Swimming as an organized activity goes back as far as 2,500 B.C. in ancient Egypt and later in ancient Greece, Rome and Assyria. In both Rome and Greece, swimming was an integral part of the education of elementary school age boys. Nowadays, swimming is more popular when school lets out for summer. Starting as early as Memorial Day Weekend, many families officially get a head start on the new season, by readying their “heated” pools for its first official use. Usually earmarked for the first outdoor party of the year, many use this holiday time to invite family and friends over for a party or barbeque.
Gaius Maecenas, a rich Roman lord was credited with inventing the first heated swimming pool in the first century BC. Maecenas, considered one of the first patrons of the arts supported some of the famous poets of his time, including Horace, Virgil and Propertius. In order to make it possible for them to live and write without fear of poverty, this idea of a heated swimming pool was born.
