Ancient Roman 'gaming pieces' may actually be loo rolls

The Roman relics have been in the collection at Fishbourne Roman Palace in Chichester, West Sussex, since the Sixties.

Up until now museum experts thought the items were used for early games like draughts, but an article in the British Medical Journal has now proposed that they have a very different function, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

It is well publicised that Romans used sponges mounted on sticks and dipped in vinegar as an alternative to toilet paper.

Now it has emerged these ceramic discs might also have been used for such personal hygiene.

The broken pieces - known as 'pessoi', meaning pebbles - range in size from one inch to four inches in diameter and were excavated near to the museum in 1960.

It had been thought that they were chips used to play an ancient game, also known as 'pessoi', but the new research drew from classical sources to present evidence that they were also used to clean up after going to the toilet.

Philippe Charlier, assistant professor in forensic medicine at the Raymond Poincare University Hospital in Paris, pointed to archaeological excavations which have uncovered pessoi inside the pits of Greek and Roman latrines across the Mediterranean.

In one such dig in Athens, American archaeologists found a range of such pessoi 1.2 to 4 inches in diameter and 0.2 to 0.8 inch thick which, Professor Charlier wrote, were 're-cut from old broken ceramics to give smooth angles that would minimise anal trauma'.

According to Charlier's article, the Greeks and Romans even inscribed some of their pessoi with the names of their enemies or others they didn't like.

Examples of such stones have been found by archaeologists bearing the names of such noted historical figures as Socrates, Themisthocles and Pericles, Charlier reported.

"These pottery pieces have no monetary value because we are essentially talking about items once used as toilet roll," Museum curator Dr Rob Symmons said.

"The pieces had always been catalogued as as broken gaming pieces but I was never particularly happy with that explanation," Symmons added.

Charlier's research indicates that the use of such stones would have probably been rather hard on the rear ends of the ancients, and could have caused a variety of medical issues.

He suggested the abrasive texture of the pessoi could have led to skin irritation, mucosal damage, or complications of external haemorrhoids.