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What Ancient Romans Used Instead of Toilet Paper

nautil.us

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Re: What Ancient Romans Used Instead of Toilet Paper

#11

Post by FabHK »

rayiner wrote: post #3

When we moved from Bangladesh to the US in the late 1980s, there were a couple of things that made us go “WTF?” One was the taste of chicken. In Bangladesh, you go buy a scrawny live chicken from the market and butcher it. It took me the better part of a year to be able to stomach American chicken, which tastes like wet cardboard in comparison. The other “WTF” thing was toilet paper. In Bangladesh, you rinse with wat…

True.

Many things are becoming more and more homogenous globally - but I found that weddings, funerals, and indeed toilets appear to be somewhat resistant to that creeping homogenisation.

Many regions don't really use toilet paper, such as Iran, parts of Indonesia, etc. Personally, I like to have it handy, though in case of emergency pages from a Lufthansa flight plan work (try that with an iPad... (and yes, flight plans were printed and freely distributed decades ago)).

More importantly though, many many regions provide an opportunity to wash with water, either via a separate bidet, or built into the toilet ("washlet", as famously in Japan), or with a hose (bidet shower) next to the toilet. A revelation.

If you think about it, using only dry toilet paper is really rather primitive and disgusting. When I build a house, it'll have a German washing machine and dryer (maybe Korean), and a Japanese toilet.

Re: What Ancient Romans Used Instead of Toilet Paper

#13

Post by jayalpha »

rayiner wrote: post #3

When we moved from Bangladesh to the US in the late 1980s, there were a couple of things that made us go “WTF?” One was the taste of chicken. In Bangladesh, you go buy a scrawny live chicken from the market and butcher it. It took me the better part of a year to be able to stomach American chicken, which tastes like wet cardboard in comparison. The other “WTF” thing was toilet paper. In Bangladesh, you rinse with wat…

Does a bidet really clean you?

Did you buy one in the states?

Re: What Ancient Romans Used Instead of Toilet Paper

#14

Post by astazangasta »

rayiner wrote: post #3

When we moved from Bangladesh to the US in the late 1980s, there were a couple of things that made us go “WTF?” One was the taste of chicken. In Bangladesh, you go buy a scrawny live chicken from the market and butcher it. It took me the better part of a year to be able to stomach American chicken, which tastes like wet cardboard in comparison. The other “WTF” thing was toilet paper. In Bangladesh, you rinse with wat…

Seriously. Especially camping, where the choices are: carry around TP and then some used TP, or, just use water.

Re: What Ancient Romans Used Instead of Toilet Paper

#15

Post by throwmex »

rayiner wrote: post #3

When we moved from Bangladesh to the US in the late 1980s, there were a couple of things that made us go “WTF?” One was the taste of chicken. In Bangladesh, you go buy a scrawny live chicken from the market and butcher it. It took me the better part of a year to be able to stomach American chicken, which tastes like wet cardboard in comparison. The other “WTF” thing was toilet paper. In Bangladesh, you rinse with wat…

As an Indian, I too had this WTF moment. It makes me wonder why paper is still used in the western world. Makes one wonder if there is a TP lobby out there ? We used to make jokes what if a TP user have diarrhea, how many trees will that be ?

If a bird shits on your hand will you use paper or water to clean it ? Its just that simple to comprehend. Just use water damn it. Cheap, hygienic, no left overs and green too !

Re: What Ancient Romans Used Instead of Toilet Paper

#16

Post by mhb »

adminu wrote: post #10

I wonder why so many articles today have so many words but yet so little content? This one has a mile-long introduction. The headlines question could have been answered in rather few words. I feel a short answer had satisfied me. To make it even more frustrating to me the article teases different but-wiping techniques used today without telling me which ones. Thanks for that... I said I wonder why, I guess that was a…

I enjoyed your comment, but would have appreciated it even more if some of the words had said what the Romans used instead of making me look at the TFA.

Re: What Ancient Romans Used Instead of Toilet Paper

#17

Post by mhb »

mhb wrote: post #16
adminu wrote: post #10

I wonder why so many articles today have so many words but yet so little content? This one has a mile-long introduction. The headlines question could have been answered in rather few words. I feel a short answer had satisfied me. To make it even more frustrating to me the article teases different but-wiping techniques used today without telling me which ones. Thanks for that... I said I wonder why, I guess that was a…

I enjoyed your comment, but would have appreciated it even more if some of the words had said what the Romans used instead of making me look at the TFA.

OK here: But instead of reaching for a roll of toilet paper, an ancient Roman would often grab a tersorium (or, in my technical terms, a “toilet brush for your butt”). A tersorium is an ingenious little device made by attaching a natural sponge (from the Mediterranean Sea, of course) to the end of a stick. Our ancient Roman would simply wipe him- or herself, rinse the tersorium in whatever was available (running water and/or a bucket of vinegar or salt water), and leave it for the next person to use. That’s right, it was a shared butt cleaner. (And of course, there were other means of wiping as well, such as the use of abrasive ceramic discs called pessoi.)

Re: What Ancient Romans Used Instead of Toilet Paper

#18

Post by whenchamenia »

bangonkeyboard wrote: post #5
speakeron wrote: post #2

> Speaking of which, it’s high time that we consider changing how we clean ourselves after we use the toilet. Tersorium, anyone? Rather than the Tersorium (basically a shitty sponge), the answer is the bidet or the bidet shower[1] which is common in the Middle East and Asia. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet_shower

Just two degrees of click separation to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shit_stick

That was way more enlightening than a wiki page on excement wands ought to be. A gem hidden in the muck so to speak.

Re: What Ancient Romans Used Instead of Toilet Paper

#19

Post by rayiner »

jayalpha wrote: post #13
rayiner wrote: post #3

When we moved from Bangladesh to the US in the late 1980s, there were a couple of things that made us go “WTF?” One was the taste of chicken. In Bangladesh, you go buy a scrawny live chicken from the market and butcher it. It took me the better part of a year to be able to stomach American chicken, which tastes like wet cardboard in comparison. The other “WTF” thing was toilet paper. In Bangladesh, you rinse with wat…

Does a bidet really clean you? Did you buy one in the states?

Yes, it’s a nice high pressure jet of warm water. At least in Tokyo, toilet paper is also provided, and you can double check by wiping after. They’re definitely going in when we redo the bathrooms in our house.

Re: What Ancient Romans Used Instead of Toilet Paper

#20

Post by whenchamenia »

RandomInteger4 wrote: post #12

Not sure, but ... Pro-Tip: If you come to the US, please throw poopy toilet paper in the toilet and not the little trash can next to the toilet which is meant for women's hygiene products.

This is not true in all cases, if unsure, ask, or look for any helpful hints (signs, presence of tp in garbage) Its really fine either way. Many places not in large cities are on well and septic and perfer you not flush tp unless absolutely needed. "If it didnt come out of your body, it does not belong in sewage" is a better rule of thumb. Just because many americans harmfully use their toilet as a trash can does not make it correct to do so.
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