Baths History

Today, for us having a bath is one of the most common things we can imagine. At least once a day, a shower is a must, while a relaxing bath in the warm water we place in the tub is something we wait for a whole week, because the weekend is the most appropriate period in which long baths can be taken. But, not always people believed that water and baths are beneficial for their bodies. So, did you ever wonder how did people used to take baths? We can place the baths history in ancient times. Greeks used to have relaxing baths, but no one can be compared with the Romans in this chapter. The actually spas, Romans created are the ones that set the lines. Their buildings were very complex and they functioned in a way that for us even today seems very inventing. But although the Romans and Greeks believed that water is good for the body, some other populations did too, but not everyone shared this conception.

Arabs, who, in the same period when the West was terrorized by the plague, had no epidemics just because they were very clean in everyday life. Arab baths have speared along with the spread of Islam, Muhammad himself encouraging his followers to have regular baths. The Arabs prefer large basins, with water that was heated, instead of individual baths in the tub. For example, after the Arabs conquered the Roman Empire, they heated the water in the baths with the papers from Alexandria Library, producing this way the biggest cultural damage in history. However, for Arabs, the baths had also a religious component. Before entering a mosque, a men were forced to go first to the public bath and the construction of such an establishment was believed to erase the sins. For the same reason, the one that built the bath spread the news about the initiative to the entire city, inviting the locals, both rich and poor, to have free baths there.


Anyway, one of the most bizarre, but also most pleasant ways of bathing is undoubtedly the Russian bath. Low temperatures and hot water lead to the formation of dense steam, element seen as a boon by all those who felt on their skin the Russian winter. The Russian baths history shows that people made baths in large wooden tubs. For Russians, the baths had not only a hygiene role, but they were also used for protection against evil spirits who, in popular believes, are the ones that bring diseases. The Russian women were the first ones who gave birth in water, in order to protect their children from the influence of demonic spirits. On the other side, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Western European believed that having baths will cause different disease, conception coming from the epidemics that spread rapidly because of the public baths. Kings also believed this and this is way, about Louis XIV is known with complete certainty that he only bathed twice in his life.  At the beginning of the nineteenth century, public baths were created again.

Watch tweets on: