A swimming pool wasn’t always just an excuse to lay outside and work on your tan. As you look for the perfect home pools in Atlanta for you, take a minute to appreciate the swimming pool in its historical context. Worship Space Over 5,000 years ago, in the Pakistani city of Mohenjo-Daro, the earliest public pool in the world exists. It is a great bath, both long and wide with two long staircases built in. The structure itself was made of brick, then laid with gypsum plaster and a nice layer of natural tar underneath. This ancient pool was most likely used for religious purification purposes for the ancient residents. Health and Wealth The ancient Greeks and Romans are still world-renowned for their luxurious bathhouses, which spread across their territories to places like England. These large bathhouses were a place for the community to go and wash, but also were beloved for being a great place to linger and socialize over the life and politics of the day. The Greek and Roman militaries also used bathhouses to train their soldiers. Swimming pools were a place to grown the body’s endurance. Also, swimming was a skill that children were required to learn, considered as important as astronomy and mathematics. Grounds for Competition The first pools built distinctly for competitive swimming came about in the 1800s, starting in Britain. Their National Swimming Society was the group behind the design and, as swimming grew in popularity, they formed an Amateur Swimming Association in 1880. It was in 1896 that men’s swimming was first included in the roster for the Olympic Games. Pools in the States During the Depression era in the United States, giant bath houses were constructed for public use so that the homeless and low income groups could have a place to bathe and get clean. These were the first inground swimming pools in the United States, and in proper Roman and Greek tradition, they had separate pools for men and women up until after WWII. Hollywood Icon After WWII, Hollywood perpetuated the private inground swimming pool into the style and status icon that it now embodies in the American dream. The 1970s played host to a particularly vibrant trend of swimming pools in film that were driving the image of wealth and power. Today, bathhouses have almost faded out and private swimming pools are becoming much more standard for middle- and upper-income homes, which is one of several reasons why people are looking for pools in Atlanta.
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