Early Greek Plumbing

People tend to believe that the advances in technology we have today have been discovered recently and that is not quite true with most facts out there. Talking strictly about plumbing, one example that was laid out in history stands in the Greek plumbing system, which is much more similar to what we have in our homes today then you would have imagined. Also, the Greek were very strict on hygiene and most houses in ancient Greece were equipped with latrines or closets that were built so that they would drain in a sewer located beneath the street. Flush was performed with the use of waste water and some sewers were even equipped with ventilation shafts.

The water supply lines were protected in order to prevent severance by a possible enemy attacks and this was done by laying aqueducts underground at a considerable depth. Deeper lines connected with the surface with the use of huge wells. A very good example of craftsmanship in plumbing was the city of Athens. It relied on many aqueducts in order to bring water from the mountains. Due to the size of the city, the inhabitants needed deep wells that were very difficult to dig through layers of rock. Needless to say that they also had to be secured and the water supplies were moved towards storage cisterns. These structures gave water to many street fountains. What is special is the fact that some of them are still being utilized today. Water porters carried water supplies to homes.

Besides the incredibly complex plumbing structures visible in Greece for that time, there was a discipline when came to the individual’s body that was amazing. Everybody took constant baths and hygiene was extremely important. This is because water played a huge role in the development of Greek culture. Springs and fountains were considered to have medicinal powers and they were imbued with pantheons of gods that people worshipped. The truth is that the examples given by Greeks were very important in the development of complex water systems hundreds of years after their inventions. Early Greek plumbing was very well built and very similar to the regular systems that bring us water in the big cities across the world. We are aided by technology but they did a great job with just shovels and simple metals.