The present study evolved out of an attempt to explore the mechanisms involved in the transformation of a social practice and its spatial context from one cultural, technological and architectural system to another in a given geographical area in classical antiquity. The practice chosen was that of the bath, the two main and overlapping cultural traditions were the Greek and the Roman and the two technological traditions are termed in the present study 'before' and 'after' the hypocaust. The geographical area covered in the study is that of modern Greece with a more detailed analysis of the Peloponnese.