Aqueducts-the Water of Life

The Roman aqueduct system was one of the greatest of the Roman engineering feats. Every city in the Empire needed an adequate water supply, if nature did not provide local sources than Roman engineers used aqueducts to solve the problem. The Segovia Aqueduct still suppled water to the city in the 19th century.

The Pont du Gard in France is an excellent example of the skills of the Roman engineers.

A multi-tiered system guaranteed that water would flow to the most vital aspects of a city's water system first (drinking, bathing, toilets). The upper tier was for less necessary water usage (private homes, gardens etc.). In time of drought the water was diverted from the upper tiers to only the lower until the crisis abated.

Rome itself was served by seven great aqueducts. Each serviced the needs of the cities million inhabitants. The great baths, public fountains, toilets, and sewers all relied on the millions of gallons of fresh water the aqueducts brought to the city every day.

Through This Portal

The main entrance to heated swimming area of a Roman Baths was the portal to the daily ritual of cleanliness and community interaction. Thousands of feet per day for centuries entering though this doorway have worn the granite lintel into a smooth curve. One can only imagine what the baths looked like in the glory days of the empire when visiting the baths was a civic responsibility of all citizens.

The Hypocaust-Radiant Floor Heating 1st Century Style

Hypocaust (Heat from Below) was a Roman engineering design that was used to heat both public and private buildings throughout the empire. The floor was raised on brick pillars and ventilation flues were built into the walls. Heat via a fire was produced and allowed to flow under the floors and out the flues heating the entire area through the floor. This radiant heat is clean and efficient. With the fall of Rome in the 5th Century, this technique of heating homes through the floor was lost in the Western World until the late 20th Century.

These pictures are of the remains of the hypocaust system found in the great baths of Wroxeter England.

All The Glory That Was Rome

Main entrance to the baths of Viroconium Cornoviorum (Wroexter UK).

This is all that remains of the Roman baths in Wroxter. At one time these ruins were the height of Roman engineering design with hot and cold pools, underfloor heating and flushing toilets. As befit a major city of the Empire, the baths were massive being able to serve up to 1000 people at a time.

After the fall of the Empire, the baths were abandoned as the barbarian conquerors had no need for such sophisticated social cleanliness. Over time the baths were demolished not by war, rather they were literally taken apart piece by piece to be used as construction material in nearby villages and farms.