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From: Alan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Sponge On Stick - a toilet paper alternative
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Small piece of natural sea sponge tied on the end of a wooden stick. The stick has a loop of leather at one end. Toilet paper did not exist in Roman times so the Romans used a "spongia" instead. This was a sea sponge attached to a long stick. Roman public toilets consisted of a long marble bench with holes at the top (to sit on) and holes at the front - for the sponge sticks. Most Romans wore long tunics, with men’s reaching the knees and women’s being longer, and probably nothing underneath so it was easy to use toilets communally. You would sit on the toilet, (possibly chatting to friends) and when you were finished you would push the spongia through the hole at the front, wipe your bottom, rinse it in the channel of running water by your feet and leave it in a basin for the next person to use! |
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4002
From: kay.so.or, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Sponge On Stick - a toilet paper alternative
| when I went to Tijuana in 1998ish to visit a friend who lived in Coronado, we went over the border for a few hours to walk around, and needed a bathroom..good luck! finally down an ally with shops on the side, someone said to go in a door (not marked), can't remember if I had to get a key to it. But one stall had the door hanging, and the other two very dirty, and had a tub of water sitting there with a washcloth in it for people to use....I paid the shop keeper to get a little bit of TP to use, wake up call! After that we looked for a McDonalds to use their restrooms...lol. A friend who had visited Uganda years ago says that everyone had their own personal 'hole' dug out back...which made me wonder what people do who have knee problems?...oye |
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