Ok. You give context to every other history post, but not this one?!
this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2026
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lmao, the joke was more about infodumping about one's obscure interests, but as for urine taxation:
Explanation: The Roman Emperor Vespasian decided he needed more income, but didn’t feel raising the proportions of existing taxes was appropriate. So he instituted a new tax - on urine. Urine was used in bleaching, cleaning, and tanning (it’s the ammonia), so it was actually a valuable commodity. Terracotta amphorae were placed around the city of Rome where citizens could relieve themselves like CIVILIZED people, and Vespasian implemented a tax on those who collected those pisspots.
Vespasian’s son, Titus, expressed disgust at the tax, but Vespasian is said to have waved a gold coin under his nose, and told him that the coin came from urine, yet it didn’t smell. From which we get the modern Latin phrase ‘Pecunia non olet’ - ‘Money doesn’t smell’
Also, for this reason, some Romance languages still use words derived from Vespasian’s name for urinals.
Omg it’s mad how many people don’t even know about this.
dodged a bullet, honestly
More like fulfilled an important task.
Yes, the OP did both
But does she know that they also used to swish urine to whiten their teeth?
Or that several Roman sources mention that the Celtiberians washed their hair with their urine?