We mainly attribute athletic dominance to the greeks. The Olympics every four years reminds us how important athleticism was to their culture. Athleticism was just as important to the Romans as well. They didn't restrict themselves, however, to the standard Olympic events we would have seen in ancient Greece. They incorporated several new sports, including swimming!
I love to swim. Whether it be in a pool, river, pond, the ocean, or my bath tub, I love swimming!
Apparently the Romans liked it too.
Boys (and some girls) learned early how to swim. In fact, it was part of their education! Many Romans were known for their swimming ability, including Julius Caesar.
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| An ancient Roman Bath house used as a swimming pool |
Dylan mentioned that the Romans built several bath houses. While many of these were in fact used to bathe, several others were also dedicated as swimming pools. Usually the bath houses used for bathing were extremely large (to accommodate several people) while swimming pools were built smaller (as small as 13 meters). The first heated swimming pool was built by Gaius Maecenas of Rome in the 1st century BC!
My house will one day will have a large, heated pool. I can officially thank the Romans for their ingenuity, and will remember them this Saturday when I go swimming.
It's interesting that Rome bothered to make a common pastime a part of their culture. From these posts I've gotten the feeling that part of what made Roman culture so pervasive were the small details that people clung onto for centuries.
ReplyDeleteI used to teach swim lessons! Loved it. It's interesting to me that the bathhouses had dedicated swimming areas. Typically, in our day, we try and separate bathing from the pool...unless you're like me and teach 3 year olds how to swim, in which case the pool becomes the bathroom.
ReplyDeleteI like that they make pools bigger and baths smaller now! for some reason that makes much more sense to me. I wonder who decided to change that up? haha... but I love what Gavin brought up about people clinging over time to small details that eventually become a big deal... and I would even go further to say that usually when it's something simple we tend to enjoy it more.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize that the sport of swimming went back that long ago. You mentioned that their pools for swimming were smaller then their bathing pools. I wonder why that is? It seems to me that pools for swimming contest should be larger or at least longer then bathtubs
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