Is the vomitorium of ancient Rome a myth? The puke room is: a vomitorium was an exit tunnel.

• ✓Oxford Latin Dictionary (vomitorium entry)
• ✓Macrobius, Saturnalia (original Latin use of the term)
• ✓General classical architecture and archaeological scholarship on Roman amphitheaters

Vomitoriums were rooms where Romans puked between courses. Except they weren't. A vomitorium is an arched stone passageway built into Roman amphitheaters, like the Colosseum, designed to empty thousands of spectators in minutes. The name comes from the Latin word vomere, meaning to spew forth, but it describes the crowd pouring out, not food coming back up. Romans did hold lavish, multi-course banquets, but no ancient text, cookbook, or household record mentions a special room for purging food. Centuries later, writers took the word's root literally, and the wrong meaning stuck. So next time you're squeezed through a stadium tunnel leaving a game, you're walking through an actual vomitorium. Did you also picture Romans puking between courses? Let me know in the comments and subscribe for a fact every day.