When people imagine ancient Rome – the roars of the crowds in the arena, the bustle of the Roman forum, the magnificent temples, the red Roman army with shining shields and armor – they often think of the sight and sound. However, I don’t know much about the aroma of ancient Romans.
Of course, we can’t go back and smell. However, physical ruins of literary texts, structures, objects, and environmental evidence (such as plants and animals) can provide clues.
So, what kind of smell did ancient Rome smell?
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Honestly, it’s often quite ranked
When describing the smell of plants, authors, and naturalist Pliny, the elders use words like Iukundas (ammer possible), Accutus (dry), Vis (strong), or Diltus (weak).
Unfortunately, none of the languages are particularly exciting in their ability to transport us in time.
But perhaps in many areas, it can be safely assumed that Rome is quite dirty and is likely to sniff the rank. Property owners generally did not connect toilets to large towns and cities sewers in Rome.
The Roman sewers were like storm drains and helped to steal standing water from public areas.
Experts have collected fertilizer and urine feces for fabric processing from both domestic and public toilets and cespits. Chamber pots are also used and may later be dumped into the Cespit.
This waste disposal process was only for those who could afford to live in the home. Many lived in small, non-domestic spaces, barely furnished apartments, or on the streets.
The common whims of Roman cities would have come from the animals and waste they produced. Roman bakeries frequently used large lava stone factories (or “Querns”) by mules and donkeys. Then there was the smell of packed animals and livestock brought into town for slaughter and sale.
The large “foot stones” still seen on the streets of Pompeii are likely to allow people to cross the streets and avoid the various fecs covering the pavement stones.
The disposal of the corpses (animals and humans) was not conventional. Depending on the class of the deceased, people may have been left open without cremation or burial.
Potentially decaying remains were more common sights in ancient Rome than they are today.
Written in the first century AD, Suetonius famously wrote about a dog carrying a human hand cut into the cafeteria of Emperor Vespasian.
Deodorizer and toothpaste
In a world where today’s modern fragrant products and daily bathing by most populations are not available, ancient Roman settlements will smell the body.
Classical literature has several recipes for toothpaste and deodorizers.
However, many deodorants have also been used orally (chewed or swallowed) to stop the smell of the armpits.
Related: How did people clean themselves before soap was invented?
One was made by boiling golden thistle roots in fine wine to induce urination (this was thought to wash away odors).
The Roman baths would not have been as hygienic as they might look to tourists visiting today. A small bathtub in a public bath can hold between 8 and 12 bathers.
The Romans had soap, but were not commonly used for personal hygiene. Olive oil (including fragrant oils) was preferred. It was rubbed off the skin with a strigil (a curved bronze tool).
This oil and skin combination was discarded (may have hit a wall). The bath had drains, but it may have been quite dirty as there was no oil and water mixed in.
Fragrance perfume
The Romans had perfumes and incense.
With the invention of blowing glass into the late 1st century BC (presumably in Rome-controlled Jerusalem), glass is readily available, and glass perfume bottles are a common archaeological discovery.
Animal and plant fats were infused with scents such as roses, cinnamon, iris, frankincense, and saffron, and mixed with medicinal ingredients and pigments.
Pastum roses in Campania (South Italy) are particularly well-received, with more perfume shops being excavated at the city’s Roman forum.
The vast Roman trade force meant that spice could be sourced from India and the surrounding regions.
In the heart of Rome was a warehouse that stored spices such as pepper, cinnamon and millus.
In a recent article in the Oxford Journal of Archeology, researcher Cecilie Brøns wrote that even ancient statues can become perfumes with scented oils.
The sources do not frequently explain the smell of perfumes used to oil statues, but inscriptions from the Greek city of Delos (where archaeologists also identify perfume workshops) primarily refers to rose-based perfumes for this purpose. Beeswax may have been added to perfumes as a stabilizer.
Enhancing the scent of the statues (particularly the scent of gods and goddesses) with perfumes and wreaths was important in worship and worship.
Olfactory attack
Ancient cities will smell like human waste, wood smoke, rot and rot, cremated meat, cooked food, perfumes, incense, and more.
It sounds awful to modern people, but the Romans didn’t seem to complain much about the smell of ancient cities.
Perhaps, as historian Neville Morley suggested, for them these were the smell of the house and even the height of civilization.
This edited article will be republished from the conversation under a Creative Commons license. Please read the original article.
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