The definition of "clean" is extremely relative. Hygiene standards vary throughout the world, and they've changed drastically throughout history. Baths were only a weekly occurrence for most people even just a century ago. What people further back in history did to stay clean is even stranger. Here are weird things the ancients thought about cleaning. The ancient Romans left behind a ton of writing, and they weren't shy about their habits. The poet Catullus once wrote about how nice it was to brush your teeth with urine, for example. According to the Smithsonian, the ammonia in urine acted as a bleaching agent, leading to those oh-so-desirable pearly whites. It's possible they refined the urine into ammonia before putting it in their mouths. Hopefully.
Archaeologists are still learning about what went on in Rome's public baths. According to researchers from the University of Iowa, artifacts recovered from pool drains included plenty of perfume vials, oil flasks, and nail cleaners, among other things, including teeth. There were enough teeth that they think Romans were going to baths for socializing, pampering, and some dentistry at the same time.
The Romans had to find ways to keep those clothes clean, too. And just like for their teeth, the ammonia in urine was how they kept their whites white and their colors bright.
William Smith described the process in A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, and it makes doing laundry today look easy. Most Romans wore wool, and given how hot it is in Italy, their clothes needed a lot of washing. An ancient Roman laundromat was called a fullonica, and it was staffed by fullones. It was their job to stomp on clothes in vats of liquid to wash them; that liquid was most commonly a mix of animal and human urine. Collecting all that urine was a part of the fullones' job, too. Most often, they would stand on street corners with buckets, hoping passers-by would take the opportunity to relieve themselves. Tough job.
After washing, white clothes would be further whitened by being hung in a basket over sulfur fumes, further proving that history smelled absolutely terrible.
People have always tried to take care of their teeth to avoid dentists, or in the earliest cases, having to ask their neighbor to knock a molar out with a rock. Mankind had pretty decent teeth until farming and carbs were common, but people living in Sudan around 2,000 years ago had shockingly great teeth. Only about 1 percent of them had cavities or signs of tooth decay, and it wasn't until 2014 that researchers figured out why. Keep watching the video to see all the gross ways our ancestors used to clean themselves!
#AncientRome #Cleanliness
Ancient Rome's urine obsession | 0:20
4 out of 5 ancient dentists agree | 2:00
Bath beans with pig guts | 3:08
The smell of sulfur dioxide | 4:10
Oil, oil everywhere | 5:12
Butt brushes and vengeance wipes | 6:08
Cleanliness vs. culture | 8:07
Lysol...where? | 9:31
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