Malodorous Metropolises

Plenty of marble, trash of all kinds: It smelled bad in ancient metropolises - From the annual conference of the DFG funded Research Training Group 2337 "Pre-Modern Metropolitanism" at the University of Regensburg

8 December 2023

Rome, Athens, London, Paris: Their power of attraction led to radiance, wealth and growth in many metropolises of European antiquity and the Middle Ages. However, the associated infrastructural services for the inhabitants of these cities - their supply, the removal of garbage and dirt, hygiene in general - were challenges that were apparently not particularly well mastered in many places. The results were smell and stench.

How are unpleasant odors described in texts? When is it a question of individual perceptions of "pleasant" and "unpleasant", and where do social perceptions come into play? What cultural and socio-historical insights can be drawn from this?

The Research Training Group (RTG) 2337 "Pre-Modern Metropolitanism" at the University of Regensburg (UR), funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), addressed the topic at its annual conference in 2023.