re: Before port-a-John's, what did large events and tailgating look like?

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Ancient Romans actually had a surprisingly advanced drainage and latrine system. Spectators in the Colosseum used large, communal stone benches positioned over channels of continuously running water.

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Kinda like the old piss troughs in the men’s rooms at Jordan-Hare back in the day.

Double post

Pretty sure even in Ancient Rome those places had bathrooms.

Maybe not running water, but troughs and stalls with a hole in a board to sit on. Bathrooms date back to 3,000 BC in the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia where buildings had bathrooms made of brick with pottery pipe leading to municipal drainage systems. It’s not a modern concept. First flushing toilet was invented in 1596. Widely adopted in mid 1800s. So I’m sure stadiums in the early 1900s had a form of restroom or port a John’s.

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Man that communal sponge…. I just can’t even. I don’t even like sitting on a public toilet seat.

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It’s all relative based on one’s knowledge and available tech. Just like we can’t comprehend living in the south in the 1800s with no AC.

When you don’t know of a better way, then that way is the best way. At the time that was probably relatively sanitary

Galvanized trough 12”x18”x20’ with three drains and a rusty 1 1/2” pipe running the length, dripping water into trough.
Typically a receiver of urine, cigarette butts and the occasional Jim beam miniature.

Going to games with Dad came with a price.

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Man that communal sponge…. I just can’t even. I don’t even like sitting on a public toilet seat.

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I recently watched a history channel special about the logistics of marching legions of Roman soldiers great distances.

Sanitation was a big deal, as marching thousands of men hundreds of miles involved managing a lot of crap. And they were of course concerned about disease.

While the Legion was on the March, they had long wagons with no floor and a bench the men would sit on and just crap on the road as they went. Each wagon had a bucket full of vinegar and that communal sponge on a stick.

When they ran out of vinegar, as would sometimes happen on longer treks, they used salt water from the sea, or just regular old river water.

When they finally made camp somewhere, they would use a similar set up, except instead of the wagon they would put the bench over an open pit.

Now you have a lot to be thankful for next time you take a dump in a modern toilet, wipe your arse with some Downy, in flesh the nasty stuff away.

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Now you have a lot to be thankful for next time you take a dump in a modern toilet, wipe your arse with some Downy, in flesh the nasty stuff away.

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Right? I don't even feel clean anymore without a bidet.

We live in such relative luxury.

There used be people called "dungmen" or "night-soilmen" who would come in wagons to haul everyone's shite away. And that was advanced.

Just think, your arse is cleaner than a Victorian queen's.