had two children from her previous marriage. De Ruyter, by then quite wealthy with the money he made from his trading, decided to retire.

The same year the first Anglo-Dutch War broke out, and the Admiralty of Zeeland, the province he lived in, appealed to his sense of duty. With some reluctance he rejoined the navy and was made commander under Witte de With, and successfully fought Admiral Ayscue in the Battle of Plymouth.

This was the first victory for the Dutch, and De Ruyter became a naval hero. He stayed as a commander during several more naval battles and was the only commander who could reach Maarten Tromp’s flagship in August 1652 at the Battle of Ter Heijde. As Tromp was the commander during that battle, De Ruyter advised others to keep his death a secret to keep up morale.

He refused the title of supreme commander, despite pressure from Johan de Witt, a powerful politician of the time. However, he did accept the job of vice admiral at the admiralty of Amsterdam. The First Anglo-Dutch War ended in 1654, and De Ruyter remained in the navy. He spent the next several year protecting the Dutch trade fleet in the Mediterrean Sea, and also took part in the Northern Wars to intervene against the Swedish King Charles X. He liberated Nyborg in Denmark in 1659, and was knighted for this by the Danish King Frederick III.

Meanwhile, trouble was brewing between the Dutch and the English again. The Second Anglo-Dutch War was already going on in the Dutch and English colonies, but now the fighting had reached Europe as well. by 1665, De Ruyter returned after some successful battles in the colonies and was appointed commander of the Dutch fleet and made Lieutenant-Admiral.

De Ruyter won several important battles in the next few years, and also led the Raid on the Medway in 1667. This raid was especially embarrassing to the English as De Ruyter had captured the flagship, the HMS Royal Charles, which the Dutch later sold as scrap. His health, however, was beginning to suffer and between 1667 and 1671 he was forbidden to sail by Johan de Witt. De Ruyter didn’t enjoy this enforced quiet life.

During the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the French had teamed up with the English, but fortunately De Ruyter stopped the combined fleet from invading Zeeland and Holland various times. This war ended in 1674, and De Ruyter spent the last years of his life mostly at sea in naval battles.

In 1676 De Ruyter was hit by a cannonball in the Battle of Agosta against the French. His right leg was amputated and while the wound seemed to heal just fine, the wound became infected and De Ruyter died a week later from gangrene. The body was embalmed and De Ruyter’s body was brought back to the Netherlands. As the ship passed the French ships, King Louis XIV had it fire its cannons as a salute out of respect.

In March 1677, De Ruyter was buried in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam in a grand funeral which cost the States-General 16.000 guilders at the time, which also paid for a monument for the grave.

(Above: A painting of De Ruyter by Ferdinand Bol in from 1667)

Reblogged 2 months ago from fuckyeahdutchhistory

15 notes

dutch history, history,

600-Year-Old Chinese Coin Found in Kenya

archaeologicalnews:

A Chinese coin about 600 years old was recently unearthed on an island just off the coast of Kenya. If it proves to be authentic, the coin could show that the Chinese explorer Zheng He — like a Christopher Columbus of the East — came to this part of east Africa.

“This finding is significant. We know Africa has always been connected to the rest of the world, but this coin opens a discussion about the relationship between China and Indian Ocean nations,” archaeologist Chapurukha M. Kusimba of The Field Museum in Chicago said in a statement.

The copper and silver disk has a square hole in the center, possibly to be worn on a belt. Read more.

Reblogged 2 months ago from archaeologicalnews

375 notes

history, archaeology,

ancientpeoples:

Double ka-statue of Maya and Merit

Limestone

New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, 1325 BC (Pharaoh Tutankhamun)

Double ka-statue of Maya (the man) and Merit (woman) . Maya was director of the treasury for Tutankhamun and partly responsible for Tutankhamuns’ tomb. His wife was priestess in the temple of Amun as musican and/or singer, she is “true of voice”. Statue was left unfinished when placed inside their tomb.

(Source: The Leiden Museum of Antiquities)

Favourite statue, together with the single statue of Merit. She’s so beautiful. <3

Reblogged 2 months ago from ancientpeoples

130 notes

history, egyptology, statue,

Ancient Egyptian Cemetery Holds Proof of Hard Labor

archaeologicalnews:

Carvings on the walls of the ancient Egyptian city of Amarna depict a world of plenty. Oxen are fattened in a cattle yard. Storehouses bulge with grain and fish. Musicians serenade the pharaoh as he feasts on meat at a banquet.

But new research hints that life in Amarna was a combination of grinding toil and want—at least for the ordinary people who would have hauled the city’s water, unloaded the boats on the Nile, and built Amarna’s grand stone temples and tombs, which were erected in a rush on the orders of a ruler named Akhenaten, sometimes called the “Heretic Pharaoh.”

Researchers examining skeletons in the commoners’ cemetery in Amarna have discovered that many of the city’s children were malnourished and stunted. Adults show signs of backbreaking work, including high levels of injuries associated with accidents. Read more.

Reblogged 2 months ago from archaeologicalnews

108 notes

history, egyptology, archaeology, amarna,

The dual king Neferirkare , arising as king on the day of the taking of the prowrope of the god’s boat . Now, the Sem-priest Rawer was over the feet of His Majesty, in his dignity Sem-priest of the royal equipment, when a staff which was in the hand of His Majesty blocked the feet of the Sem-priest Rawer.

His Majesty said: “Be healthy!” So spoke His Majesty. Now His Majesty said: “It is the desire of my Majesty that he be very healthy, without a strike for him.”

Now he was more august before His Majesty than any man, and His Majesty commanded (it) to be put into writing on his tomb, which is in the necropolis.

And his Majesty caused a document to be made in writing, by the side of the king himself, at the Esh-building of the Palace, to be written in accordance with what was said, in his tomb which is in the necropolis.

-

The tomb biography of the sem-priest Rawer. Old Kingdom, 5th Dynasty.

Rawer describes an incident in which he was tripped up the by the king, and the king’s response, which apparently included giving Rawer permission to record the incident in his tomb. Although this may seem an odd thing to put on a tomb wall to a modern reader, for an official of the Old Kingdom, access to the king was a sign of importance, and by emphasising his close physical proximity to the king, Rawer emphasised his influence.

The purpose of the Esh-building of the palace is not known.

(via ancientpeoples)

Reblogged 2 months ago from ancientpeoples

34 notes

we did this text in class, I like it, and I know it by heart, parsed and all, ladiedaarr, history, egyptology,

Idle Expectations

Posts tagged with "History"

Rare Ten Commandments scroll to be displayed in U.S.

600-Year-Old Chinese Coin Found in Kenya

Ancient Egyptian Cemetery Holds Proof of Hard Labor