re: 10 Truly Disgusting Facts About Ancient Roman Life

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4. Dangerous Places Had Drawings Of Penises For Good Luck

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Does this explain all of the dick drawings in public restroom stalls?

That's why they say "the past is a foreign country." It's like a whole other world.

In this case, the past of a foreign country is a really crazy arse foreign country.

I wonder what Romans would think of us if they could come here for a visit. They would likely go to that new Ben Hur movie and laugh their asses off.

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I wonder what Romans would think of us if they could come here for a visit. They would likely go to that new Ben Hur movie and laugh their asses off.

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You mean after they got over the shock of figuring out what something as simple as a movie theater is?

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You mean after they got over the shock of figuring out what something as simple as a movie theater is?

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See how much fun we could have with Romans? We need to get some, bruh!

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10. People Washed Their Mouths Out With Urine

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Actually pretty smart. There's science that backs the benefits of urine as mouth wash.

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9. You Shared a Sponge After Pooping

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Well that's gross

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5. Pompeii Was Filled With Obscene Art

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What's wrong with that?

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4. Dangerous Places Had Drawings Of Penises For Good Luck

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Sounds kinda funny. Wish I could've witnessed that.

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2. Romans Vomited So They Could Keep Eating

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Sounds like modern day supermodels. Not so different from us....

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1. Charioteers Drank An Energy Drink Made Of Goat Dung

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So what? As long as it worked who cares? Do you know what's in Redbull? I don't. For all I know Redbull is much worse for us than Goat Dung Energy...

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10. People Washed Their Mouths Out With Urine

9. You Shared a Sponge After Pooping

8. Toilets Regularly Exploded

7. Gladiator Blood Was Used As Medicine

6. Women Rubbed Dead Skin Cells Of Gladiators On Their Faces

5. Pompeii Was Filled With Obscene Art

4. Dangerous Places Had Drawings Of Penises For Good Luck

3. Romans Hold The First Recorded Mooning

2. Romans Vomited So They Could Keep Eating

1. Charioteers Drank An Energy Drink Made Of Goat Dung

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All of which can be found on liveleak.

I remember reading in a history magazine some years back about the ubiquitous pornographic drawings written throughout Pompeii. It said since they found so much pornographic writing and drawings that it may not have been brothels, but simply graffiti – a LOT of graffiti. Everywhere.

The archaeologists realized this stuff was written on nearly every wall, so it couldn't be *just* brothels since that would have meant more brothels than houses. So they think most Roman cities had lots of graffitti, everywhere. If you saw the HBO miniseries Rome, the sets had graffiti over all the public walls. Pornographic drawings and obscene words and phrases written on scattered walls (all in latin of course). Some of the phrases were extremely crude and explicit, so if you read latin you could read them on TV.

Remember, there's *no* police or anything like that. You didn't go out after dark without private, hired, armed guards. Armed organized gangs were defacto rulers of sections of Rome itself, like, well, the mafia. Wealthy houses were like forts - basically a gigantic wall with one or two (guarded) entrances surrounding large, open areas, rooms and fountains for wealthy people to live. The plebs lived in tumble down rental slum apartments which occasionally collapsed or burned.

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Well, when you're out of listerine...

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Original Listerine is yellow. Listurine?

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Original Listerine is yellow. Listurine?

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And tasted like piss

Central heating left Britain with the Roman Empire's demise in the fifth century, and did not return until the 19th century.