Editing Hypocaust (section)

{{Short description|Ancient Roman system of underfloor heating}}
[[File:Pilettes et praefurnium maison grand péristyle.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Hypocaust under the floor in a [[Roman villa]] in Vieux-la-Romaine, near [[Caen]], [[France]]]]

A '''hypocaust''' ({{langx|la|hypocaustum}}) is a [[Central heating system|system of central heating]] in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm the upper floors as well.<ref name="Tomlinson-1850">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/arudimentarytre02tomlgoog|quote=hypocaust.|title=A rudimentary treatise on warming and ventilation: being a concise exposition of the general principles of the art of warming and ventilating domestic and public buildings, mines, lighthouses, ships, etc|last=Tomlinson|first=Charles|date=1850-01-01|publisher=J. Weale|pages=[https://archive.org/details/arudimentarytre02tomlgoog/page/n62 53]|language=en}}</ref> The word derives from [[Ancient Greek]] ''hupó'' {{gloss|under}} and ''kaustós'' {{gloss|burnt}} (compare ''[[wikt:caustic|caustic]]''). The earliest reference to such a system suggests that the [[Temple of Artemis|Temple of Ephesus]] in 350 BC was heated in this manner,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S64mLfBs2vAC&dq=hypocaust&pg=PA3|title=Central Heating, Installation, Maintenance and Repair|last=Mitchell|first=Patrick|date=2008-03-01|publisher=WritersPrintShop|isbn=9781904623625|pages=3|language=en}}</ref> although [[Vitruvius]] attributes its invention to [[Sergius Orata]] in c. 80 BC.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-VmmHdm5STIC&q=hypocaust+greek&pg=PA57|title=Studies in Ancient Technology|last=Forbes|date=1966-01-01|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9004006265|pages=54–55|language=en}}</ref> Its invention improved the hygiene and living conditions of citizens, and was a forerunner of modern [[central heating]].