ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates the archaeological evidence for latrines, sewers and drains in ancient Greece. In order to understand how sanitation in classical Greece evolved, it is useful to appreciate what existed in other cultures of the ancient world, especially those around the Mediterranean. The chapter explores the evidence for sewers, lavatories, and other sanitation technologies in ancient Greece, compares how these technologies varied over time in different regions of Greece, and how their design and use evolved in the context of ancient Greek civilisations, focusing mostly on the engineering evolution through the centuries. The layout of multiple lavatories was largely determined by the perimetric channel present under the defecation benches. It shows that in ancient Greece, extensive drainage and sewerage systems and elaborate sanitary and flushing structures were in use. Some public lavatories survived past the fall of the ancient world and were in use during the first part of the Byzantine period.
