courtesy of Plumbing & Mechanical Magazine, July 1989

Testaments to the ancient plumber echo in the ruins of rudimentary drains, grandiose palaces and bath houses, and in vast aqueducts and lesser water systems of empires long buried. Close to 4,000 years ago, about 1700 B.C., the Minoan Palace of Knossos on the isle of Crete …

courtesy of Plumbing & Mechanical Magazine, July 1989

The Roman Empire eventually encompassed all the countries along the Mediterranean Sea, Mesopotamia, the Balkans, and most of modern Europe, including Britain. With their plumbing engineers in tow, the Romans left in their wake large – and small – scale water systems that incorporated similar-style aqueducts, lead …

courtesy of Plumbing & Mechanical Magazine, July 1989

The capital city of the ancient land of Israel is situated 2,500 feet above sea level, high along a strategic ridge of hills. In the ten centuries B.C., Jerusalem would become a buffer state between the warring factions of Assyria and Egypt, and later would be influenced …

courtesy of Plumbing & Mechanical Magazine, July 1989

Until Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, rampaged through and destroyed the city in 432 B.C., Olynthus was a rich and flourishing metropolis, its people enjoying the luxury of the latest plumbing innovation-bathtubs. Excavations at Olynthus, in northern Greece, attest to tiled bathrooms and self-draining …

courtesy of Plumbing & Mechanical Magazine, July 1989

From ancient times, the rise and fall of the River Nile portended periods of famine or good fortune for the peoples of Egypt. Other than wells, the River Nile is the only source of water in the country. During an idyllic year, the flooding of the Nile …

courtesy of Plumbing & Mechanical Magazine, July 1989

Across the Mediterranean Sea from Mesopotamia, the ancient people of Crete and their Minoan sea-kings were leaving their mark on the early annals of history. Between 3000-1500 B.C., their early plumbers had laid elaborate systems of sewage disposal and drainage that resemble one of today. In fact, …

courtesy of Plumbing & Mechanical Magazine, July 1989

To the ancient traveler on foot or camel back, the massive walled city of Babylon and its network of canals and verdant crop lands must have loomed like a mirage in the simmering heat of the Near East sun. Adding to a disbelieving eye was a 300-ft. …