Book Launch: ‘Sixty-Six Toilets and Urinals in the Ancient City of Rome: Sanitary, Urbanistic, and Social Agency’

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Daily life is the present focus of Mediterranean archaeology. And what is more daily than a visit to the toilet? During this event, Roman toilet specialists Gemma Jansen, Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow and Richard Neudecker, will present the book they have written about this topic, together with 31 collaborating archaeologists working and living in Rome. In it, the many toilets of Rome are described one by one and analyzed as a group. Some of them have been known for years, others have been excavated only recently and are displayed for the first time. Moreover, the book also touches on general questions of hygiene, water supply and drainage, design and architecture as well as the cultural context of these toilets – their place in the urban environments of ancient Rome. As part of the event, Paolo Liverani, professor of archaeology at the Università di Firenze, will reflect on the series of which the book forms part.

 

Programme, start at 17.00 CET

Tegel Seats From Roman Toilets At Largo Argentina

Seats from Roman Toilets at Largo Argentina, su concessione della Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali Afmonas, Msid 13282

Susanna de Beer, discorso di benvenuto

Paolo Liverani, Perché sono importanti i BABESCH Supplements

Elisa Cella and Gemma Jansen, In the spotlight: The Gutters of the
Colosseum, Largest Roman Urinal

Richard Neudecker, Briciole per un’antropologia della toletta

Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow, Words of Thanks

Consegna di prima copia alle Soprindentenze di Roma

 

The book has been printed at Peeters Publishers as BABESCH supplement 48 and can be purchased at the book launch for a reduced price. Click here for more information on the book and orders (for the regular price).

 

image header: Latrina Domus Transitoria, foto dell’archivio, su concessione del Ministero della Cultura – Parco Archeologico del Colosseo