Thermae Thermae In ancient Rome, thermae (from Greek θερμός "thermos", "hot") and balneae (from Greek βαλανεῖον "balaneion") were facilities for bathing. "Thermae" usually refers to the large imperial bath complexes, while "balneae" were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed in great numbers throughout Rome. Most Roman cities had at least one, if not many, such buildings, which were centres not only for bathing, but socializing, and reading as well. Roman bath-houses were also provided for private villas, town houses, and forts. They were supplied with water from an adjacent river or stream, or more normally, by an aqueduct. The water
Ancient Rome and wine Many of the techniques and principles first developed in ancient Roman times can be found in modern winemaking. Though wild grapevines have grown on the Italian peninsula since prehistory, historians are unable to determine precisely when domestic viticulture and winemaking first occurred. It is possible that the Mycenaean Greeks had some influences through early settlements in southern Italy, but the earliest recorded evidence of Greek influence dates to 800 BC. Viticulture was widely entrenched in Etruscan civilization, which was centered around the modern winemaking region of Tuscany. Because the ancient Greeks saw wine as a staple of domestic life and