10 Ephesus 2006

George.
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This is George, our tour guide, sitting on a Roman toilet in Ephesus.  He was demonstrating how to use the community toilet while socializing with fellow Roman countrymen.

The first thing in the morning, the slaves were brought in.  The solid rock toilet seats were very cold and the slaves were expected to warm them up.  After sufficient warm-up time, the Romans would come in to hang out with their buddies for a while.

Ephesus is one of the most historically significant ancient Roman cities on the planet.

Water was running underneath George and also in a trench in front of him.  To wipe himself, he simply reaches forward to the water trench as he is illustrating, scoops up some water and brings it up underneath through the toilet's cleverly -designed slot in front.  Another 30 or 40 men are dipping into the same trench as well.  I wonder if double-dipping is allowed.  I assume that the Roman women had a similar arrangement.