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- "Such an elaborate space would also have been used to impress guests with water games, which were very popular amongst nobility at the time. “We have found le
by perihelions 3y ago
- "Such an elaborate space would also have been used to impress guests with water games, which were very popular amongst nobility at the time. “We have found lead pipes embedded within the decorated walls, built to carry water inside basins or to make fountains spout to create water games,” said Russo."
It was an eyebrow-raising reading how the water economics of ancient Rome worked [0]. Probably a microcosm of the dysfunction and absurdity of that city as a whole.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_aqueduct#Distribution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_aqueduct#Distribution
- sologoub 3y agoThat article seems to describe a system where public uses were prioritized over paid. Like in any system, some degree of favoritism/corruption existed, but at least initially it seemed to still serve the public at large quite well. Especially when one considers many of their contemporary equivalents or what followed for centuries in Europe.
- lovecg 3y agoThanks for the link! > The construction of Rome's third aqueduct, the Aqua Marcia, was at first legally blocked on religious grounds, under advice from the decemviri (an advisory "board of ten"). The new aqueduct was meant to supply water to the highest elevations of the city, including the Capitoline Hill, but the decemviri had consulted Rome's main written oracle, the Sibylline Books, and found there a warning against supplying water to the Capitoline. This brought the project to a standstill. One can’t help but draw parallels with modern day out of control environmental review process…