Romans

1,900 years ago the Romans knew that going barefoot in a public bathroom was a bad idea, so they wore bathroom flip-flops.

by

The image above these lines illustrating the article belongs to the reconstruction of the Roman public baths in Bath, about 550 kilometers from one of the most prolific Roman sites: Vindolanda, also in Britain and next to Hadrian’s Wall. That’s where just found a fairly common item nowadays when we go to public bathrooms: bathing clogs, a kind of primitive bathing flip-flops. Of course, these are almost 2,000 years old. The Roman bathing slippers. The discovery dates back to between 140 and 180 AD. C. and is possibly the world’s oldest example of a shower shoe. The sole is a wooden platform with a leather strap on top to support the foot. Come on, a traditional flip flop, what the Romans called sculponeae. As explains Elizabeth Greene, an archaeologist at the University of Western Ontario, more than 5,000 Roman shoes have been found in Vindolanda and about 50 of them are bathing clogs. Most have platforms between 2.5 and 5 centimeters high and while some were smooth, others had geometric decorations or shapes. That they found so many clogs in that search implies that it was not something random, but rather the order of the day. And it makes sense: the Romans used these platform clogs to protect themselves from bathroom floors, slippery from steam and water, and hot from the heating system. hypocaust. Why is it important. Because Vindolanda It is UNESCO World Heritage and one of the most important Roman sites in Europe. The main reason why Vindolanda is a real treasure trove for archeology is that the organic remains of items such as clogs (made of wood and leather) have been moderately well preserved thanks to the layers of oxygen-free mud. On the other hand, it shows that preventive hygiene is not a modern invention: these primitive flip-flops constitute documented proof of the practice that dates back about 1,900 years, which is directly related to preventive medicine and the functional design of footwear. Context. The Roman baths were meeting places: whoever went there undressed and went from a cold room to a warm room to finally reach a hot room. When leaving, he finished with a cold water bath. To heat the rooms there was an underground oven that functioned as underfloor heating. Considering the estimated date of the clog, it falls within the period of the emperors Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, when Vindolanda was an active military fort on the northern border of Britain. Who wore those bathroom clogs?. As a military fort that it was, what was abundant there were Roman soldiers and their families. However, the CEO of The Vindolanda Trust poses in the official podcast of the site a revealing question: why is there so little evidence that children used the bathrooms? (they have not found child-sized clogs), which suggests that access may have been conditioned by age, status or other social norms. It is known that at one time there were mixed baths, but it is most likely that men and women with children bathed at different times. The oldest bathroom flip flops ever known. It is true that there are much older samples of sandals, such as those of King Tutankhamun, from about 3,300 years ago; or those of the Etruscans of the 6th century BC But as nuance Elizabeth Semmelhack, director of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, none of these were intended for use in bathrooms. In fact, the National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) public in 2025 the discovery of two wooden soles of the sculponae type in Izernore (France), slightly earlier than those at Vindolanda, although the official source does not specifically associate them with use in bathrooms. It is in the specific application that makes the difference. In Xataka | The Romans found a macabre and sophisticated way to use perfume: breaking pigeons’ necks (made of glass) In Xataka | Almost 2,000 years ago a Celtiberian soldier visited the most remote frontier of the Roman Empire. Then he returned to Soria with a souvenir Cover | Diliff

2,000 years ago the Romans sold perfumes in glass doves that could only be opened by breaking their necks.

by

Despite their great efforts, the cities of the Roman Empire they didn’t smell good and well, it makes sense: they lived in conditions of high fecal contamination and also they used feces as medicine. Of course, to Caesar what belongs to Caesar: they had bottles to store their ointments and oils that, like the best current perfumes, promised a lot. Without going any further, the two bottles you see above these lines date from the 1st century AD, are from the Roman Empire and belong to the MET collection. Because from then on they knew that the (good) smell, coming from anointing oneself after bathing in hot springs, from incense from temples or from burials, was something more: it could be a language of status, identity and power. So for those smells they needed a container at their height that would turn the task of perfuming themselves into almost a ritual. For example, a dove. Dove-shaped jars. The ointments of the Romans were, in a nutshell, something like today’s ampoules: small ceramic or glass containers where they stored oils, commercial products or substances for funeral practices. blown glass arrive In the 1st century BC and 200 years later, the Romans were true virtuosos of glass manufacturing both in quality and quantity: according to the Penn Museummanufactured up to 100 million containers a year. These curious zoomorphic specimens in the shape of a bird and the size of which fit in the palm of the hand became so popular that they constitute a subcategory in themselves within their unguentary and it is common to find it in deposits. The method of use was practically identical to a vial: you have to break that small neck to access the contents inside. In this case, literally breaking the bird’s neck. In addition to its aesthetic value, they met their goal when storing valuable ointments: it protected the contents from excessive exposure to oxygen and helped to dose the amount poured. Why is it important. Converting ointment bottles into something more sophisticated in the shape of a bird constitutes one of the first and most striking cases of packaging and user experience (imagine that unboxing of an influencer of the time). Have a glass jar and also with this type of shapes It was a status indicator.as witnessed by the art of that period, where we see men and women perfumed after a visit to the hot springs. On the other hand and leaving aside the shape, these jars are the vestiges of the imperial commercial network: spices from India, resins from Arabia and locally grown flowers were used to make perfumes and ointments. If they also go to the laboratory, they constitute a valuable source of chemical data on Roman civilization and its customs. Without going any further, a laboratory analysis allowed identify a primal patchouli in an exhibition in Carmona (Seville). Context. Among these zoomorphic glasses the dove was the star: archaeological evidence suggests that the dove was one of the first birds domesticated by humans, so people learned its habits and characteristics and used it for messaging. On the spiritual level, they introduced it into their religious rituals and mythology. Thus, the dove was the sacred animal of Venus and she was often represented in statues with a dove perched on her hand or on her head. However, this relationship is much older: already in the Bronze Age, in Sumerian Mesopotamia, consists the association between doves and the mother goddess. Storing perfume in a container in the shape of your sacred animal is a fully conscious and coherent act. Yes, but. Many of these readings of the dove-shaped glass jars are hypotheses based on what we know about the Romans, but we don’t know for sure: these perfumes could well be for everyday use or for funeral rituals. Likewise, they were not exclusive objects of the wealthiest classes: the simplest ointments were within the reach of the popular classes and their shapes were refined over time. In short, the dove could have different meanings depending on who had it and what for. In Xataka | The fall of the Roman Empire has obsessed us for centuries: some economists believe they have the answer in 400,000 coins In Xataka | Almost 2,000 years ago a Celtiberian soldier visited the most remote frontier of the Roman Empire. Then he returned to Soria with a souvenir Cover | MET

1,800 years ago the Romans had an amulet against bad luck. It was literally a tiny penis.

by

Measures about three centimetersis cast in bronze with great detail (anatomical) and despite being around 1,800 years old, it is surprisingly well preserved. We talk about a phallus. A penis. An ancient figurine representing male genitalia that archaeologists have just unearthed in a roman site from Cumbria, in the northwest of England. The most curious thing, however, is not the appearance of the penile statuette itself. But that it took so long for researchers to find it. We explain ourselves. Under a cricket pitch. He Carlisle Cricket Club is a large resort for cricket lovers located on the outskirts of the town of Carlise, in Cumbria, England. That’s today, of course. If we go back almost 20 centuries to that same land, located on the banks of the eden riverwelcomed some hot springs where the Romans came to chat and relax. Years ago a group of archaeologists started investigating in the area to search for remains of that remote Roman past. Among the many things they recovered at the site, in addition to ceramics, fragments of pillars and heads sculpted in stone, there is one that has attracted attention: a penis. What do you mean, a penis? The figurine in question revealed it a few weeks ago the photographer Pete Savin in And archaeologists believe that the piece has some 1,800 years. It would be logical to think that Savin or the director of the site, Frank Giecco, raised their eyebrows when they encountered such a discovery. However, the opposite happened: what had surprised them for some time was not finding any phallic figurines among the Roman ruins of Carlisle. “It is unusual that we have not found a phallus-shaped object at the site before, as it is very rich in other types of objects,” admits Giecco to the BBC. Don’t say penis… No, say best amuletwhich is the function fulfilled by the figurine found in Cumbria. The researchers they are convinced that its purpose was not to simply represent a penis and the piece did not have an obscene or sexual nature either. It was not even a symbol of fertility. At least that wasn’t his main goal. For the Romans the device surely acted as a talismana protective tool designed to attract good luck and ward off the evil eye. The Romans were so convinced of the healing power of these phallic representations that they frequently resorted to them, either by capturing them in figurines that they would then hang from their belts and use as jewelry or by carving them on the walls. Click on the image to go to the tweet. A phallus for the collection. The truth is that you have to take a quick look through the newspaper archive to see that discoveries like the one in Cumbria are relatively frequent. Even in England. Or in Cumbria itself. In 2019 a group of archaeologists from the University of Newcastle cataloged there several inscriptions left by Roman soldiers in a quarry near Hadrian’s Wall, a series of ‘graffiti’ drawn on the rock in 207 AD and including (exactly!) the relief of a phallus. Last year another team focused on Vindolandaone of the Roman forts that protected Hadrian’s Wall, encountered another similar surprise. During their excavations they located a penis-shaped pendant hidden among the challenges of a wall from the 4th AD. Archaeologists speculate that the piece, made of jet, was lost at the beginning of that same century. And given how polished its surface is, they believe that the owner of the amulet handled it frequently. Small, big, huge. Carlise’s piece barely exceeds three centimeters and Vindolanda’s (at least for the photos shared by researchers) appears even smaller. However, not all representations were so minuscule. In 2022, while investigating a site in the province of Córdoba, archaeologists discovered a bas-relief that shows a 45 centimeter phallus long. The figure was carved directly on the cornerstone of a large building, another relatively common habit. “It was common to place them on the facades of houses and soldiers wore small phallic amulets as symbols of virility,” explains to The Country Andrés Rodlán, director of the project, although he also recognizes that Córdoba engraving breaks the mold. “This one is unusually large.” The list of phallic representations found in recent years goes on and on, with discoveries stretching from the distant lands of Britannia. to Omritin Israel. Why this obsession? The experts believe that phallic figures were so popular not because of their explicit nature, but because of their enormous load of meanings. Whoever carried a figurine of a penis or decided to sculpt it on their wall did not simply intend to show a male genital. He sought to protect himself with an amulet capable of warding off the evil eye. In fact, they not only surrounded themselves with images of more or less anatomically accurate penises. They also created figurines of winged phalluseswith animal shapes or with bells. “Phallic emblems are found on a wide variety of Roman objects, from amulets and frescoes to mosaics and lamps. They were symbols intended to attract good luck and ward off evil spirits. As the ancient author Pliny attests, even babies and soldiers wore such amulets to invoke divine protection,” they explain from the MET Museum. The reality is that, if history has shown anything, it is that humanity has always shown a fascinating inclination to represent penises everywhere. Images | The MET Museum and Carole Radatto (Flickr) In Xataka | Almost 2,000 years ago a Celtiberian soldier visited the most remote frontier of the Roman Empire. Then he returned to Soria with a souvenir

Almost 2,000 years ago the Romans were already returning home from their trips with souvenirs. The best proof was hidden in Soria

by

You’ve probably done it more than once. You go on vacation to Cancun, Florence, Barcelona or that beach that you like so much and once there you decide to buy a souvenir to take home. Maybe a magnet for the fridge or a figurine for the living room. It seems like a very modern gesture, but almost 2,000 years ago the Romans who moved around the world were already doing something very similar, although not exactly as tourists. We know it thanks to an old cup bronze found in Berlanga del Dueroa small town in Soria. At first glance it looks like just another ‘glass’, but in reality it is connected to one of the most fascinating Roman mega-constructions of all time. In a place in Soria… Archeology advances thanks to hours of study and field work. Also (sometimes) by pure strokes of luck. It happened some time ago in Berlanga del Duero, a town of 800 inhabitants located in Soria. Over there, “by chance”historians have found a Roman cup, a small hemispherical bronze bowl with enamels. Studies have dated it to the 2nd century AD. Said like this, it may not seem like a big deal (fortunately we have many Roman bowls and there are larger, more lavish and older ones), but Berlanga’s piece has something special: it is a roman souvenir which in its day traveled more than a thousand kilometers. A souvenir for travelers? More or less. Archaeologists believe that the Berlanga cup is “a souvenir brought to the peninsula by a Celtiberian soldier”, as they explain from the CSIC. Its purpose was not (just) to serve as another bowl. It also had a symbolic value, similar to what we can give in 2026 to the figures that we bring with us after a trip to Japan, Italy or those memories that help us evoke the months we spent on Erasmus in Berlin. If we take into account that the piece was manufactured around the 2nd century AD The above would be enough to highlight it above the rest of the cups that we preserve from ancient Rome, but the piece recovered in Soria has another extra value: its origin. The key: Hadrian’s Wall. The piece is linked to Hadrian’s Wallthe Roman fortification begun in the time of Emperor Hadrian to protect the province of Britain from the raids of the Picts. We have been able to establish the link thanks to two pieces of information. First, its origin. The cup was made with metals that surely came from the mines of Wales or Durham. Second, the details that decorate the glass, which include nods to the Roman military fortification. “Memory of…” It doesn’t matter if they are from Barcelona, ​​Milan, New York or any other city in the world, tourist souvenirs always tend to share one characteristic: they include the name of the destination and some of its most visited icons. The famous “Memory of XXX” accompanied by a silhouette of the Sagrada Familia, the Duomo or the empire state. Something similar happens in the Berlanga cup. In addition to the enamels, its decoration represents Hadrian’s Wall “through a frieze punctuated with turrets”, CSIC clarifies. Not only that. The piece also includes inscriptions directly related to the military camps in the eastern zone: Cilurnum, Onno, Vindobala and Condercum. The researchers have also noticed a curious detail: the names seem arranged to be read from west to east, as if the cup represented the appearance of the wall for people who saw it from inside. Click on the image to go to the tweet. Is it a unique piece? No. And although it may seem contradictory, that is another of the characteristics that makes the Berlanga glass so special: it is and is not unique, just like many of the souvenirs that we bring back from our trips or that are sometimes given to us by companies for which we have worked. The piece rescued in Soria is one of the five “Hadrian’s Wall Cups” that are known, enameled vessels linked to the fortification of ancient Britain. The first was found in 1725 in an English villa. Since then, two other similar pieces have been found in England and one more in France. Also a couple of fragments, one of them discovered in the 19th century between Zamora and León. That piece in question is known as the ‘Hildeburgh Fragment’ (name of its buyer) and is kept in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. The Berlanga cup is closer to us: it is kept in the Numantine Museumin Soria. Its state of conservation is also much better. Although the Berlanga crown has fragmented and deformed over time, we conserve about 90% of its structure, which has allowed it to be virtually reconstructed. Looking for its owner. The cup is fascinating, but it leaves one question even more so: Who was its owner? Who the hell decided almost 2,000 years ago to take a commemorative cup from a fortification located more than a thousand kilometers away to Soria? The researchers have a theory: The piece belonged to a Celtiberian soldier who served on the most remote frontier of the empire. “The quality of craftsmanship and the materials used in these glasses tell us that they were prestigious objects, most likely made to order to give or decorate the military elite who had served at the Wall, the farthest border of the empire,” comment Jesús García Sánchez, expert from the Institute of Archeology of Mérida. “Most researchers, and we too, agree that they are interpreted as a souvenir or memento of the Wall.” From Britain to the peninsula. If the theory of García and his companions is correct, the Berlanga cup would have made a fascinating journey: it would have been part of the luggage with which a soldier from Celtiberia (a region that included part of what is now the province of Soria, as well as areas of Rioja, Zaragoza, Guadalajara, Teruel and Cuenca) who had … Read more

Every time you think about everything the Romans managed to do, remember that they did it intoxicated with lead

by

Who will not like the Roman Empire? A little over a year ago, thousands of women from all over Spain asked their boyfriends, friends or husbands to How much they thought of the Roman Empire. And, at least according to the meme, the answer was: a lot. What we just discovered hidden in Arctic ice is that, in short, we think too little: the Roman Empire He raised one of the civilizational works more impressive in the history of humanity and did it with absolutely demential atmospheric levels. Lead that they themselves had launched to the atmosphere. Lead, lead everywhere. Examining lead in three Arctic Ice Cores 2,000 years ago, a team of deserting institute researchers They have been able to calculate The level of environmental pollution in Europe between 500 before Christ and 600 after Christ. The data is, to put it in a gentle and restrained way, terrifying. As They publish in Proceedings of the National Academy of ScienceAfter examining the lead isotopes stored on that ice, researchers could create a map of pollution by this metal throughout Europe. Not only that: they estimated their magnitude, the blood lead levels of the inhabitants and even discovered what had caused that enormous pollution. A guilty with name and surname. According to data, silver is at the origin of this problem. Or, rather, the Mining of La Plata. In general and for centuries, the miners melled tons of galena To extract silver. It is estimated that by each ounce of useful silver thousands of ounces of lead to the environment were released. To put it in numbers: “During the 200 years of apogee of the Roman Empire, more than 500 kilotons of lead to the atmosphere were released.” This, always according to the records of the ice centers, is 40 times greater than during the large environmental lead peak of the 70s (after which we began to withdraw it from gasoline, paintings and the rest of the products). And that, of course, there were consequences. We already know that lead is bad for health. Very bad. And not only because of infertility, illness or violence problems: I talk about neurological problems that translate into a considerable decrease in cognitive abilities and concentration. In practical terms, According to DRI researcherslead levels in Roman times had to decrease between 2 and 3 points of intellectual coefficient in the general population. “It does not seem much, but when it applies to practically the entire European population, it is a big problem,” Nathan Chellman explainedCo -author of the study. A problem that, seen in perspective, only increases the myth of the Roman Empire. Image | Joseph McConnell | Ilona Frey In Xataka | The Google Maps of the Roman Empire: the map that allows you to plan a route at that time

We just found the bathrooms of a Pompeii mansion. A sample of luxury and the darkest side of the Romans

by

Pompeya is one of the great archaeological treasures of the world. 2,000 years ago, The pyroclastic wave of Vesubio He swept and buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculano and, although archaeological excavations began in 1739, we still continue discovering the secrets of that civilization. It is estimated that a third of the city continues to remain underground, but in recent years we have found interesting details such as the genome of a Pompeyan or carbonized papyrus rolls with such succulent details as the possible location of Plato’s tomb. During the past year, there was an important step to better understand what the society of the time was like. First, one “Black room”About 15 meters long by six wide that it is estimated, it would have been a banquet room. The black paint of the walls would serve to hide the soot of the oil lamps and something surprising is that the frescoes of the walls were perfectly preserved. The second great discovery was the “Blue room” This, perhaps, was more interesting due not only to the fact that the frescoes were also in a perfect condition, but to the blue pigment that is not common in Pompeian spaces, since it was reserved for the most outstanding rooms of the town. In addition, there were large amphorae and a multitude of remains of … clams. Now, everything makes sense thanks to what has been qualified as “a unique discovery in a century”: the blue and black room were part of a house for the richest among the rich. Pompeya’s house for the richest among the rich Both the black room and the blue room are part of the same complex: a luxury village with one of the largest and most structured private bathrooms that have been discovered … in history. And, to get an idea of ​​the magnitude of the installation, we must imagine something like a spa, but private. Archaeologists who are doing excavation work have detailed BBC News what the house was like, and the truth is that the bathroom occupies a luxury place. It is a spa complex that is the heart of the great residence and has hot and cold rooms, as well as a huge immersion pool. The rooms are decorated with red paint on the walls, fresh, stone banks and mosaic floor. Archaeologists define the place as the perfect example of the “Pompeii effect.” This means that it is preserved so well that it seems that the place has just been abandoned, alive until nothing is done when, really, almost 2,000 years ago that a soul is given a bath in those facilities. The house. In green, laundry. In orange, the bakery/kitchen. In pink, private residence. In purple, the bathrooms But it is not just the huge bathroom: the complex had the black room, the blue, the aforementioned spa, a laundry, rooms and a bakery, plus the private house itself. It is believed that it belonged to Aulus Rustius Verus, an influential Pompeyan politician, and can be the greatest discovery in the town so far. “There are only a few houses that have a private bathroom complex, so it was something really reserved for the richest of the rich. And this is so huge that it is probably the largest bathroom complex in a private house in Pompeya, ”says Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeya Archaeological Park. Detail of the bathrooms with the black room in purple and the direct access to the patio porticado with the pool. From there, you could go to other bathrooms such as the hot and cold And that the huge bathroom was next to the bakery and the dining room is not something unusual. The link between the BAOS and the great dining room gives an idea of ​​how the house was a scenario for the celebration of banquets and to make contacts between the high spheres of the time. Celebrating a gun with guests and then enjoying a bathroom, or vice versa, was a political tool to collect electoral support from guests or simply to boast power. And what attracts attention is the pool, with a depth of one meter, occupying the central space of a 10 x 10 meter porticated patio. Zuchtriegel comments that “everything was designed to set up a show in which the owner was the center of attention. The paintings, with themes of the Trojan War and scenes that represent athletes, represented an environment full of culture and erudition, as well as relaxation. ” In addition, he argues that “the public, grateful and satiated, would have applauded the show mounted by the host and owner of the house with sincere admiration, becoming the subject of conversation for a while.” And, beyond the bathrooms themselves, the rear boiler room has been found with pipes and lead systems that heated and distributed hot water, with a valve system that regulated the flow in the different spa rooms. And it is something that also allows you to see the differences of life between the classes, with the owners of the house giving sumptuous bathrooms while the slaves ‘roasted’ feeding the ovens to heat the water. You can see hot water pipes Not everyone was so lucky Now, not all discoveries allow us to look at scenes as relaxing as a good comilona or a relaxing bath. In a small room adjacent to the Blue Room, the remains of two Pompeyans who could not escape the eruption have been found. It is estimated that they were a man and a woman who could not escape because the pyroclastic flow already ran freely through the streets. It was what caused the collapse of a wall that crushed the man, while the woman was still alive. Quickly, the room was filled with the lava, causing the death of the woman. The bone analysis shows that the male skeleton was from someone of a young age, but with wear in the bones that indicates that it was someone of … Read more

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.