Wherever you go in the world, finding decent toilets is always helpful – but these ancient communal toilets in Ephesus were important for a different reason. They were evidence of a divided and unequal society. The social elite could enjoy the relative luxuries of the marble-topped public toilets, while their slaves waited on them. Into this culture, Paul spoke extraordinary words about masters and slaves being one in Jesus Christ, important words that brought dignity and honour to those oppressed in this ancient society.
So there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between men and women; you are all one in union with Christ Jesus. Galatians 3.28
In Roman antiquity, private homes were normally not connected to the city sewers. This was not necessarily a bad thing; the sewers had no traps and you never knew what creature might emerge from them. It did mean, though, that private loos were effectively cesspits.
Public latrines, like the ones in Ephesus, were usually connected to the sewer. Tunics and togas would have offered a degree of privacy as people shared the multi-seater facilities.
The health hazards resulting from the overall lack of hygiene may explain why many ancient toilet walls portray the goddess Fortuna.
As you learned in the video, Paul’s gospel message to the Ephesians implied a radical break with a culture where servants had no value and performed the meanest of tasks as a matter of course. Irrespective of social class, says Paul, believers are united in their faith in Christ. In God’s eyes, the slave has as much value as the master.
The story Melania the Younger (d.AD439) is one of ‘riches to rags’. A hugely wealthy aristocratic woman from Rome, Melania, a devout Christian, encountered numerous difficulties. On the death of her two children she then decided to give away much of her wealth and property and freed over 8,000 slaves.
The toilets of Ephesus, the writings of Paul and Melania's story give us insights into the early Jesus movement. The good news of God putting on flesh and bone, living a life of service rather than being served and being willingly executed on a Roman cross brought a new way of operating on completely different terms. The hierarchical order was continually inverted, possessions were given away, and people competed not to be first in receiving honour but in giving it.
Today we see tribal boundaries and injustice. Little has changed since the Ephesus toilets. Jesus calls us to do better. Righteous people in the Bible disadvantage themselves to advantage others. In what ways might God be calling you to do the same?
Read on, to find out more about early countercultural Christian practice.
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