Heating system in the ancient world: the example of the Southwestern balneum in Diocletian’s palace in Split

Abstract

Paper presented at the 8th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Mauritius, 11-13 July, 2011.

Searching for historical backgrounds of today’s technological achievements, the authors examined a case of heat transfer in the Roman period. This paper reports on an interdisciplinary investigation of the properties of the heating system of the private baths in the imperial palace of the roman emperor Diocletian (end of 3rd - beginning of the 4th C. AD) in Split (Croatia). The analysis of temperature distribution in those baths helped archaeologists to determine the functions of each of the rooms in the premises. On the other hand, thermodynamic calculation was conducted in order to get an insight in heating efficiency and temperature distribution in the most preserved part of the thermae.