I wonder if this was just the doings of some eccentric in an act of euergetism (the wealthy supporting their cities through public works and the like) who thoug

I wonder if this was just the doings of some eccentric in an act of euergetism (the wealthy supporting their cities through public works and the like) who thought that iron was just the thing. It was a resort city that attracted a lot of rich folk. It seems possible that rather than giving us insight into how the Romans maintained their cities it is just unveiling some small interesting idea someone brought into reality. It is unlikely we'll ever know for sure. But it is interesting to contemplate how much of what we think we know about the past could be just way off and we've invested too much into artifacts of odd occurrences that just happened to survive while the more mundane and "real" are lost to time.