Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

Private Life 133
Men relieved themselves in the home into a chamber pot called
an amis. This was shaped like a salt container with an opening in
the front. There were no public toilets, so men probably had no
option but to relieve themselves in public. In the opening scene of
Aristophanes’ Women in Assembly, Blepyros defecates in the street
as soon as he rises. Some houses, it seems, were not even provided
with a cesspit (koprôn ). Women used a boat-shaped vessel called a
skaphion. Although babies could be dangled out of the window in
an emergency (see Aristophanes’ Clouds, line 1384), well-regulated
houses possessed potties. One potty, which was found in the Agora,
is provided with two holes for the baby’s legs and a hole in the seat.
Its detachable stand enabled its contents to be removed without disturbing
the baby.
Urination was not without its dangers. Hesiod gives the following tips about
how to avoid giving offense to the gods:
Do not urinate standing upright facing the sun but remember to do it either
when the sun has set or when it is rising. Do not make water either on the road
or beside the road as you go along and do not bare yourself. The nights belong to
the blessed gods. A good man who has a wise heart sits or goes to the wall of an
enclosed court. (Works and Days 727–32)
Facilities for the disposal of refuse were almost nonexistent. As a
result, rubbish piled up in the streets in vast quantities, creating a
terrible stench and constituting a serious health hazard, particularly
in the summer months. Where houses were built close together, as
in Athens and the Piraeus, the streets were ankle-deep in filth. Mosquitoes,
rats, and flies were plentiful, carrying all manner of diseases
and causing epidemics. One of the worst epidemics occurred
in 430 b.c.e., when the entire population of Athens was cooped up
inside the city walls. The Athenians claimed that the outbreak was
caused by the Spartans poisoning their reservoirs. Although there
appears to have been no substance to the charge, the Athenians
were correct in their belief that the contamination of their water
supply was the chief cause of the spread of the disease.
HOUSEHOLD RELIGION
The household, like every other community of Greeks, was a religious
unit, and the head of the household was its priest. Many of