Ancient Babylonians invented the waterbed!
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 12:43 am
No really -- this one's sourced.
Plutarch (trans. Dryden) wrote:The manner, however, of the production of naphtha admits of a diversity of opinion... of whether this liquid substance that feeds the flame does not rather proceed from a soil that is unctuous and productive of fire, as that of the province of Babylon is, where the ground is so very hot that oftentimes the grains of barley leap up and are thrown out, as if the violent inflammation had made the earth throb; and in the extreme heats the inhabitants are wont to sleep upon skins filled with water.