The vomitorium in ancient Rome was not a room for gluttons to vomit and eat more, but an entrance or exit to stadiums. Drunks may have vomited at banquets, and Julius Caesar used substances to induce vomiting. Some families employed a foretaste to check for poison.
Contrary to popular belief, a vomitorium was not a special room where ancient Roman gluttons could regurgitate food to allow for even more consumption. Instead, the vomitoria were exits or entrances to stadiums or amphitheatres. In Latin, vomere means “to throw up,” something that is very descriptive of a teeming crowd that leaves a place all at once.
Read more about eating in Ancient Rome:
Seneca, a philosopher, wrote of servants in ancient Rome who were responsible for collecting “the leftovers of the drunkards” at banquets. This implies that drunks vomited during banquets, although it is not clear whether sober diners also had a habit of purging themselves during meals.
Julius Caesar was said to have used drugs or similar substances to encourage vomiting after a meal.
Some prominent Roman families employed a foretaste, a servant who tasted food to make sure it wasn’t poisoned.
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