Well, it’s not as straight forward a question as you might think. When most people ask “who invented the toilet” they probably mean “who invented the flush toilet”? The most common answer you’ll find on the web is Thomas Crapper! Crapper didn’t actually invent the toilet though…he just made it better by inventing the “ballcock“.
Interestingly enough, the flush toilet has been around in various forms since at least 3000 BC! They were used in the Indus Valley Civilizations and by the Romans and Egyptians. Here’s a picture of some old Roman wall toilets:
Toilets have come a LONG way since the days of the Romans though. Believe it or not my mom got this toilet seat for Mother’s Day after falling in love with them on a trip to Japan. So it’s not even easy to answer “who invented the flushable toilet”? Even squat toilets can be flushable:
Next time someone asks you who invented the flush toilet, you can tell them it wasn’t Thomas Crapper, but some unknown person many thousands of years ago.
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