Today’s toilets are designed with an extremely unique purpose, moreover, with human comfort and hygiene in mind. However, thousands of years ago, the concept of a toilet was very different from now. Toilets also had a great importance in the lives of ancient societies.
Toilets similar to the modern meaning were used for the first time in Ancient Egypt
”Domestic” toilets appeared for the first time in the fertile lands of Ancient Egypt, about 5 thousand years ago today
Toilets were not ordinary places where Egyptians met only their human needs. Toilets also had a great importance in the social life of Ancient Egypt…
Toilets were a status indicator in Ancient Egypt
The most important status indicator in the geography of ancient Egypt was the toilet!
The rich of ancient Egypt built the seats of the toilets in their homes from limestone so that they could achieve the status they deserved in social life. The poor people of Egypt, on the other hand, used an ordinary board with a hole in the middle.
The first sewage system in history appeared in Pakistan around 2500 BC
Residents of the city called “Mohenjo-daro” in Pakistan had uncovered a sewage system using bricks to drain toilet waste from the city
In the Roman Empire, people used toilets to socialize
The ancient Romans were a fairly clean people compared to many civilizations, both before them and after them. Jul. 9 century BC. public toilets and sewage system were extremely widespread in many regions of the empire in the XVII century.
The Romans often Decamped together in the toilets to socialize. In fact, many political figures in Rome especially preferred toilets to exchange ideas on political issues
Toilets in the Middle Ages were in a rather interesting structure
Medieval toilets were located in small rooms called “garderobe” in the interiors of large castles. However, the castle toilets were designed to form a ledge on the outer wall of the castle
Thanks to this, toilet waste could be easily drained. For the evacuation process, a pit was opened at the level where the toilets were usually located and the waste accumulated in these pits. Later, the officials, who were called ”Night Workers”, were cleaning the waste accumulated in the pits.
The idea of using siphons in toilets appeared for the first time in 1449
A man named Thomas Brightfield, who lives in England, designed a toilet with a reservoir where rainwater accumulates and a waste evacuation mechanism. However, the first example that can be considered the ancestor of the modern siphon was invented in England by a man named John Harrington in 1596.
However, in the England of the period, there was no sewage system suitable for the use of flush toilets. Therefore, it took a long time for flush toilets to become widespread…
The case of the “Big Smell”, which occurred in the capital of England, London, in 1850, was one of the most significant events that led to a change in the history of the toilet
in 1850, an event called the Great Smell had occurred. The waste accumulated in the river for decades has caused an unbearable smell and the appearance of various epidemics due to the influence of hot weather. The authorities, who had to take action due to the Big Smell, have started work on the construction of a new sewer line with a length of 1,800 kilometers in London. This event made the sewage system widespread all over Europe in the following years and played an important role in changing the concept of toilets.
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