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Spongia toilet sticks.
#1
Hi all,
something just occured to me.
We, as a re-enactment community, must have recreated tons of stuff ranging from shoes and tunics to full blown artillery. All this has been tried and tested and studied.
Yet I noticed that one of the easiest things among all this to recreate must be the spongia toilet stick.
We know what it looked liked better than we do of most pieces of equipment.
We have a pretty good idea on how it might have been used.
But has anyone ever actually tested one....
Any experts out there on this subject ??
Cheers,
Cordvs/Wim.
Pvblivs Cordvs
(Wim van Broekhoven)
CORBVLO
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#2
Hmmmm, perhaps our ...... nope I had better not say it, it would be politically incorrect! :roll:
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
Titus Flavius Germanus
Batavian Coh I
Byron Angel
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#3
i;ve got one in my kit. i havent "tested it" due to kids and people pick it up and ask about it. matt amt used to take it from the kids when they asked what it was, licked it and then said... hmm yep its used and then told them what it was ehhehhee.
Tiberius Claudius Lupus

Chuck Russell
Keyser,WV, USA
[url:em57ti3w]http://home.armourarchive.org/members/flonzy/Roman/index.htm[/url]
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#4
Sponge-Bob!!!! oh noooooo.

Well that was my girlfriends reaction when I told her about it lol Anyway I would be really interested in this as well.

Does anyone know how this worked on public toilets? did they bring their own sponges or did they use public ones? :roll:

And what about ordinary people in general. I'm not an expert on Roman toilets but I don't remember seeing one in a model of insulae, so did ordinary people all go to public toiltes? I'm seriously interested :?: :!: :?:
RESTITVTOR LIBERTATIS ET ROMANAE RELIGIONIS

DEDITICIVS MINERVAE ET MVSARVM

[Micha F.]
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#5
I've seen excavations and pictures where there was a container for storing them and also how a channel ran around the floor with water flowing through it. The water in the channel was used to rinse the sponge sticks, then flowed down into the latrines to flush them out as well. I will dig out my documentation tonight when I get off duty.

Wes
Titvs Calidivs Agricola
Wes Olson

Twas a woman that drove me to drink, and I never thanked her. W.C. Fields
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#6
Wes,

I believe you are correct and in Peter Connolly's Roman Fort, I believe it also goes into a bit of illustrated detail as well if my memory serves me correctly. Lay out of a Roman latrine, sponge sticks and the cleaning trough and all. Confusedhock:

I am sure it was an effective method of cleaning one self, and about the most hygienic way of doing it back then, though I think I'll draw the line on sharing a communal sponge stick only rinsed in water in this era of modern cleanliness. Big Grin

v/r
Mike
Mike Daniels
a.k.a

Titus Minicius Parthicus

Legio VI FFC.


If not me...who?

If not now...when?
:wink: <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt=":wink:" title="Wink" />:wink:
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#7
I heard that they put the sponges into a bucket of vinegar, but I can't remember from where.
Sean Marcum

Roma Victrix! 
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#8
I heard about this vinegar thing as well. I've also heard about the usage of salt water.
But I have no idea where it stems from. Does anyone know the source of this. The acid component in vinegar does kill quite a few germs and probably is a lot healthier to be around. It is not the using of the sponge as such that intrigues me but the transference of diseases. One bucket of communal sponges (in water) probably has enough germs in it to wipe out the entire population of a fortress. Just think of the fortresses around Masada and the heat there.
Vinegar would probably help a lot in controlling this.

I have seen, in the Museum of London I think it was, a small stool with a keyhole-like opening in it (just like it communal counterparts) which stood over a bucket. A sort of private toilet. Although I have no idea whether it is an idea of the museum or whether its based on a find (of the stool for instance)
(Any Londoners around volunteering to ask them.)
I have also seen private toilets right next the cooking area in Herculaneum from which the waste moved right outside the house.
My wife and I reckoned at the time that they would use the water available in the kitchen to "flush" it since it didn't have a permanent flow as the ones in the camps.
So there are quite a few more options than just the communal toilets.

But it doesn't answer my question if anybody has first hand experience with the toilet stick....
Cordvs/Wim
Pvblivs Cordvs
(Wim van Broekhoven)
CORBVLO
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#9
probably the way plauge decimated the legions after the Verus campaign in the east!

I have a poster from Housteads, where the latrine is still in good order(not working though) Which shows the way it should have been, although I think I was fobbed of with the original, backwards, depiction of the running trough system!) :evil:

Will see if they have the image posted on web! Not the poster , but you can see the pots visible clearly in photo of latrine!

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/serv ... nImageId/3
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
Titus Flavius Germanus
Batavian Coh I
Byron Angel
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#10
I wold be cautious of any Roman reference to vinegar ebing used. They appear to use this term for any liquid chemical regardless of what it is or what it is used for.
After all Hanibal is supposed to have cleared rocks by blowing them up with vinegar - this is unlikely to the same liquid you pour on your chips - it is more likely to be some form of explosive - possibly even early nitro glycerine.

Dont think they cleaned the spongia in nitro tho. Would make a visit to the smallest room a bit too exciting - more explosive than having a good curry.
Could have been any other form of liquid cleaning chemical though.

Vinegar is also always still a possibility

Hilary Travis
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#11
Vinegar wine?
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
Titus Flavius Germanus
Batavian Coh I
Byron Angel
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#12
OK, I'll ask in this thread...what's the typical means of attaching the stick to the sponge? I have an idea of how to do it, but I wonder how they did it, or if anyone knows.

I have a big chunk of natural sea sponge I bought in a paint department. Should be able to snip off a chunk or two for that.
M. Demetrius Abicio
(David Wills)

Saepe veritas est dura.
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#13
Mine's just attached with chord.

Wim, even though you tested sponge in a helmet, for which I applaude you..... no, I'm not testing my sponge-on-a-stick :wink: :wink:
TARBICvS/Jim Bowers
A A A DESEDO DESEDO!
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#14
I was told about the Vinegar cleaning for the Spongia by my first college History professor long ago when the dirt and I were both still young. I have always presumed the attachment was by glue, but in reflecting, that is because I have always seen them without any sort of attachment in depictions, just a sponge on a stick. Maybe that is not the best way of making such a determination. :oops:

Cordially,

Michael
Mediocris Ventvs Qvod Seqvax Maris

Michael
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#15
Would think cord more likely than glue, as glue may lose adhesiveness when cleaned.
I think if you dont attach it with cord or glue of any kind it may come off during use.
I wouldnt want to try to retrieve it from where it may end up when it comes off.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Hilary Travis
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