Roman Baths. Photo by Trapac.

When you start chasing a line of inquiry there’s a danger of getting tunnel vision. In my case if I start thinking that astronomy is THE key to understanding ancient mind then I’ll be eventually in my own private world with it’s own rules. In the case of examine how people see the universe down is as important a direction as up. The human world for the Greeks was a world between the heavens and the underworld.

There’s an interesting example I’ve found at the Theoi Project, which I can’t recall coming across before despite it being around since 2000. This is Diodorus Siculus discussing Daedalus’s work in Sicily:

[78.3]A third construction of his, in the territory of Selinus, was a grotto where he so successfully expelled the steam caused by the fire which burned in it that those who frequented the grotto got into a perspiration imperceptibly because of the gentle action of the heat, and gradually, and actually with pleasure to themselves, they cured the infirmities of their bodies without experiencing any annoyance from the heat.

There’s stories like this that crop up in the ancient sources. They interesting for a couple of reasons. One is More >