Did Nero Really Fiddle While Rome Burned?Īncient Roman Public Toilets ( Wikimedia Commons )Īlthough the tax was eventually removed, it was reenacted around 70 AD with the succession of emperor Vespasian (ruler of Rome from 69-79 AD). Colosseum of Rome, a Condominium in Medieval Times. Man Intent on Fixing Toilet Uncovers Centuries-Old Subterranean World Beneath his Basement. The buyer of the urine paid the tax, then it was then collected from the cesspools and recycled as a valuable raw material for a number of chemical processes. Urine was also collected from the public toilets of the upper classes. This tax was placed on the collection of urine at public urinals, since the lower classes of society had to relieve themselves in small pots which were then emptied into cesspools. In the first century AD, the Roman emperor Nero levied what was known as the “vectigal urinae”, which translates from Latin into “urine tax”. Often urine was used to bleach wool or linen and tan leather.įullonica (Dyer's Shop) of Veranius Hypsaeus, fresco from Pompeii ( Wikimedia Commons ) The "Vectigal Urinae" tax for Urine Collectors Due to the ammonia content, urine was also important for the textiles industry, which was a booming trade during the Roman Empire. In Roman times, this was then used for laundry. If you leave urine out in an open vat it turns stale and produces ammonia through interaction with the air. Though most people today would decline the option of a urine-based toothpaste, it actually worked! This is because urine contains ammonia which is used in many household cleaners today. It was supposedly the strongest urine in the world and thus, the choice for whitening teeth. In fact, urine was so effective that it was used in toothpastes and mouthwashes up until the 1700s.Īs far as the Romans were concerned, the best and therefore the most expensive urine on the market came from the country of Portugal. The Romans believed that urine would make their teeth whiter and keep them from decaying so they used it as a mouthwash and mixed it with pummis to make toothpaste. Urine contains a wide array of important minerals and chemicals such as phosphorus and potassium. While today we flush or urine away without giving it a second thought, in ancient times it was considered a valuable commodity. Vespasian Aureus Fortuna (75-79 AD) ( Wikimedia Commons ) The Uses of Urine in Ancient Rome Pecunia non olet meaning, “money does not stink" was a famous phrase coined as a result of this tax levied by the emperors Nero and Vespasian in the 1st century AD. Eventually, so much urine was used and collected that a tax was imposed by the Roman emperor. Ancient laundries even used to collect urine in giant clay pots which were placed out in public for people to relieve themselves. 
They used it as a cleaning agent for washing their clothes, brushing their teeth as well as for tanning leather. It was seen as much more useful than today. Rockefeller saw himself vilified, by the muckraking journalist Ida Tarbell, as a “living mummy,” and “something indefinably repulsive.The ancient Romans have passed many traditions on to modern day society, but they certainly had a different perspective on urine. The “tangible benefits” of controversial donations are obvious: educating women and men, showcasing American ballet, or broadcasting “Sesame Street.” Of course the Kochs and the Epsteins of the world also benefit from their contributions, which marginally reduce their inherent loathsomeness in the eyes of many. should overcome the more abstract, symbolic considerations that might lead us to turn down such benefactions.” In an opinion circulated in 1979, then-Harvard president Derek Bok argued against the “symbolic” value of returning controversial gifts: “n the whole, I would be inclined to accept such donations,” Bok wrote, “on the ground that the tangible benefits of using the money.
Harvard has grappled over the years with donations from the Sackler family, now reviled for their connection to the opioid crisis from convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and from a sewerful of equally reprehensible characters, e.g., Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. So would I allow my child to be sheltered in a Koch-supported day-care center, or to watch WGBH-2, where David Koch sat on the board, or enjoy the American Ballet Theatre, which has a Koch-named performance space? Of course. But of late, Charles Koch has spoken out against some cornerstone Donald Trump economic policies, and has lined up on the side of the angels in condemning mass incarceration and the government’s ham-handed “war on drugs.”
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