Using the Potty in Tarsus

This 26mm bronze was minted in Tarsus (the birthplace of Paul) between 164-27 BC. I had to have it because the seated figure appears to be....

 

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Soo...post your coins of Pupienus?

 

LOL, @Aethelred FANTASTIC COIN!!! It just proves that John Crapper did NOT invent this...

PUPIENUS!


RI Pupienus AR denarius bust r Concordia throne patera dbl cornucopiae Seaby 6

 

I don't have a Pupienus (yet), but if I did it would go in this thread.

 

Alas, I have no potty nor Pupienus coins. The OP is awesome

 

Now, that's a great example of pareidolia and cannot be unseen!

 

Someone once posted a Celtic coin which had a post-frathouse party reverse. I don't remember the coin's details but this is in my image file

 

VERY Religious coin... Somber and Solemn ritual of Praying to the Porcelain God... Pouring Libations, etc...

 

Funny!

FAUSTINA MINOR
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL, draped bust right
REVERSE: CONCOR-DIA, Concordia seated left, holding flower & resting left arm on cornucopiae set on globe below seat
Struck at Rome, 152-3 AD
2.9g, 18mm
RIC 502a

And using a jar

PHILIP I
AR Antoninianus
OBVERSE: IMP PHILIPPVS AVG - Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right
REVERSE: ROMAE AETERNAE - Roma seated left on shield holding victory and spear, alter before
Struck at Rome, 247 AD
3.3 g; 22 mm
RIC 65, RSC 171

 

One of my favorite sites in Ostia: the communal toilet. No privacy stalls here, just ancient Romans and port city visitors sitting, ahem, cheek to cheek. And while it might shock modern sensibilities, there's no compelling evidence that these toilets were not co-ed, though I'm not sure there's conclusive evidence either way. (I'd be happy to be corrected on this score.)



The bottom hole is for inserting a sponge on a stick for self-cleaning--the Roman toilet paper.

Since it is still Easter in the U.S., here's an odd holiday tie-in. When Jesus is offered wine and gall on a sponge on a stick (Matt 27:48: "Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink"), it may have been a kind gesture of offering him a type of primitive anesthetic. On the other hand, it could have been a scornful gesture--a bitter drink offered to Jesus using the same medium men used to clean themselves in the latrine--a sponge on a stick. I find the latter interpretation more convincing in context:

48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.” 50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

 

Here's a nice (?) image from this website: http://www.romanaqueducts.info/aquasite/foto/toilettekening.jpg

 

Lol. She's all set up with some reading material too!

 

The Roma Daily!

 

oh man, college! good times. good times.

wish i remembered more of them.


man, wouldn't have made it as a roman.

 

these coins are just early variants of... commode ...us?? (considered a god-like deity by self )

 

Ostia was fantastic; could have spent an entire day there. Here's my own picture of the communal toilets:



And an example of the sponge used:



The sponge was rinsed in the constantly running water that flowed in the trough visible on the floor of the facility. At least in Herculaneum, users purchased a fresh sponge that was theirs to keep. Apparently in Ostia the sponges were left in the facility for reuse (yechh!) but maybe the running water was sufficient to clean the sponges. I’m somehow reminded of the modern-day equivalent of this sponge:

 

A very amusing thread LOL

I guess this is the closest I have to an ancient porta-potty....

Thrace, Byzantion. Ca. 240-200 B.C. AR tetradrachm (26 mm, 12.43 g, 12 h). Athanaion, magistrate. Veiled and wreathed head of Demeter right / ΠY, Poseidon seated right on rocks, holding trident and aphlaston; monogram to left, [E]ΠI AΘANAIΩN[OS] in exergue. Schönert-Geiss 1002 (V13/R20); cf. SNG BM Black Sea 59-61.

 

I have the maturity of a 5 year old, so potty coins are right up my alley!

I'll be over at Vcoins if you need me.

Erin

 

I’m really getting far afield from the OP post. Sorry. But where else can I share the (in)famous “Old English Toilet Letter”?

Ælfric, writing ca. 990 A.D., tells “Brother Edward” that he has heard that rural women will eat while they are in the privy. He condemns the practice as being really gross, and he instructs Brother Edward to admonish them to quit eating while on the toilet!

Perhaps the combination of the Ostian public toilet images and this Anglo-Saxon letter demonstrates that ancient and medieval persons were much less fastidious about the body and its functions than we are.

The translation comes from Swanton, ANGLO-SAXON PROSE (Penguin). An OE text can be found here: http://www.oenewsletter.org/OEN/print.php/essays/clayton40_3/Array