What is hypocaust architecture?
Hypocaust, in building construction, open space below a floor that is heated by gases from a fire or furnace below and that allows the passage of hot air to heat the room above.
What did Romans use a hypocaust for?
heat distribution
The earliest known record of an underfloor heating system was in ancient Rome. The Romans built this heating system called hypocaust for heat distribution.
Did ancient Romans have central heating?
The basis of the Roman central heating system To most people, the knowledge of the Romans was that they “invented central heating.” Not the type we know today, but a form of underfloor heating that also warmed the walls.
Who was Sergius Orata and what did he do?
Sergius Orata demonstrates his method of oyster cultivation. From a medieval French illustration. Caius Sergius Orata ( fl. c. 95 BC) was an Ancient Roman who was a successful merchant, inventor and hydraulic engineer.
Where does the word hypocaust come from in Greek?
The word derives from the Ancient Greek hypo meaning “under” and caust-, meaning “burnt” (as in caustic ). The earliest reference to such a system suggests that the temple of Ephesus in 350 BC was heated in this manner, although Vitruvius attributes its invention to Sergius Orata in c. 80 BC.
Who was the inventor of the hypocaust system?
Hypocaust. The earliest reference to such a system suggests that the temple of Ephesus in 350 BC was heated in this manner, although Vitruvius attributes its invention to Sergius Orata in c.80 BC. Its invention improved the hygiene and living conditions of citizens, and was a forerunner of modern central heating .
Where is the hypocaust located in a building?
Hypocaust under the floor in a Roman villa in Vieux-la-Romaine, near Caen, France A hypocaust (Latin: hypocaustum) is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes.
