One of the worst jobs for Roman slaves was working in a laundromat (fullonica). Human urine was used in the cleaning process. The shops had big pots outside for people to contribute their urine. In other words, men (and women?) would pee in them. Urine has ammonia in it. Clothes were put in a vat filled with pee and slaves would walk around in the vat to agitate the clothes. (Similar to the making of wine by slaves crushing the grapes with their feet.) One day a laundry slave (fullone) named Atesippus was thrown in as a free gift to a rich woman who had bought a candelabra from the laundromat owner. He became the woman’s lover, was freed, and inherited her huge fortune when she died. From pee rags to riches!
– maroon 68 & http://www.cienciahistorica.com/articles-in-english/indeed-romans-used-urine-to-do-laundryand-worse-things/
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