Welcome back to Think Tank,
Hannah Cranston and Jayar Jackson.
And today, we are uncovering some
of the most disturbing and
disgusting facts about ancient
Greek life.
Now, often when we were talking
about ancient Greeks,
we were looking at
these Greek god bodies and
talking about their athleticism.
But there are some really just
frankly nasty components of life as
in ancient Greek person.
One of them being that apparently
to diagnose you, your doctor would
taste your ear wax, okay?
>> Yes.
>> Now the doctor would choose
the test depending on the symptoms.
It wasn't always about
the ear wax guys,
don't get caught up on that, okay?
>> Yeah, seems like it could
get a lot better.
>> He could run his fingers through
your phlegm or lick your
vomit to see how sweet it was.
We're not done, I'm so sorry.
According to Hippocratic medicine,
urine was supposed to taste like
taste like fig juice.
So if you felt a little
under the weather, your doctor
would take a little sip and
if your urine wasn't tart enough,
he knew there was a problem.
>> They didn't ask enough
questions for this.
>> Do you know what the problem is?
Your doctor drinking your urine.
[LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] They didn't ask
enough questions of Hippocrates to
ask him, what exactly why should it
taste like fig juice and
why do you know that?
And why you making me drink
this piss?
>> [LAUGH] >> No.
>> Okay, he's on to
something, right?
Because you're in and
your feces can actually say a lot
about your health, right?
The way that it looks, smells,
things like that.
>> And especially when it
comes out of- >> You just
don't need to taste it.
>> When it comes out of your body,
the main thing you should take from
that is that it's not supposed to
be inside of there.
>> Yeah, things that go out,
not supposed to go back in.
>> [LAUGH] >> All right?
Just very, very gross.
Like the Romans, the Greeks would
sometimes clean themselves with a
sponge attached to a stick, right?
And this was their former way to
wipe up after they go to
the restroom.
>> To get the excess.
>> But not every Greek was so rich.
So more often the Greeks would
clean themselves with stones,
all right?
And other times they take broken
shards or ceramic pots and
scrape themselves clean with that.
Literally that makes me cringe.
They also said hemorrhoids, quite
popular during ancient Greek times.
>> Three stones are enough to wipe,
was the old saying.
>> What happens when you run out
of stones?
>> It's equivalent to three
squares, I guess of toilet paper.
>> No- >> Stones.
>> I don't want any of that.
And then people would get stones
during ancient times too.
I don't want nothing to
do with any of this.
That sounds very painful.
>> What happens when you
want to like TP someone's house?
>> They threw them at people, might
as well throw them at their house.
I don't know.
Let's talk about
the athletes, right?
I referenced that in the beginning.
So before competing, Greek athletes
would take off all their clothes,
so far so good, all right?
Cover themselves in oil.
We're still rolling, right?
>> Yeah, yeah. >> That was how
they preformed, right?
So whether they were running or
grappling with another dude,
always do it naked.
I'm on board so far, right?
>> [LAUGH] >> But apparently then,
after they did all of
the fighting and the competing.
A group of slaves working
as gloios-collectors,
would run around collecting
all the scraping of their bodies.
And bottling up all the weird,
disgusting things that
fell off the athletes bodies.
Okay, gross, but you know I'm not
totally sold yet, right?
>> Yeah.
>> This is totally disturbing,
then these scrapings would be sold
as medicine and
people would drink the dirt and
sweat from athletes bodies.
>> And then they'd have to go to
the doctor who would taste
the vomit that came back up out of
them from drinking the dirt, and
the sweat, and the grime,
and the grease off the bodies.
And the doctor would taste it, and
then he'd puke and throw up and
get the shits, and
then someone else would eat that.
It was a full cycle.
>> A full circle.
>> There's no.
>> The cycling process was amazing.
>> Yeah, reuse, recycle,
whatever it is.
>> [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] So
stories like these, right?
We can look back and be that's so
disgusting, they're so stupid,
which is what we did for
the majority of this video.
>> [LAUGH] >> But this sorts of
videos always prompt to think what
sorts of things that we do today.
Will people hundreds of years from
now think you're totally?
>> This is the first thing that
came to mind. >> Yeah, go.
>> You know kids at sporting events
and they want the athlete's
headband and wristband. >> Yeah.
>> And release they're jersey and
stuff? That's covered in sweat-
>> Very similar.
>> Maybe a little bit of blood.
Maybe he got a nose and wiped it.
Maybe he blew his nose a little and
bit. Maybe his hands are filthy.
>> So what sort of like
medicinal things that we do now
are people gonna think is gross?
Like we eat a lot of things, and
I've said this on the show before,
people are always trying to find
the elixir to longevity, right? And
so the people thinking that these
sorts of sweat from these amazing
athletes are gonna give them
a longer life [CROSSTALK] >> I get
that thought, sure.. >> I get that.
Cuz if you told me, I swear to God,
if you told me that cat piss was
the elixir to life, I would start
drinking cat piss. >> Wouldn't you
start taking it once you get old?
I mean hold off, enjoy youth first.
Then as you get old and wrinkly
then start drinking the cat.
>> Start trying. >> The campus and
see what I can do. >> Yeah,
great when I'm an old cat lady,
[CROSSTALK] I'm gonna have all
the pistons in the world so it's
like I'll have my own supplier.
Save money and stay young forever.
I think it's a full proof plan, but
I'm interested to hear what you
guys think about some of these
ancient Greek traditions.
If you know other traditions from
other ancient civilizations that
you would like to share with us,
that might be a little disturbing
today, please share those in
the comments down below.
Be sure to follow JR Jackson for
his- >> Yeah, follow JR Jackson you
get 10% off the sweat and
grime from my athletic endeavors.
>> Yeah, he will be giving away all
his sweat and grime.
Wait one more thing I wanted to
say. >> Uber pro JR sweat.
>> It just popped into my head
about the sweat thing, is people do
want sweat from underwear and
things like that still.
>> They want to know?
>> Yeah.
>> Who, from where?
How? What hold
on, what site are you on?
[LAUGH] >> From my
direct message is on Instagram.
Let me just tell you there is
a market.
>> [LAUGH] >> I'm not supplying,
but there's a market,
in case I'm ever short on cash.
Thanks for tuning in, and
we'll see you soon.
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