![]() ![]() Īt some point in the late 19th or early 20th century, people got the wrong idea about vomitoriums. He was referring to the alcoves in amphitheaters and the way people seemed to erupt out of them to fill empty seats. Macrobius added the "orium" ending to turn it into a place, a common type of wordplay in ancient Latin. The Roman writer Macrobius first referred to vomitoriums in his "Saturnalia." The adjective vomitus already existed in Latin, Bond told Live Science. ![]() "It's just kind of a trope," that ancient Romans were luxurious and vapid enough to engage in rituals of binging and purging, said Sarah Bond, an assistant professor of classics at the University of Iowa. To Romans, vomitoriums were the entrances/exits in stadiums or theaters, so dubbed by a fifth-century writer because of the way they'd spew crowds out into the streets. But even the wealthiest did not have special rooms for purging. Actual ancient Romans did love food and drink. Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games" series, for example, alludes to vomitoriums when the lavish inhabitants of the Capitol-all with Latin names like Flavia and Octavia-imbibe a drink to make them vomit at parties so they can gorge themselves on more calories than citizens in the surrounding districts would see in months.īut the real story behind vomitoriums is much less disgusting. It's a striking illustration of gluttony and waste, and one that makes its way into modern texts. As far as pop culture is concerned, a vomitorium is a room where ancient Romans went to throw up lavish meals so they could return to the table and feast some more. ![]()
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