Due to the ammonia content, urine was also important for the textiles industry, which was a booming trade during the Roman Empire. In Roman times, this was then used for laundry. If you leave urine out in an open vat it turns stale and produces ammonia through interaction with the air. Though most people today would decline the option of a urine-based toothpaste, it actually worked! This is because urine contains ammonia which is used in many household cleaners today. It was supposedly the strongest urine in the world and thus, the choice for whitening teeth. In fact, urine was so effective that it was used in toothpastes and mouthwashes up until the 1700s.Īs far as the Romans were concerned, the best and therefore the most expensive urine on the market came from the country of Portugal. The Romans believed that urine would make their teeth whiter and keep them from decaying so they used it as a mouthwash and mixed it with pumice to make toothpaste. Urine contains a wide array of important minerals and chemicals such as phosphorus and potassium. While today we flush or urine away without giving it a second thought, in ancient times it was considered a valuable commodity. Vespasian Aureus Fortuna (75-79 AD) ( Wikimedia Commons ) The Uses of Urine in Ancient Rome Pecunia non olet meaning, “money does not stink" was a famous phrase coined as a result of this tax levied by the emperors Nero and Vespasian in the 1st century AD. Eventually, so much urine was used and collected that a tax was imposed by the Roman emperor.
Ancient laundries even used to collect urine in giant clay pots which were placed out in public for people to relieve themselves. They used it as a cleaning agent for washing their clothes, brushing their teeth as well as for tanning leather.
It was seen as much more useful than today. The ancient Romans have passed many traditions on to modern day society, but they certainly had a different perspective on urine.
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