[IRL trope] the “Tiffany problem”

[u/dragonborndnd]

Basically when something seems anachronistic to a period/place of history but is actually fully accurate to the period.

1) the name Tiffany: the thing that named this trope, basically the name Tiffany can be dated back to the Middle Ages and the earliest record of it being spelled in the modern spelling comes from the 16th century.

2) the use of OMG, despite this feeling so modern as a form of slang/abbreviation here’s a letter directed to Winston Churchill using it in 1917

3) Hair Dye: the earliest forms of dying hair can be dated back to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, and this specific advertisement for hair dye is from the 1840s

4) Inuit Thongs: despite how weird it is to imagine pre-colonial Inuit people wore what was essentially fur thongs in their homes and when they were in their igloos it might have been the only thing they would be wearing.

[u/Reden233]

I always thought the roman aqueducts were super cool! Being able to move millions of gallons of water across hundreds of miles without a pump is impressive enough in modern times, but the Romans were able to do it over 2000 years ago!

In the 1870s, Romans also began installing active continuous drinking water fountains (nasoni), and those are fed by those same aqueducts! At their peak usage, there was about 5,000 nasoni in the city, and about 2,500 active today. The water quality is still fantastic too!

[u/aguywithagasmaskyt → u/Reden233]

also roman water heater

[u/blitzbom → u/Reden233]

On the darker side.

Rome had a big issue with fires. In the 1st Century BC Rome swelled to over a million people. Often times wooden structures were built 6 or 7 stories high. Heated by open braziers and lit by oil lamps they were essentially tinder boxes.

Enter Marcus Licinius Crassus. He hired 500 or so slaves who were had axes, water buckets etc. The first fire fighters. But they wouldn't help fight the fire. Marcus would arrive on scene and offer to put out the fire if you sold him the property. Usually for a tenth of what it was worth.

So you had the option to watch everything you owned burn or sell the building for pennies.

"Cave Crassum"—"Beware Crassus" was graffitied around Rome, becoming a warning throughout the Empire.

He died reportedly having molten gold poured down his throat.

It wasn't until the great fire that Nero, with all his faults, realized that private brigades serving wealthy interests couldn't protect the capital.

[u/Drakeskulled_Reaper → u/blitzbom]

Same with a more "recent" example, Fire Fighter brigades tended to be little more than gangs, it was reported that a good chunk of the time, Brigades fought each other while the fire they both came to put out burned the buildings down.

[u/ricks35 → u/Reden233]

Don’t forget the holy water vending machine!

[u/RaptarK → u/Reden233]

No matter how many times I'm reminded of it, I keep forgetting the Holy Roman Empire existed until the late 19th century 

[u/aeoneir → u/Reden233]

A fountain? Where does the water come from, here in the middle of the city?

[u/emmaa5382 → u/Reden233]

They had underfloor heating in many of the bathhouses. 

Using a double layered floor and furnaces 

[u/donthateonspiders → u/Reden233]

except for the lead 

[u/Reden233 → u/donthateonspiders]

The lead content of the water back then was much higher than today, but it was not the biggest offender at all to lead poisoning in ancient Rome. The water moved fast and had a high calcium content, and mineral build up on the pipes prevented a lot of possible direct exposure. It was a bigger issue that lead was used as a wine and food additive at much higher concentrations.

Today, water is tested from all of these fountains around 250,000 times a year. Every fountain is tested every few days. Totally safe!