20 Occupations That No Longer Exist In Our Modern World

 

Previously we discussed remote jobs. Now we are going to present you post about occupations that does not exist today. Our world develops constantly and it happens that there is no longer need in some professions. Human labour is replaced by machines, and certain kinds of professions stop existing at all. In our post on occupations that no longer exist in our modern world we will remember and remind you what professions have disappeared. I believe this postabout professions that no longer exist will be interesting for you. For more posts on various topics visit our website. There you can also get help in resume writing or order resume online.

1. Silver miner

In Ancient Rome silver was mined with hands. Boys were moved down into narrow holes, which were also very deep. Due to the fact there was extremely hot and the holes were filled with toxic gases, one could live no longer than three months in such conditions. However, Romans did not worry about this, because the workers were slaves.

2. Stercorarius

Rome was famous by its large sewer system. Despite this fact, most people did not have access to it (those who used to live on the hills, or those who were to poor to have water pipes). Of course, no one wanted unpleasant smells from the sewerage to get inside their homes. That is why there was invented a special profession called stercorarius. These people cleaned the sewerage under the houses. They took “the waste of human activity” and sold it to farmers.

3. Organizer of orgies

It is something like modern event manager. The word “orgy” had other meaning from what it means now. It was a grand dinner with much drinks, food and women. Sometimes it ended with sexy riot.

Organizer of orgies had to deal with purchases, rent a house, provide the guests with rooms, invite women and so on. It was not honored profession, no one liked its representatives, but people often used their services.

4. Lyrist

Lyrists were strolling musicians who were playing lira and singing sometimes. Their function was to entertain people on squares.

5. Carrier of privileged body      

In spite of the fact that these people were always well dressed and full-fed, their work was not easy at all. Imagine stairs of hundred steps that a carrier had to pass carrying his master. Taking into consideration that sedan chair was usually decorated with gold and glass, the carrier’s work was very hard. In addition, a carrier had to carry the body very carefully not to provoke “seasickness”.

6. Ballroom pianist

Ballroom pianists were people who used to play piano in cinema while the movie. This profession disappeared when sound movie was invented.

7. Creator of tablets with curses

If you wanted to wish someone something bad, you had to order such a tablet and take it to the temple. They believed that a deity could read such a tablet and fulfill what was written there.

An “unfortunate writer” half of the day had to listen to the complaints of the guests, and the rest of the day he used to make the tablets. Fortunately, many of these tablets were saved.

8. Funeral clown

Funeral clown used to dress as decedent, behaved joyfully, danced and made jokes. Romans believed that in such a way they could banish evil spirits and ensure the decedent with joy in afterlife. During the funeral the clown used to run around the body, made jokes and acted the ape and the manners of the decedent. Some of these clowns were respected a lot and allowed to serve the funeral of famous people and emperors.

9. Organist of the water pipe organ

Water pipe organs work according to the same principle as ordinary pipe organs, but instead of the air they use water. In ancient times it was quite widespread music instrument, and its musicians were very popular.

Water pipe organ musician usually had long term carrier and were invited to the different feasts and events. Even Nero used to play water pipe organ.

10. Person who sets the skittles at the bowling alley

At the beginning of the 20th century bowling was very popular. However, there were no mechanisms to set the skittles automatically at that time, so there were specially trained boys who performed this job.

11. Alarm clock man / Knocker up

At the times of industrialization in England and Ireland alarm clock were not easily available, but many people had to get up very early to go to work, and in a city it was a problem. A man called knocker up helped to solve this problem. His duty was to go to the houses of the clients and knock their windows until he was sure they woke up.

As a rule, they used short stick to knock the doors, and long stick to knock the windows. Some knocker uppers used a straw and dried peas. The cost of such a service was about few pence per week. Usually old people, women were occupied with this job. Sometimes even big factories hired a knocker-up so that their workers were in time.

12. Ice cutter

This profession was dangerous but demanded before the refrigeration equipment was invented. Due to modern freezing technologies there is no longer need in ice cutter, who used to cut the blocks of ice out the lake. This profession was extremely dangerous because people often fell into the icy water.

13. Radar man / Ether listener

Before the radar was invented, military units used special acoustic mirrors and other listening devices to focus and define the source of sound of enemy planes engines.

14. Rat catcher

Rat fighting was a problem of all big cities, and to solve it there were squads of rat catchers equipped with firearms. These “city orderlies” had to search in scrapyards and sewerages risking to be attacked by rats.

15. Lantern arsonist

Before street electric lanterns were invented, in each city there were arsonists equipped with special long sticks to fire and extinguish the kerosene lanterns on the streets.

16. Logs drover / Timber rafters

People used to transport timber in a “wet” way by river, before they started to use capacious cargo barges and overland trucks. Drovers organized this difficult and physically hard process, they used to stand on special rafts and controlled the logs.

17. The switch operator / Telephonist

Before the digital connection was invented, the switch operator was an integral part of the process of telephone connection between two subscribers.

18. Resurrectionist / Body snatcher

This terrifying profession was widespread in 19th century. Teachers of medical institutes and universities used fresh corpses as aids on anatomy. It was almost impossible to get a corpse in a legal way, that is why teachers committed a crime by paying people who could dig up a fresh grave and steal the remains.

19. Lector in working shops

Trade unions used to hire readers who entertained the workers occupied with monotonous silent job. Usually lectors had to read factory short-run newspaper, but sometimes workers had an opportunity to listen to something more pleasant.

20. Milkman

Modern methods of milk conservation and saving were not available earlier. That is why milkman had to bring milk to client as fast as possible otherwise it would just turn sour.

Some of these professions may seem strange today, some of them still exist but in other form. Of course, this is not full list of occupations that have already disappeared. If you are interested in this subject, contact us and we will gladly answer all your questions.