That the ancient Romans established their own Agora in Athens in 19-11 BC was also a way to demonstrate that the Athenians were no longer an independent people. Funded by Julius Caesar and Augustus, the Roman Agora was a 111x98m rectangular building with a large open courtyard surrounded by an Ionic portico. Together with shops, storerooms, offices and fountains, the Athens Agora of the ancient Romans also featured latrines.
Roman Sewers in Athens
The subterranean, stone-built culverts, or Roman sewers, discovered at the Athens Agora were dated to the Roman period. Bull et al describe the structure as substantial with a large U-shaped tile channel at the bottom, side walls of tiles set in mortar and a cover of shallow terracotta tiles. Roman sewers in Athens, as elsewhere in the Roman world, joined finally a river source, in this case the Athenian river, Eridanos.
Part of the Roman sewers and the ancient river bed can be seen today in the Monastiraki metro station of Athens under a clear Perspex floor. Sewers and drain systems were essential to the function of an Agora since a typical Agora building was equipped with fountains and latrines which needed drains attached to sewers.
Latrines of the Ancient Romans in Athens Agora
A fine example of latrines – one essential of civilized urban life connected with Roman sewers, writes Lang – is situated at the east entrance of the Roman Agora in Athens. The latrines, also called Vespasianes, are constructed in a simple way with a deep channel running around the four sides of a rectangular building with an oblong lobby and a rectangular hall. Over the channel there are marble benches pierced with holes.
In these Roman toilets, seats are rather close together since privacy in the Roman times was virtually non-existent. The latrines of the Athens Agora had a seating capacity of 65. The area above the centre of the great hall was open for lighting and ventilation. The ancient Romans wiped themselves with sticks or sponges and stopped to wash their hands at a basin. The waste product passed through the channel around the latrines and into the Roman sewers underneath.
"Whoever thinks he is more than human, going to the public latrine will see himself just like everyone else", wrote 4th-century comic poet Antiphanes.
Related Articles on the Roman Agora
Ancient Clock of the Roman Agora: Boreas and Zephyros on the Tower of the Winds
Sources
I.D. Bull, M.M. Elhmmali, D.J. Roberts, R.P. Evershed, “The application of steroidal biomarkers to track the abandonment of a Roman wastewater course at the Agora (Athens, Greece), Archaeometry 45, 1 (2003), 146-161.
Mabel Lang, Waterworks in the Athenian Agora, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1968
Dora Crouch, Water Management in Ancient Greek Cities, Oxford University Press, 1993.
Also see, Archaeological Excavations per Athens metro station
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