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Comment by dukeofdoom | Hacker News Reader

I was surprised how nice their homes were. Had nicer villas than most people's homes.

The infloor and in-wall heating systems are just recently being re-introduced! 2000+ years later. Even small buildings in the wilds of england are found with hypocaust tiles. I just saw a video introducing a brand-new underfloor heating system using hot air! The not leaking liquid was a big selling point.

Everything old is new again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocaust

While not a proper historian I find Dan Carlin's observations very interesting, especially him comparing how, historically speaking, the middle class of their period had a lifestyle quite envious to our own, more akin to how we imagine the "idle rich" today (servants for all menial tasks, expansive homes, lackadaisical lifestyles and high quality education for personal pursuits). Underlaid of course by the same conceits we apply to the modern rich: they live on the backs of millions who, comparatively, are effectively slaves.

https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-26-blitz-...

Historically the middle class in the past is the modern rich of today. It consisted of the bourgeoisie and the well educated elite who still had to work for their living (i.e. business owners, lawyers etc.) it wasn’t much more than a few percent pf the total population. Prior to the 20th century describing any person earning an ‘average’ income as middle class wouldn’t make much sense.

The whole point of the term "middle class" was to refer to very rich people. Modern use has somehow forgotten that.

But the idea of being "middle class" is that you aren't upper class (because you're lowborn), and you aren't lower class (because you're rich).

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