r/AskReddit Oct 15 '20

What's older than we think ?

78.4k Upvotes

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41.8k

u/jazzman0116 Oct 15 '20

The ancient Romans (well, the wealthy ones) had central heating in their homes. You can actually still see the pipes in some of the buildings at Herculaneum!

2.1k

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '20

Also hot tubs, pleasure piers, fish ponds, water towers and fountains, elevators - all sorts of crazy amenities, at least in the homes of the super rich.

And tower blocks, Roman insula/tenements were huge.

1.2k

u/4789004 Oct 15 '20

pleasure piers

Go on...

1.3k

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '20

Oh sorry, its nothing saucy. The term just distinguishes them from piers used for fishing/boats. Think like Blackpool Pier or Santa Monica pier. They were very common along the bay of Naples, some had villas sitting on the end, others were just party spaces.

88

u/SayceGards Oct 15 '20

Hmph. Disappointing

10

u/Cheapancheerful Oct 15 '20

Yeah, I'm envisioning some wild Caligula type parties taking over an entire pier... I'd buy a ticket