Timgad Public Latrines

About

A public latrine seating more than a dozen people at once stood beside Timgad's forum, its stone benches carved with dolphin-shaped armrests. A channel of running water beneath the seats continuously flushed the trench below, standard for Roman civic sanitation. Surviving evidence dates the latrine to the 3rd century CE, as Timgad's public amenities multiplied under the Severan dynasty. In 117 CE the colony's residents still relied on simpler facilities that have left no trace. Dated by its architectural style and setting to the Severan-era 3rd century CE, roughly a century after this map's snapshot date.

What happened here

It was put up to be argued with. Public monuments carry an inscription at eye height naming who paid, what for, and by whose authority, because being read is the whole return on the investment. People meet at them, give directions by them, and shelter under them. Children climb them. The bronze fittings are stolen often enough that they are re-attached with lead. On anniversaries the base is garlanded and the local council makes a short speech nobody listens to. Monuments also date the town for you: a run of them along one street shows which families were rising in which decade, and which ones stopped. When a family falls out of favour, the name is chiselled out and the stone is quietly reused.

Sources

• https://followinghadrian.com/2013/05/09/how-the-romans-did-their-business-images-of-latrines-throughout-the-roman-world/
• https://timetravelbee.com/places/ancient-ruins-in-timgad-algeria/

Nearby

Temple of the Genius of the Colony

27 m

Temple of Victory

43 m

Timgad Library

78 m

Timgad Theatre

89 m

North Baths

146 m

Trajan's Arch

173 m