Did the past really smell terrible?

by Scipio218

I was having a conversation with a friend where I named some of the historical places I would visit if I had a time machine, to which he responded, “you would literally puke, everything smelled terrible back then.” It makes sense, but was it really that bad? What would a given city from history be like for one of us to experience? How did they contemporaries deal with the stench?

mikedash

There is always more to say, but while you wait for fresh responses to your query, you might find an older thread of interest:

How bad would it have smelled in a medieval city?