Possible Actors’ Toilet Uncovered in Theater at Smyrna

IZMIR, TURKEY—The Anadolu Agency reports that the remains of a toilet facility have been found within an enclosed area in the theater at the ancient city of Smyrna, which is located near Turkey’s western coastline. Archaeologist Akın Ersoy of İzmir Katip Çelebi University said the theater dates to the second century B.C. and was in use into the fifth century A.D. The toilet seats stood about 16 inches tall, with room for about a dozen seats in a U-shaped arrangement. A U-shaped trough about four inches deep carried clean water. Ersoy and his colleagues think the toilet was reserved for the actors performing in the theater. To read about a bawdy mosaic unearthed in a public latrine at Turkey’s ancient city of Antiochia ad Cragum, go to “Funny Business.”