The Archaeology of Sanitation in Roman Italy

The Romans developed sophisticated methods for managing hygiene including aqueducts for moving water from one place to another sewers for removing used water from baths and runoff from walkways and roads and public and private latrines. Through the archeological record graffiti sanitation-related paintings and literature Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow explores this little-known world of bathrooms and sewers offering unique insights into Roman sanitation engineering urban planning and development hygiene and public health. Focusing on the cities of Pompeii Herculaneum Ostia and Rome Koloski-Ostrow’s work challenges common perceptions of Romans' social customs beliefs about health tolerance for filth in their cities and attitudes toward privacy. In charting the complex history of sanitary customs from the late republic to the early empire Koloski-Ostrow reveals the origins of waste removal technologies and their implications for urban health past and present.