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Have We Reached Our ‘Dark Ages’ Moment?
Roman ruins really help you appreciate how advanced their society was — and then the Catholic Church happened
Standing over yet another ruined Roman bathhouse, I marveled at how clean the Romans seemed to be. When traveling around Rome, Italy, and many parts of Europe that were fortunate enough to have the civilizing effects of the Roman Empire reach them, baths and running water played an important role and were often the center of the long-gone communities.
It was a ruined bath that I saw in Portugal the other day with my son that powered my realization that the dark times humanity seems to be sprinting toward have historic precedence: The Middle Ages.
Take the hypocaust floor heating system, for instance. Remarkably developed toward the end of the 2nd century BC, the hypocaust heating system was centuries ahead of its time.
The Roman underfloor heating system relied on the hot air that was generated by burning fires. Whilst homes or palaces were under construction, rooms would begin with floors on a foundation level. Across this level, a system of chambers would be built, so that there was an area between the floor of the room and the foundations for the hot air to flow. A furnace would be built under one corner of the room…
