The brothel and public latrine of ancient Ephesus are located directly across Marble Street from the Library of Celsus. Both date from the 1st century AD. Of course neither of these are a sacred site, but these less glamorous structures help bring ancient Ephesus to life.
Brothel
The brothel originally had two floors, with ground floor entrances on both Marble Street and on Curetes Street. On the latter, an etched footprint in the marble famously shows the way.
The rooms of the ground floor, one of which has a stone bed, were built around a small atrium. The floor of the main reception room was covered with a mosaic of the four seasons. The personified figures of Winter (with head covered) and Autumn (with a garland of flowers) are still well preserved. The cubicles used by the prostitutes to entertain their clients were on the upper floor.
The ithyphallic figurine of Priapus – Bes, now in the Ephesus Museum, was found in a well on the side of the brothel near Curetes Street. The well is still in use. Of Egyptian origin, Bes was not the god of the brothel, but the protector of everything associated with motherhood and childbearing.
Latrine
The 1st-century Roman Latrine of Ephesus was rather advanced and civilized for its time. It was constructed over a channel with an uninterrupted flow of water and the toilet seats, formed by cutting holes into marble benches that line the walls, were covered by a roof.
The rest of the large room was open to the sky, and had an impluvium (a sunken pool for catching rainwater) in the center. The floor was covered with mosaics.
The Latrines are interesting a communal and social activity, complete with running water for both moving waste along. Latrines used by both women and men.
Ancient brothel in Ephesus. There is an underground tunnel here that goes across the street leading to the library.
Have a look at the way our ancestors used the facilities!
Wow A communal Gents where they sat around on their thrones talking trade, politics & the problems caused by women, Listening to bubbling fountains, minstrels & players, before indulging in a hot tub & massage – 2,500 years ago!!
The more things change, the more they stay the same! Everything old is new again! The most intriguing aspect is that this was a place to socialize.
The thought that went into the engineering and construction is amazing. Not to mention one could engage in casual conversation with a latrine-mate while doing your business. Funny!
You must get the full description of what went on here, how the people utilised it as a 'social' meeting point, and the origin of "wrong end of the stick".
Interesting to see the public latrines used in Ephesus. Seems odd to our present-day culture, but not too far different than the latrines of just a few years ago in military barracks where the norm was a long row of toilets without any dividers or privacy.
This is such an interesting place. This public bathroom was built during a reconstruction of Ephesus by the Emperor Constantine I during the first Century AD. There was a charge for admittance to the bathroom and this practice still alive in many parts of Europe and Asia.
We took the Simply Ephesus tour sponsored by NCL Cruise Line. Ephesus is awe-inspiring and sometimes crowded. On the day we were there, 4 cruise ships were in port, one (ours) at Izmir and three in the port closer to Ephesus. By the time our bus arrived at Ephesus, the ruins were already jammed.
This was quite remarkable…who gives any thought to what the Roman toilet facilities were like? I guess I would have expected a small "out-house" but this has marble seats!
Very clean and free and a real toilet, not a hole in the ground, ha ha. It was located on the way out, so if you needed a rest room before that you might have a long wait. I didn't see one before that. there may be some before that I didn't see.