Bug infested homes

[Woadwarrior]

if this is in an inapproiate forum you can move it

but i have always wondered about it

were the roman houses (rich and poor) toally infested with all kinds of flys, and snakes and insects?

how did they control all the bugs that must have entered there homes?

[tlclark]

Depends on the circumstances.

Much like the American colonies, it depended on wealth status and location. Many frontier homes were very clean despite being poor. While many wealthy city homes were very infested.

For Rome, the subura had a terrible reputation for being deathtraps, rat and bug infested, firetraps, crowded, no sanitation. It was mostly made of 4 story tennaments or insula apartment blocks with no running water.

Elsewhere... Elite homes had running water sanitation and were very clean. Homes in the countryside were removed from the crowded urban conditions and could be even cleaner. In fact many upper class romans fled to the countryside when the plague came to the city.

In the city, public sanitation was always a problem and frankly, Rome was worse than many of the colonies due to overcrowding and lack of infastructure.

For a very good view of the Roman city check out Connolly's "The Ancient City"

Should answer all of these questions.

Travis

[Peroni]

No more so than today.

You still get infestations of cockroaches and lice in houses in Italy. I'm not certain about snakes, but certainly there are geckos and lizards which are very common there today.

How did they control them? Probably with a good stamp with a shoe!

Roman houses wouldn't have been any more clean or unclean than modern houses. The shutters and doors would have let in all kinds of flies as we see today.

Regards,

[Comerus Gallus]

Romans, also had to be worryed about some other constantly dangerous matters during the Day & Night, not always by Mother Nature!

CRIMINAL HISTORY: Ancient Rome - Law and Order (3:26)

CRIMINAL HISTORY: Ancient Rome - Security (3:56)

CRIMINAL HISTORY: Ancient Rome - Law Enforcement (3:48)

[Caius Fabius]

Bug Control thoughts. I previously had many scorpions and spiders in my own, modern house. I do not like to use strong poisons, because I live in an area where there are some redbook or endangered species. I have a pair of chapperrals or road runners who are constantly coming to my porch, and I fear that they might eat bugs that are poisoned, and thereby cause damage to their young.
Recently my wife found a stray kitten and intorduced it into our house. Now any bugs are other small animals are in danger. I have not seen scorpions or spiders, except occassionally in the bath tub, and then only if I arrive before the cat!
Romans had cats. I wonder if they were as helpful then as their ancestors are today?

[Dan Diffendale]

If I recall correctly, the Latin word felis "cat" originally meant "ferret," and was transferred to the new species whenever it was introduced to the area, since both were small furry creatures good at catching pests.

[Arthes]

[b]Romans, also had to be worryed about some other constantly dangerous matters during the Day & Night, not always by Mother Nature!

Interesting videos .... they also used the Molossian as guard dogs....!
But I didn't know that Roman fruit and veg was bagged in plastic.... :lol:
(it looks like plastic.....!)

[claudia crisis]

Dont know about homes exaclty, but at Carlisle conference last year it was suggested that the buildings which had burned down had been deliberately torched, perhaps as a means of cleansing periodically infestations. The area around the outside of the buildings was found to be pretty squalid with straw and insects aplenty. Dont know if this has been publshed in hard copy yet.
Perhaps Mike Bishop may know. He was sitting just behind me...

Hilary

[Carlton Bach]

Romaqn settölemenrts were most likely pretty full of unwantred insect life. There's a study out in German on settlement hygiene in general titled 'Müll und Marmorsäulen', and it shows the bghabitat must have been very good for many species. That said, I doubt an average Roman home would have seemed 'bug-infested' to its inhabitants. Insects are a perfectly normal part of animal life most places, you get fliers and mosquitoes, and spiders and beetles and woodworm. It is only our modern expectation that you shouldn't have those indoors. There may well have been extreme cases of infestation, especially of destructive critters like fleas, lice, woodworm, bookworm or moths, but I'm guessing in most cases a Romamn home, like any home before 1850, was shared by humans and non-humans as a matter of course.