Let It Shine: Solar Energy in Ancient Rome

Reader Contribution by John Perlin
Published on January 6, 2014
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The following post summarizes the author’s Chapter 2 of Let It Shine: The 6,000-Year Story of Solar Energy.

Rome’s greatest architect Vitruvius saw solar houses while on duty as a military engineer in recently conquered Greece. When writing his great work On Architecture, he emphasized proper solar orientation for buildings and bath houses. From literature of the time it appears many followed Vitruvius’ instructions. As an example, Varro, an agricultural expert writing around the time that Octavian Caesar came to the throne, observed, “Men of our day aim at having their winter rooms facing the falling sun [southwest], because the setting sun renders the area warmer in the evening.”

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