When the cold weather sets in, we all think about heating, blankets and warm clothes. This is normal these days. But if you think about it, today this is normal. Yes, they may have had blankets in the past, but what other ways could they have protected themselves? For example, we know that Romans They were true artists protecting themselves from the heat. But did they also have tricks against the cold?
We cannot think of the Romans as people who lived only in what is now Italy. His empire was located in places with very diverse climates. Therefore, they often had to protect themselves from the cold and, yes, they knew very well how to do this.
His tricks against the cold focused primarily on clothing and architecture houses. Roman architects and engineers were great visionaries for many reasons. Firstly, because they studied very well the movement of the Sun and other factors that influence how cold or hot it will be in the house. So they built buildings in perfect location so that it was not necessary to resort to many tricks against cold or heat. But, even with this ideal location, in the months and places with the lowest temperatures it was necessary to resort to methods of heating the houses and clothes of soldiers and townspeople. Let’s see how they did it.
Choose very well where you build.
Roman architects such as Marcus Vitruviusthey carefully studied the best places to build buildings. For example, Vitruvius wrote that in the cold regions north of Rome, houses They must have roofs, no outdoor patios, and be built facing south.
This maximized the number of hours of sunshine to keep them warm. But they also took into account the orientation of each room within the house, since the optimal temperature depended on the activities carried out in each room. The ideal orientation would look like this:
With good hypocaust there was no need for additional tricks against the cold.
It is logical that Roman architects invented a more rustic heating mechanism than the current ones, but which they have little to envy. It was him hypocaust
In general terms, it was a wood-burning stove, the combustion of which was used to heat the floor and walls of the room. houses and public baths. It was a luxurious device, so only the richest Romans used it in their homes. The rest had to resort to other tricks against the cold, which we will see later.
Returning to the hypocaust, it could be of two types and have a more or less complex design. In some cases, the oven was built into outside of the house. However, the second type is more common, in which combustion occurs in basement. Stoves covered with tiles were used, through which flue gases passed and were carried out through some channels into the rest of the house.
In some cases, these channels went only underground. As it warmed up, the rest of the room warmed up too. However, chimneys known as chimneys were also often used. caliductswhich climbed up the walls to also produce heat through them. The walls were usually made of hollow bricks, which allowed heat to pass through more easily. In addition, a vacuum effect was created in these calyducts, which absorbed vapors and ventilated them so that carbon monoxide did not accumulate in the basement. It is a dangerous gas that can be fatal if accumulated, so safe combustion has been achieved.
Tricks against the cold for everyone
At best, the poorest Romans could choose well oriented houses. However, they usually did not include a hypocaust. Therefore, his only tricks against the cold were related to clothing. However, they were also visionaries, because they had already discovered what our grandmothers had a hard time getting into their heads: the importance of dressing in layers, like an onion.
This is scientifically proven to be better than wearing one thick coat as it creates pockets of hot air. between layer and layer.
The Romans used woolen tunics, which They could be placed on top of each other. Even emperors followed this trick. It is documented that Emperor Augustus wore 4 tunics. Luxury would have been different, but these were cheap clothes available to everyone.
But, without a doubt, the soldiers suffered most from the cold, since they often They fought in remote and frozen places. Therefore, for them there were two specific types of capes made of heavy, warm and comfortable fabric: paenula, which sometimes also had a hood, and sagum. Moreover, Roman soldiers already wore socks, although we always imagine them wearing sandals.
In short, the Romans were not only good at dealing with heat, but also against cold. We cannot deny that they were all visionaries.
Source: Hiper Textual
