Bath time for the Romans
When it comes to looking back at Roman history there are many things that they developed that we still use today or that we have taken the basic idea for and developed further as technologies have advanced. This includes the road network that we have here in the UK as well as the centre of town and city set ups. We have also taken the idea of underfloor heating from them. OF course the flooring that a Electric Underfloor Heating Gloucestershire company will install today is much more advanced than that of Roman times but the idea began with them.
The Romans enjoyed nothing more than getting together and enjoying some time in their bathhouses. These were very elaborate buildings that had mosaic tiles on the floor and water that was sometimes infused with essential oils. They would spend vast amounts of time in this room. The flooring was heated in what is known as the ‘hypocaust’. It was a series of columns in the underfloor space and a channel that ran to the furnace. The hot air would travel down this channel until it reached the network of columns. The air would rise up through this space and the subsequent floor above creating a nice warm floor and overall atmosphere above.
Summary
This article looks at what the Romans left behind, from road networks to underfloor heating, focusing on their elaborate bathhouses. It describes mosaic-tiled bathhouses sometimes infused with essential oils, and explains how the underfloor ‘hypocaust’ heating system used a series of columns and channels beneath the floor to keep the rooms warm.
Questions this article raises
- How did the Roman hypocaust system heat a room from below?
- What other Roman innovations are still used in the UK today?
- Why were bathhouses such an important part of Roman social life?
