Part 8

"And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shall turn back and cover that which cometh from thee."

No doubt the object of Moses in promulgating that law was to preserve cleanliness about camp and to hide offensive matter from sight in the least odorous way. Nevertheless no more sanitary method could have been adopted. Deposited as the soil was, in small quantities, just underneath the surface of the ground it was soon reduced to harmless compounds by the teeming bacteria in the living earth.

Recent explorations in Jerusalem have brought to light extensive drains for the removal from the vicinity of the temples of offensive matters peculiar to the bloody sacrifices of that ancient people; and in an August, 1905, issue of the Scientific American, Edgar James Banks, field director of the Babylonian expedition of the University of Chicago, gives an interesting description of house drains and sewage disposal wells constructed at Bismya some 4,500 years ago. The following account is abstracted from that article:

"Babylonia is perfectly level. From Bagdad to the Persian Gulf there is not the slightest elevation save for the artificial mounds or an occasional changing sand drift. In most places there is a crust of hard clay upon the surface, baked by the hot sun of summer time so hard that it resembles stone. Beneath the crust, which at Bismya is seldom more than 4 feet in thickness and in places entirely lacking, is loose caving sand reaching to an unknown depth.

"Drainage in such a country, without sloping hills or streams of running water, might tax the ingenuity of the modern builder. In constructing a house, the ancient Sumerian of more than 6,000 years ago first dug a hole into the sand to a considerable depth. At Bismya several instances were found where the shaft had reached the depth of 45 feet beneath the foundation of the house. From the bottom he built up a vertical drain of large cylindrical terra cotta sections, each of which is provided with grooved flanges to receive the one above. The sections of one drain were about 19 inches in diameter and 23½ inches in height; others were larger and much shorter. The thickness of the wall was about 1.06 inches. The tiles were punctured at intervals with small holes of about ¾ inch in diameter. The section at the top of the drain was semi-spherical, fitting over it like a cap and provided with an opening to receive the water from above. Sand and potsherds were then filled in about the drain and it was ready for use. The water pouring into it was rapidly absorbed by the sand at the bottom, and if there it became clogged the water escaped through the holes in the sides of the tiles.

"The temple at Bismya was provided with several such drains. One palace was discovered with four. A large bath resembling a modern Turkish bath and provided with bitumen floor, sloping to one corner, emptied its waste water into one. The toilets in the private houses of 6,000 years ago were almost identical with those of the modern Arab house—a small oblong hole in the floor, without a seat. Several found in Bismya were provided with vertical drains beneath.

"In clearing out the drains a few of them whose openings had been exposed were filled with the drifting sand. Others were half full of the filth of long past ages. In one at the temple we removed dozens of shallow terra cotta drinking cups not unlike a large saucer in shape and size. Evidently it received the waste water of the drinking fountain and the cups had accidentally dropped within.

"In the Bismya temple platform, constructed about 2750 B. C., we discovered a horizontal drain of tile, each of which was about 3 feet long and 6 inches in diameter and not unlike in shape those at present employed. It conducted the rain water from the platform to one of the vertical drains. One tile was so well constructed that for a long time it served as a chimney for our house, until my Turkish overseer suggested that its dark, smoked end project from the battlements of the house to convince the Arabs that we were well fortified; thus it served as a gun until the close of the excavations."

The first sewers of Rome were built between 800 and 735 B. C., and therefore antedate the first aqueduct by between 440 and 487 years. It is evident, therefore, that as originally planned the sewers of Rome were intended to carry off the surface water and in other ways serve to drain the site of the ancient city. Indeed, the Cloaca Maxima, which was constructed during the period of the Kings, from 735 to 510 B. C., was intended to drain the marshy hollow between the Capitoline, Palatine and Esquiline hills, and afterwards, by a process of development, became part of a combined sewage system for the city.

That the engineers who designed the sewerage system of Rome had a clear conception of the service expected of such drains, is evidenced by the manner in which the system was proportioned. The pipes gradually enlarged from their extremities in the buildings through all the ramifications of the system until they finally reached the outlet at a bulkhead or quay-wall in the Tiber. It is stated by early writers that so complete was this system of sewers that every street in the ancient city was drained by a branch into the Tiber.

The Cloaca Maxima was one of the largest and most celebrated of the ancient sewers. The solidity of this structure can be judged by the fact that it has been in uninterrupted service for over 2,400 years, and at the present time is still in use, with no signs of immediate failure. The arches were made of neatly jointed stones fitted together without cement. It is stated by Pliny that a cart loaded with hay could pass down the Cloaca Maxima. It should be borne in mind, however, that a Roman cart and load of hay were of smaller dimensions than a modern one. The actual dimensions of the mouth of the sewer are 11 feet wide by 12 feet high. The lateral branches of the main sewer were of a size in proportion with their requirements and in proportion to the main or trunk sewer. The dimensions of these sewers are evidenced by the service they performed for Nero, who threw into them the unfortunate victims of his nightly riots.

While each street in Rome was provided with an adequate sewer, it is more than probable that only a small percentage of the population had branches extending into their houses. In those that had, the latrines were located adjacent to the kitchen, where through the untrapped end of the sewer noxious gases were continually arising to vitiate the surrounding air. The only ventilation the sewers of Rome had was through these untrapped ends.

Many of the houses of Rome were lofty and inhabited near the top by the poor, who—drainage systems not extending above the first floor—had very imperfect means for carrying off rubbish and other accumulations. A practice seems to have grown up then of throwing such liquid and solid matter from the windows, sometimes to the discomfort or injury of hapless pedestrians.

To provide against accidents due to this cause, the Dejecti Effusive Act was passed, which gave damages against a person who threw or poured out anything from a place or upper chamber upon a road frequented by passersby, or on a place where people used to stand. The act, however, gave damages only when the person was injured, but nothing was recoverable if the wearing apparel was damaged. A strange provision of this act was that it applied only in the daytime and not to the night, which, however, was the most dangerous time for passersby.

(See page iv)]

SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER. Origin of Bathing—Early Greek Baths—Roman Private Baths—Public Baths of Rome—Ruins of Baths of Caracalla—Description of the Thermæ—The Thermæ of Titus at Rome—Baths of Pompeii—Heating Water for Roman Baths—Thermæ of Titus Restored.

The value of bathing for pleasure, cleanliness and health was early realized by the ancients, who in many cases made the daily bath part of their religious ritual, with the hope of thus inducing a practice that would, from constant observance, become a habit not easy to overcome, and which would be a lasting benefit to the health of the individual and a safeguard to the community.

It perhaps was among the Greeks that bath tubs were first introduced. The early Greek bathing vessels (see preceding woodcuts) were made of polished marble, shaped something like a punch bowl, stood about 30 inches high, and were not occupied by the bather as in a modern bath tub, but served only to hold the water which was applied to the bather by an attendant, who dashed or poured, as circumstances required, a vessel full of water on his head or body. Both woodcuts shown were reproduced from ancient Greek vases and convey a fair idea of the way these baths were used. One of the bathers is shown with an iron, bone, bronze or ivory instrument called a strigilis, in his hand, which was used to scrape off perspiration when the bather emerged from the hot room, or induced a flow by exercising in the gymnasium, which was generally connected with the baths. The inscription on the woodcut, representing men bathing, shows that this was a public bath, and is probably the earliest picture of a bathing establishment extant. The women's bath bowl differed but slightly from the men's. It was a trifle lower and considerably deeper, but the method of using was the same as for the men.

While the Greeks were prior to the Romans in the use of the bath, they considered it effeminate to use warm water, and consequently their bathing establishments never attained the luxury and splendor that later marked the Roman baths. When bath tubs were first introduced into Rome, the wealthy inhabitants fitted up their houses with a bathroom much as do the people of our own time. As the luxury, pleasure and benefit of the bath became better known, more elaborate bathing facilities similar to a modern Turkish bath were installed. In some houses several rooms were devoted to this purpose. The anointment of the body with oils was one of the characteristics of a Roman bath. The practice was indulged in by people of both sexes, and the time when applied depended much on the treatment the bather was taking. For instance, most bathers anointed the body as the finishing touch of the bath, while some bathers applied the oil before going to the hot or sweat room.

No luxury can be monopolized by the rich, and it was not long before public bathing establishments, in which a small entrance fee was charged, were built by private capital. Following quickly on the heels of these private enterprises, came the establishment of public baths, then, according to the authority of Pliny, for 600 years Rome needed no medicine but the public baths.

When the public baths were first instituted they were only for the lower classes, who alone bathed in public. The people of wealth and those who held positions of state bathed in their own homes. But this monopoly of the poor was not long enjoyed. In the process of time even the emperors bathed in public among their subjects, and we read of the abandoned Gallienus amusing himself by bathing in the midst of the young and old of both sexes, men, women and children.

In the earlier stages of Roman history a much greater delicacy was observed with respect to promiscuous bathing, even among men, than obtained at a later period. Virtue passed away as wealth increased, and the public baths became places of meeting and amusement where not only did men bathe together in numbers, but even men and women stripped and bathed promiscuously in the same bath.

Some idea of the magnitude of the baths at Rome can be gained from a statement of the number of bathers they could accommodate at one time. The baths of Diocletian, which were perhaps the most commodious of them all, could accommodate at one time 3,200 bathers. One hall of this famous bathing institution was at a later date converted by Michael Angelo into the church of St. Marie de gli Angeli.

The baths of Caracalla, built A. D. 212, were perhaps the most famous of the baths of Rome. They were not as commodious however as many other baths, and they had accommodations at one time for only 1,600 bathers, or just one-half that could be accommodated by the baths of Diocletian.

The following description of the Roman baths, together with the historical sketch of the people of that period who indulged in the luxury, is abstracted from an old dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities, published in London, England, almost a century ago. The illustrations are from woodcuts appearing in the article.

"In the earlier ages of Roman history a much greater delicacy was observed with respect to promiscuous bathing, even among the men, than was usual among the Greeks; for according to Valerius Maximus, it was deemed indecent for a father to bathe in company with his own son after he had attained the age of puberty, or son-in-law with his father-in-law, the same respectful reserve being shown to blood and affinity as was paid to the temples of the gods, toward whom it was considered an act of irreligion even to appear naked in any of the places consecrated to their worship. But virtue passed away as wealth increased, and when the thermæ came into use, not only did the men bathe together in numbers, but even men and women stripped and bathed promiscuously in the same bath. It is true, however, that the public establishment often contained separate baths for both sexes adjoining each other, as will be seen to have been also the case at the baths of Pompeii. Aulus Gellius relates a story of a consul's wife who took a whim to bathe at Teano, a small provincial town of Campania, in the men's baths, probably because in a small town the female department, like that at Pompeii, was more confined and less convenient than that assigned to the men, and an order was consequently given to the quaestor to turn the men out. But whether the men and women were allowed to use each other's chambers indiscriminately, or that some of the public baths had only one common set of baths for both, the custom prevailed under the empire of men and women bathing indiscriminately together. This custom was forbidden by Hadrian, and Alexander Severus prohibited any baths common to both sexes from being opened in Rome.

When the public baths were first instituted they were only for the lower orders, who alone bathed in public, the people of wealth, as well as those who formed the Equestrian and Senatorian orders, using private baths in their own houses. But this monopoly was not long enjoyed, for as early even as the time of Julius Cæsar, we find no less a personage than the mother of Augustus making use of the public establishments, which were probably at that time separated from the men's, and, in process of time, even the emperors themselves bathed in public with the meanest of the people. Thus Hadrian often bathed in public among the herd, and even the virtuous Alexander Severus took his bath among the populace in the thermæ he had himself erected, as well as in those of his predecessors, and returned to the palace in his bathing dress; and the abandoned Gallienus amused himself by bathing in the midst of the young and old of both sexes, men, women and children.

The baths were opened at sunrise and closed at sunset, but in the time of Alexander Severus, it would appear that they were kept open nearly all night, for he is stated to have furnished oil for his own thermæ, which previously were not opened before daybreak and were shut before sunset; and Juvenal includes in his catalogue of female immoralities that of taking the bath at night, which may, however, refer to private baths.