CAMBRIDGE, MA—In what is being hailed as a groundbreaking discovery in the study of classical civilization, historians at Harvard University published findings Thursday that show the aqueducts were but a small part of a vast, sophisticated system of water parks that once spanned the Roman Empire.
, the historians write that the ancient aqueducts are all that remain of a much larger infrastructure of recreational water slides, the first sections of which were built in 312 B.C. when a Roman censor decreed all citizens of the Republic deserved access to fun-filled aquatic adventures the whole family could enjoy. Known in antiquity as the Splashatorium, the system was reportedly expanded over the course of five centuries until it stretched from modern-day Spain to Asia Minor.
“We now know the primary purpose of the aqueducts was to supply fresh water to winding wet mazes full of twists, turns, and heart-stopping drops,” said the paper’s lead author, Emma Dench, explaining that Romans 48 inches or taller could flop down on a centurion shield they grabbed from a pile at the top of the stairs and use it to bank along the curves of a downward-sloping network of terra-cotta pipes.
In a recently uncovered text from the first century B.C., author and architect Vitruvius describes the remarkable feats of engineering underpinning the hundreds of miles of water slides, which were based upon the rudimentary sprinkler systems and slip-’n’-slide technologies found in the meadows of ancient Greece.
According to the historians, a sketch from the second century A.D. shows hundreds of nude Romans standing in lines that stretch through the city center as they wait to ascend a 150-foot-tall stone staircase. From there, many can be seen riding down an elaborate sequence of slides that zigzag through columns in the Roman Forum and wind in and out of the Colosseum’s arcades.
“In the end, the Roman water parks were undone by their own success,” Dench said. “With hundreds of thousands visiting each year, sanitation standards were difficult to maintain, and eventually the number children defecating in the pools led to widespread pandemics.”Share This Story
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