Ancient history

Toilet paper in the Middle Ages

Nowadays for us (in Europe) the use of toilet paper is completely natural. We only think about it if someone forgot to change the empty roll. But toilet paper in the Middle Ages or even in antiquity - did that exist? And what were the alternatives? We took a look at the historic latrines.

The first toilet paper in East Asia

In fact, toilet paper has been made from so-called rice straw paper in East Asia since the 6th century. Paper itself has been around since the 2nd century BC. BC, at least as material for wrapping and upholstery. In 589, the Chinese scholar Yan Zhitui was the first to mention toilet paper:“Paper on which there are quotations or commentaries from Five Classics or the names of sages, I dare not use for toilet purposes” (Needham, Science and Civilization, 123. ). An Arab traveler wrote in 851 during a stay in China:“… [the Chinese] do not wash themselves with water when they have done their necessities; but they only wipe themselves with paper” (ibid.).

In the 14th century, production of 10 million packs of toilet paper per year is documented in today's Zhejiang. Each pack consisted of 1000 to 15,000 sheets. In 1393, 730,000 sheets were delivered to the imperial court, 15,000 of them to the imperial family of Emperor Hongwu. The toilet paper used by the imperial family was not only particularly soft, it was even perfumed.

Historical alternatives to toilet paper

People have always used nature after doing their business. In the Salzberg near Hallstatt, the oldest salt mine in the world, archaeologists discovered butterbur leaves, which are believed to have been used as toilet paper since the Bronze Age. In Bavaria, this plant is still known today under the popular term ass root.

In ancient Rome, the procedure was a bit more sophisticated. There, ordinary people sometimes shared a so-called tersorium in the public toilets. This is a stick with a natural sponge (from the Mediterranean Sea) attached to the end, like a somewhat softer toilet brush. Opinions differ as to whether these designs were used for the podex or the drain. After use, the sponge was rinsed on the stick in salt water or vinegar; ready for the next person to use.

In addition, rounded pieces of ceramic, so-called pessoi (singular:pessos; in German:pebbles), were used in ancient times to wipe the most valuable thing. According to a Greek proverb that calls for frugality, three stones are enough to wipe away. Today you might say that toilet paper doesn't grow on trees.

You can find an interesting article on this here:https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/toilet-tissue-anthropologists-uncover-all-the-ways-weve-wiped/

Alternatives to toilet paper in the Middle Ages

While the East Asian population in the Middle Ages was already busy having fun with toilet paper, the rest of the people were far from thinking about it. In Europe, wealthier people used wool, rags, and scraps of cloth to wipe themselves. The common people knew how to get by with leaves, moss, straw, hay or simply with their hands and water. It is not without reason that the left hand is considered impure in many (especially Islamic) cultures. It was used for personal hygiene, while eating and greeting were done with the right hand. When trade brought paper from Asia to Europe for the first time in the 11th century, it was still very expensive, so it was probably used more for writing.

In the Hanseatic city of Tartu in Estonia, a total of 3,200 textiles from medieval latrines in several households were evaluated. The higher the social status of the residents, the higher the quality of the textile scraps used as toilet paper. Wealthier households left fine, soft woolen pieces of worn clothing, sometimes even with silk appliqués. Roughly simple fabrics, on the other hand, were found in the latrines of socially disadvantaged households. (Riina Rammo:Textile finds from medieval cesspits in Tartu:technology, trade and consumption)

Incidentally, the American Joseph Gayetty is regarded as the inventor of modern toilet paper. The paper first came onto the market in 1857, not yet as a roll, but packed in boxes and soaked in aloe. The rolls of perforated toilet paper as we know it today only existed at the end of the 19th century.