1. SEWERS IN ANCIENT ROME
Alex Dwight
“Ancient Roman Plumbing ”

2. “Chariot Driver in Pompeii”

3. “Chariot Driver in Pompeii”

4. The Modern View
Ancient Rome is viewed as a predecessor to modern civilization, a forerunner of science and technology
“The ancient Romans are normally portrayed as bearers of advanced science and technology. These reflections include the notion that there was a high level of public hygiene” (Havlicek and Morcinek 33)
Is this true?

5. Waste Disposal General public did not have access to sewers
Sign of wealth, power, status
“Apartment buildings, known as insulae, lacked any such infrastructure” (Havlicek and Morcinek 39)
“There is no evidence of widespread municipal waste management in the modern sense of the word […] only individual efforts at dealing with waste” (Havlicek and Morcinek 43)
“No record of a public, organized waste removal service” (Havlicek and Morcinek 37-38)

6. Waste Disposal
How did the majority of Roman citizenry deal with waste?
They threw it out the window!
Waste was thrown into the street, open sewers, and even wells (Thommen, 2012: 106)
Graffiti in Pompeii, Aquileia, Thigibba depict public defecation and urination in the streets (Wilson 175)
“In Pompeii, buckets containing waste and fecal matter were thrown out of windows onto the street, where it collected and rotted” (Havlicek and Morcinek 36)
A general awareness of the need for cleanliness seems to not have existed at all (Thommen, 2012: 128)

7. Open Sewers Like the Greeks, Romans had many open sewers
Pliny the younger describes a stream of waste through the street - “a disgusting eyesore which gives off a noxious stench” (Pliny the Younger )
In Pompeii, “the street itself became the drain” (Wilson 168)

8. “Pompeii Street”

9. “Roman Street Sewer”

10. Official Measures Fines for littering
Owners responsible for keeping the front of their property clean
The main concern of waste being thrown out of windows was not sanitation, but of pedestrians being injured (Havlicek and Morcinek 37)
Public latrines
144 municipal latrines
500,000 inhabitants

11. Underground Sewers Planned before cities' construction
Cloaca Maxima – Rome’s great sewer system
Great technological achievement, Pliny the Elder details the incredible strength of the Roman sewers: “channels have remained well-nigh impregnable”
Pliny: “city sewers, the most noteworthy achievement of all”

12. “Ancient Roman House ”

13. “Ancient Roman House ”

14. “Ancient Roman Plumbing”

15. “Ancient Roman Plumbing”

16. “Map of Downtown Rome during the Roman Empire”

17. “Map of Downtown Rome during the Roman Empire”

18. William and Mary Cloaca Maxima?
Drain into the York, James, or lake Matoaka?
Where should the aqueducts pump water from?
How can the aqueducts and sewers be arranged to maximize flow?

19. “William and Mary Map”

21. “William and Mary Map”

22. How Was Waste Discharged From Sewers?
Lots of water flowing into Rome
“Through the city there flow seven rivers meeting in one channel. These, rushing downwards like mountain torrents, are constrained to sweep away and remove everything in their path” (Pliny the Elder )
Rivers, aqueducts, and rain pushed waste out of the city
“Sewers capable of washing the filth of the city out into the Tiber” (Strabo 5.3.8)

23. “Ancient Rome Map”

24. Problems
“Sometimes the backwash of the Tiber floods the sewers and makes its way along them upstream” (Pliny the Elder )
“When water levels were high during flooding waste was washed into the streets” (Havlicek and Morcinek 40)
“The Cloaca Maxima, despite its high state of technological development, by far did not have the capacity to drain the entire city, and many cities in the empire had no sewer system whatsoever” (Thüry 10-11)
Not dealing with the problem, only shifting it elsewhere

25. Environmental Impacts
Many Roman sewers emptied straight into the nearest river or ocean (Wilson 176)
Tiber is treated like a dump
Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia: “... we dye even the rivers and the elemental substances of Nature, and turn the very means of life into a bane”
“What’s waiting for you is an eel, cousin of the long snake, or a Tiber fish spattered with grey blotches, like you a slave bred on the banks, bloated from the gushing sewer” (Juvenal )
“Only one mention of drinking from the Tiber in all or Roman history (Hughes 177)

26. Works Cited
“Ancient Roman House .” Archart,
“Ancient Roman Plumbing .” Sciencemag, AAAS, 28 Aug. 2017, a.
“Ancient Rome Map.” RomeMap360, romemap360.com/ancient-rome-map.
“Chariot Driver in Pompeii.” Penn Museum ,
Havlicek, Filip, and Miroslav Morcinek. “Waste and Pollution in the Ancient Roman Empire.” Journal of Landscape Ecology , vol. 9, no. 3, 2016, pp. 33–49. De Gruyter.
Hughes, J Donald. Environmental Problems of the Greeks and Romans. 2nd ed., Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014.
Juvenal. “Satires”
“Map of Downtown Rome during the Roman Empire.” Wikimedia Commons, a.
Pliny the Elder. “Natural History.”
Pliny the Younger. “To the emperor Trajan.” 10.98
“Pompeii Street.” Wikimedia Commons, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pompeii-Street.jpg.
“Roman Street Sewer.” India Waterportal, a.
Strabo. “Geography.” 5.3.8
Thommen, L. “An Environmental History of Ancient Greece and Rome.” Cambridge University Press, 2012
Thüry, G. E. “Müll und Marmorsäulen.” Siedlungshygiene in der Römischen Antike. Mainz: P. von Zabern, 2001
“William and Mary Map.” WYDAILY, 8 Sept. 2017, wydaily.com/local-news/2017/09/08/william-mary-loses-power-in-76-buildings-power-restored-nws/.
Wilson, Andrew. “Drainage and Sanitation.” Handbook of Ancient Water Technology. Brill, 2000.