History on Roman Baths,Aquaducts, and the Goddess Sulis Minerva.
two thousand years ago, the Roman Empire was the most powerful civilization on Earth, stretching from North Africa and Asia Minor across Europe to the British Isles. For more than 1000 years The Romans unified these diverse lands their mastery of engineering.
The great and highly advanced Roman waterway system known as the Aqueducts, are among the greatest achievements in the ancient world. The running water, indoor plumbing and sewer system carrying away disease from the population within the Empire wasn't surpassed in capability until very modern times. The Aqueducts, being the most visible and glorious piece of the ancient water system, stand as a testament to Roman engineering. Some of these ancient structures are still in use today in various capacities.
The aqueducts were built from a combination of stone, brick and the special volcanic cement pozzuolana. While their visible remains leave a definite impression, the great bulk of the Roman waterway system ran below ground. Channels bored through rock, or dug below the surface carried water where it was convenient and possible. Of the approximately 260 miles in the aqueduct system, only 30 miles consisted of the visible, mammoth arched structures. The aqueducts were built only to carry the flow of water in areas where digging, burrowing, or surface grades presented problems, such as valleys. The entire system relied upon various gradients and the use of gravity to maintain a continuous flow; and the engineering at the time was remarkable. Without the aqueducts it would've been impossible to maintain the flow of water at the proper grades required.
When water reached Rome it flowed into enormous cisterna maintained on the highest ground. These large reservoirs held the water supply for the city and were connected to a vast network of lead pipes. Everything from public fountains, baths and private villas could tap into the network, sometimes provided a fee was paid. The water system was as politically motivated as any other massive public works project. Providing additional sources of incoming flow, feeding the baths or simply providing water access to more of the populace could grant great prestige
Many of Rome's engineering secrets originated in one of its most important institutions: the Roman bath. A vital focus for leisure and social interaction, the public bathhouse incorporated intricate systems for plumbing and heating, sophisticated vaulted ceilings, and a revolutionary new building material we now call concrete. These buildings represented a new concept of luxury and sophistication in an age more often marked by violence and squalor. Indeed, the bathhouse was one of Rome's most effective tools for converting its conquered subjects to the Roman way of life. Supported by generous state subsidies, the bath functioned as pleasure palace, public health facility and community center in every town under Roman rule.
After a morning's work at the office or shop, most Roman's enjoyed spending the afternoon at the thermae or public bath. They were a social meeting place. Both men and women enjoyed coming to the baths not only to get clean but to meet with friends, exercise, or read at the library.
The Greeks and Romans like wise considered sex to be a natural, pleasurable activity and did not associate it with guilt and had no concept of sin. The ancient Babylonian, Arabic and Indian cultures had the same attitudes, as did Shamanic cultures that predated all these civilizations the world over. The Greeks and Roman societies used massage for health and for pleasure. Hippocrates, the father of Medicine, wrote in 460 BC that: "The physician must be experienced in many things, but assuredly in rubbing". Herodotus, the teacher of Hippocrates, wrote about the benefits of massage. Both Herodotus and Hippocrates believed that all doctors needed to know massage for healing.
The Greeks and Romans like wise considered sex to be a natural, pleasurable activity and did not associate it with guilt and had no concept of sin. The ancient Babylonian, Arabic and Indian cultures had the same attitudes, as did Shamanic cultures that predated all these civilizations the world over.
The Greeks and Roman societies used massage for health and for pleasure. Hippocrates, the father of Medicine, wrote in 460 BC that:
"The physician must be experienced in many things, but assuredly in rubbing".
Herodotus, the teacher of Hippocrates, wrote about the benefits of massage.
Both Herodotus and Hippocrates believed that all doctors needed to know massage for healing.
The baths had hot and cold pools, towels, steam rooms, saunas, exercise rooms, and hair cutting salons. They had reading rooms and libraries, as among the freeborn, who had the right to frequent baths, the majority could read.
Generally, Romans would first go to the unctuarium where they had oil rubbed onto their skin and would then exercise in one of the exercise yards. From here they would move to the tepidarium or warm room where they would lie around chatting with their friends. Next, it was on to the caldarium, similar to a Turkish bath, hot and steamy. Here they sat and perspired, scraping their skin with a strigil, a curved metal tool. Attendants would serve them snacks and drinks. Finally came a dip in the calidarium (hot bath) and a quick dip in the frigidarium (cold bath). After swimming, the bather might enjoy a massage where he might have oils and perfumes rubbed into his skin.
Feeling clean and relaxed, the Roman might drift through the beautiful gardens decorated with mosaics and colossal scruptures or enjoy athletic events in a theaterlike rotunda.
The largest of all Roman baths was the Diocletian, completed in A.D. 305
The Roman baths used the Hypocaust system for heating the building and the pools. This underfloor heating system had hot air heated from the basement fires flowing between the brick or concrete columns which support the ground floor. The the warm air flows through wall ducts into the rooms at the baths and quickly heats them. In some baths the floors would be so hot that the bathers would have to wear wooden sandels to stop their feet from being burnt. The fires in the basement were stocked by firebringers or workers of the baths.
The baths were generally crowded but the people loved them.
At one time, there were as many as 900 public baths in ancient Rome. Small ones held about 300 people, and the big ones held 1500 people or more! Some Roman hospitals even had their own bathhouses
The baths were not free and children were not permitted.
All bathhouses had large public latrines which were, in effect, the first flush toilets. These toilets were an integral part of the plumbing system as well as another communal area in which to sit and chat. There was a continuous water flow underneath the seats, the whole being flushed away after use into the municipal drain and thence to the river.
also it was to honor one of the more important Goddess Sulis Minerva
Goddess of Springs ,Bath And healing
said to be good luck and Sulis would sometimes grant wishes to those
who honored her
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