I was considered that the first who invented this sanitary device was Thomas Krapper, an English plumber, he patented the system with a well-known water tank slightly more than 100 years ago, at the time of reigning of Queen Victoria. By the way the word “crap” is not derived by his name. This word derives from Dutch (crappe), and first came into use centuries before Crapper was born.
Nevertheless the anteriority of Thomas Crapper was challenged by Chinese archeologists. They found a toilet of the very similar to modern construction in the archeological diggings in China. The table-tomb where the toilet was found belonged to an emperor of West Hàn dynasty and it dated back to 2000 years ago. They managed to get the information about this device due to the fact that Chinese at those time believed that after a physical death a soul needed all the worldly luxuries like a baths, a kitchen with an ice-box, a bedroom and, of course, a water closet equipped in due form.
But even this advanced for that time Chinese toilet is not the oldest one. In the beginning of the 20th century Sir Arthur Evans, the British archaeologist, rediscovered on the island of Crete the Minoan culture that had flourished from approximately 2700 to 1450 BC. Afterwards this civilization disappeared in a very short period of time, historians are still not sure about the causes why it happened but the fact that this civilization was highly developed. Will Durant said in 1939 that it was “the first link in the European chain”.
The fact that this civilization was very advanced could be proven by the fact that people of that time cared a lot about how to make everyday life more pleasant and comfortable. In the diggings of the Knossos palace in Crete archeologist found a masterly and very ramified collecting system. It was so perfect that by comparison with modern collecting systems it could be fixed very quickly and easily in any part of the palace in the case of emergency! It is very curious that at the time of diggings there was no canalization in Crete. When Sir Evans found a round gap and ash around it (it was supposedly a wooden toilet of an empress) he exclaimed that he was the only one who had a toilet there. He thought that he found the first toilet in the world and this fact still hasn’t been called down.
One more interesting fact – the International day of Toilet was constituted in 2001 in Singapore. The representatives from 200 countries established World Toilet Organization (WTO). This professional holiday was celebrated 19th November, 2002 the first time.
We can see that every regular device in our life can lurk some secrets in its past.
The final Curious © phrase:
“Cleanliness is next to godliness”
