Roman Hygiene and Dining Habits

Romans brushed their teeth with urine. Seriously. They collected pee in public jars on

street corners because the ammonia whitened teeth and cleaned clothes. Rich Romans paid

for Portuguese urine since it was considered the strongest. Speaking of bathrooms, public toilets had

no stalls, just stone benches with holes where dozens sat side by side.

They wiped with a communal sponge on a stick that sat in vinegar water between uses.

Dinner parties got so wild that wealthy Romans would vomit between courses to keep eating.

The vomitorium wasn't actually for this though, that's a myth. It was just an exit

passage in amphitheaters. But here's the wildest part. Roman men wore togas that took hours