Sanitation.

[Gaius Octavius]

What, and how did the Romans collect and dispose of refuse from their streets and buildings?

[Lost_Warrior]

In some places they had "drains" from the bath houses and the streets into the rivers, I guess somewhat like our modern storm drains. (The cloacima maxima, also known as the Great Drain comes to mind, although I am positive I have spelled it wrong. )

 

I'm also fairly certain they had channels at the edges of the streets, with water running through them to wash away refuse and...whatever else may be in the streets.

 

At least in the Legions, latrines were dug out, daily or weekly (of course, what this entailed was anything but sanitary!)

[Gaius Octavius]

I was thinking more in terms of throwing an old pot away or wood, leather, marble chips, etc. Stuff like that.

[Lost_Warrior]

On that, I have no idea. I guess I never really thought of it.

 

They may have buried it, similar to what we do. I have read of wine amphorae, once used, being abandoned in a large pit of some variety; at least, that's where they found them, in a pit or along a beach somewhere. (they could not be reused because the terra cotta absorbed the wine and it would have become "skunky")

 

It's also possible that they did what many modern people like to do with their garbage, and that is, throw it into the river, or into the sea. Out've sight, out've mind.

 

Considering that they didn't have the kind of materials we have today, plastics and the like, there may not be much evidence left of how some things were disposed of. Plastic doesn't biodegrade, but an old toga does. My guess is that we would have to turn to literary references to find much of the information, but I'm unfamiliar with most ancient literary works.

[Antiochus of Seleucia]

Reading a national geographic, they found a roman dump; essentially what we do- a big hole in the ground.

[Ursus]

I do believe AoS is right - they dug garbage pits outside the communities. As LW mentioned, most of the stuff degraded after 2000 years. The Roman garbage that survived are broken pottery shards and such.

[DecimusCaesar]

The Romans rarely wasted their material and so only a little of what they have thrown away has survived. It's obvious that a lot of the organic material like leather would rot away. According to an article I read in 'British Archaeology' a few years back, rubbish in some ancient societes was set out in such a a structured order, that a lot of people considered that some rubbish was ritually thrown away.

[Gaius Octavius]

Reading a national geographic, they found a roman dump; essentially what we do- a big hole in the ground.

 

Would this be the case in a large city like Rome?

[Divi Filius]

Most likely the garbage was heaped into the Tiber. Rome was a tough city to live in, even during the empirial highpoints. Humid, smelly and hot. People not accustumed to it became sick very shortly after entering it, especially so during the summer months.

 

Tacitus mentions how quickly the quartered Germans became sick, even more so after they drank water from the Tiber when they became dehydrated...

[caldrail]

A great deal is made of the roman sewage system but I don't think it was anything like as effective as some people think. In any case, I only know of a sewage system in the City of Rome, nowhere else. Particularly in poor quarters, people would throw crap out of the window just as any other time and place. We humans are mucky devils!

 

Take a look at pompeii. These days the streets are sun bleached and quite clean, but notice the stepping stones across the street. During its occupancy the road was probably messy and stank like something awful. That would be typical of a town at that level of civic development.

 

Waste pits have been found, and this would be a way of disposing of bulk waste that the street couldn't clear by rain and decay. The river tiber is known to have carried away a lot of waste too, including bodies of the masses slain in the arena. Like third world nations today, each town by a river might use it for all manner of purposes without too much concern of what was going on upstream.

 

In each habitation there would be a locally acceptable place or method to dispose of rubbish.

[Gaius Octavius]

I thought that those 'stepping stones' were there to prevent carriages and horse riders from racing down the vias.?

Edited March 12, 2007 by Gaius Octavius

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

I thought that those 'stepping stones' were there to prevent carriages and horse riders from racing down the vias.?

 

I've read somewhere that the 'stepping stones' were used by the Pompeiians to cross the street during heavy rainfall.?

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

After a bit of digging I found these pictures........

 

The picture below shows a wide road with three stepping stones. Ruts were formed in these roads only near the stepping stones to guide the carts through them.

 

 

And this one shows a typical narrow street in Pompeii. One stepping stone allows people to cross the road. The kerbs are higher than today's, mainly because the streets were regularly flooded to wash dust and debris away.

 

[Gaius Octavius]

Just regurgitating what a guide told me. Note how the roadway is arched. If the street were flooded, the debris and water would fly up onto the 'sidewalks'. Not quite the object of the exercise. It would hinder speeding and racing and allow for drainage though. But just a guess, and surely could be wrong.

Edited March 12, 2007 by Gaius Octavius

[Northern Neil]

I only know of a sewage system in the City of Rome, nowhere else.

York had an extensive sewer system which was discovered by accident in the 1970's. I have scoured the web for photos, but cannot find any - although I have seen photos, which show vaulted tunnels in very good condition. These sewers are still doing their job, whilst Victorian ones nearby are starting to crumble. Check this out... http://72.30.186.56/search/cache?p=Roman+S...=1&.intl=uk

 

I believe that if sewers were present at York, they must have been pretty universal. I have seen with my own eyes toilets at Vaison La Romaine (Southern France) with stone benches, in which are keyhole shaped holes for citizens to sit upon. A run - off from the bath house flushed the excrement away.

Edited April 2, 2007 by Northern Neil