EVOLUTION OF TOILETS THROUGH THE MILLENNIA
Something most people don’t realize or think about is that toilets have evolved a lot over the last couple centuries. This article helps summarize some of the most popular and innovative in Ancient Civilizations. After researching, it quickly becomes clear how much each toilet’s “predecessor” had an influence on what the toilet is today and what they were back then.
Ancient Mesopotamia
(Fourth – Second Millennium BC):
Ancient Mesopotamians discarded their waste in two main
ways, one by burying waste after defecation (cesspits), and
the other through some form of canals/pipes (Antoniou, 3)
Another popular method was the permeability of streets – this
was used when canals were not an option. Solid waste was
problematic when the cesspits were close to rainwater collection sites, because there was risk of contamination. There were
two forms of toilets, “squat’ and “seat” types, which are
self-explanatory. The squat method is still very common in the
Middle East to this day.
Figure 1 | Mesopotamian Pipes
Figure 2 | Minoan Toilet System
Minoan Civilization
(3000 – 1350 BC): Until
the Roman times, Minoans actually had the
most evolved form of plumbing in the Western
World (Antoniuo, 8). The weather varied a lot
and they had little access to water, both of
these influenced their system. Because of the
lack of water, Minoans usually flushed “by
hand”, by pouring water down the drain to
clear it of waste. Evidence shows that toilets
were private affairs for the Minoans, there are
no signs of public restrooms and residential
restrooms were within small rooms.
Indus Valley Civilization
(3200 – 1900 BC): This
civilization is among one of the most developed of its
time, meaning that its people lived a very luxurious
life that included proper sanitation, brick houses,
developed streets, drainage systems, etc. The Indus
Valley toilets were similar to the Minoans’. Almost
every residence in the civilization had its own toilet,
and the government provided public restrooms for
those who could not afford their own (Antoniuo, 13).
Figure 3 | Indus Streets
Figure 4 | Pigsty Art Piece
Early Chinese Dynasties
(770 BC – 220AD): In the
Han Dynasty, toilets were usually
built in or near a pigsty, implying
that they used human waste to feed
pigs. However, in Japanese culture,
there were devices that flushed. The
most common type involved the
squatting method.
Classical Greek
and Hellenistic
Periods
Figure 5 | Greek Keyhole Shaped Toilet
(5th c. – 1st c. BC):
The amount of ruins make it hard to infer what devices the Greeks
were using during this time period but it is assumed that it was
something similar to the Mycenaean, as well as the use of pots.
(Antoniuo, 15). Ancient Greek lavatories were mainly public, and
used toilet seat vessels that had keyhole shaped openings for
defecation, all of which were cantilevered above the chutes.
The Roman
Period
Figure 6 | Roman Public Lavatory
The Roman Period (1st c. BC – 4th c. AD):
Roman toilets were both public and private.
The keyhole shaped openings were popular
here as well, and allowed for water to flow
beneath the public toilet seats, clearing all of
the waste at once. Depending on the
geography, cesspits were more or less
popular, because the land would influence
how waste could flow.
Figure 7 | Guarderobe
Medieval European Practices (8th
c. – 15th c. AD): There isn’t a lot of
evidence on lavatories during this
era because of all the ruins, but we
do know that private bathrooms
existed in the form of guarderobes.
This was basically a hole in the
floor that protruded out of the
castle, this allowed for the waste to
‘disappear’ instantly by falling into
the moat below (Antoniuo, 27).
The Byzantine Practices (4th – 14th c. AD): A lot
of this civilizations’ construction was inspired by
Greek and Roman designs. Most of the methods
and construction designs used indicate that
privacy was promoted through single user toilets
and walls to divide them. Bathrooms tended to
be located on the perimeter of buildings for the
sewage system. Multi-seat lavatories were
popular in monastic buildings, but there are still
some surviving ruins of private bathrooms. It is
unclear how water was used, but it is presumed
that buckets of water were used to flush away
the waste.
European and Byzantine Practices
Bibliography
Antoniou, Georgios p, and Giovanni De Feo. “Evolution of Toilets Worldwide through the Millenia .” Sustainability, Edited by Marc A Rosen, 13 Aug. 2016, pp. 1–55., doi:https://www.mdpi.com/