roman toilets

To the Romans, going to the lavatory was something of a social occasion so no provision was made for privacy and the seats were more like a continuous bench with keyhole shaped openings. The system was flushed by a system of water channels fed by rainwater and
runoff which meant that what ever you got rid of
was got rid of, down the drains and away…

Another water channel ran around the perimeter of the central platform so that the men could wash themselves—the Roman generally used a ‘sponge on a stick’ in place of toilet paper. Water wasn’t quite good enough though to wash unmentionables off the sponge, so they left it dipped in a bowl of vinegar.

Sponges are not native to British waters so either they were imported or the men used some local substitute such as moss.

So the sponge on a stick was always soaked in vinegar, and used to clean bottoms…

And it might have been
the sponge on the stick
soaked in vinegar that was given to Jesus to drink when he was on the cross