A bit of information on the Islamic Hammam (or bath house) for those are interested since they are such a prevalent part of the Middle Eastern Society. Compliments of Wikipedia. I'll talk about my own experiences with the hammam following this post:
The Turkish bath has played an important role in Middle Eastern society, acting as a place of social gathering, ritual cleansing, and architectural beauty. The Islamic hammam is akin to the saunas and sweat rooms of the West. Inspired by Greek-Roman baths that Arabs encountered during their conquests of Alexandria (642 AD), the Turkish bath has an improved style and functionality.
It wasn’t until the Prophet Mohammed himself recommended sweat baths as a way to enhance fertility and thereby multiply the followers of Islam did the hammam gain in popularity and spread throughout the Arab world (600AD). Prior to this, Arabs washed predominately in cold water and never bathed in tubs, which was seen as bathing in one’s own filth. Following the conquests of Syria and Alexandria, holy men discovered the pleasure of hot air bathing, and emphasized the religious significance to their followers. Hammams were built as annexes to mosques, tied to Islamic laws of hygiene and purification. Physical and intellectual development within the hammam, with the exception of the massage, was de-emphasized.
The hammam became a quiet retreat, an environment of half-light, quiescence, and seclusion. The vaulted ceilings of old shrank as buildings became smaller and more modest, and rather than building expansive central baths like the Romans, Arabs built several small baths throughout their cities. In Roman and Turkish baths, a typical hammam consisted of three interconnected rooms, the hot room, which had niches with fountains in the corners for soaking up steam and receiving scrub massages, the warm room, for washing up with soap and water, and cool room, for relaxing, dressing, or having a refreshing drink.
Under the Arabs, the hammam further transformed, as the warm intermediate room became a passageway leading from the dressing room to the hot room, and the relaxing room became a small steam room adjoining the hot room. While the Roman bather might have finished the hammam experience with a stay in the library or study, the hammam bather ends where he or she started, in a rest hall where servants brought drinks and cooled him or her with fans.
Hammams are heated by hypocaust (heating from below) heating systems, and in some regions hammams may use the heat from hot springs to warm the hammam. The oldest hammams were those of the semi-bedouin Camayyad caliphs. These hammams were built outside cities, in the desert wilderness, the oldest of which is named Kusair Aman and is found near the Dead Sea. The hammam then spread to most places touched by Islam, including Iran, Asia Minor, across North Africa, and even in Moorish Spain and near the northern Danube River. Conquered temples, churches, and baths were often converted into hammams.
The hammam served as the social centers of the Ottoman Empire, built in almost every Ottoman city, integrated in daily life, and filled on every occasion with traditional entertainment and ceremonies, such as before weddings, high-holidays, births, beauty trips, etc. Baths were one of the few places in Islamic civilization open to everyone from early morning until late at night. Hammams would sometimes feature a barber who, in addition to shaving, cutting hair, letting blood, and massaging bodies, would also scrub the soles of bathers’ feet to remove calluses from which bad vapors and undesirables would flow down and out of the body. Hammams were also places of religious cleansing, and travelers, ex-prisoners, and people recovering from troubles or disease would come to clean and convene with Allah.
When Mohammed first advocated the use of the hammam for religious and recreational reasons, women were forbidden. But after the hygienic benefits were realized, his words were reinterpreted and women were permitted to bathe after an illness or giving birth. Eventually, Arab men reluctantly allowed women full use of the hammam, one of the first opportunities they received to socialize with anyone outside the home. The hammam became such an important part of women’s lives, that the denial by the husband of his wife’s right to visit the hammam was considered grounds for divorce.
Aaland, Mikkel, The Islamic Hammam is Born, 1997 http://www.cyberbohemia.com/Pages/Islahammam.htm
Wikipedia, The Turkish Bath http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammam
The Turkish bath has played an important role in Middle Eastern society, acting as a place of social gathering, ritual cleansing, and architectural beauty. The Islamic hammam is akin to the saunas and sweat rooms of the West. Inspired by Greek-Roman baths that Arabs encountered during their conquests of Alexandria (642 AD), the Turkish bath has an improved style and functionality.
It wasn’t until the Prophet Mohammed himself recommended sweat baths as a way to enhance fertility and thereby multiply the followers of Islam did the hammam gain in popularity and spread throughout the Arab world (600AD). Prior to this, Arabs washed predominately in cold water and never bathed in tubs, which was seen as bathing in one’s own filth. Following the conquests of Syria and Alexandria, holy men discovered the pleasure of hot air bathing, and emphasized the religious significance to their followers. Hammams were built as annexes to mosques, tied to Islamic laws of hygiene and purification. Physical and intellectual development within the hammam, with the exception of the massage, was de-emphasized.
The hammam became a quiet retreat, an environment of half-light, quiescence, and seclusion. The vaulted ceilings of old shrank as buildings became smaller and more modest, and rather than building expansive central baths like the Romans, Arabs built several small baths throughout their cities. In Roman and Turkish baths, a typical hammam consisted of three interconnected rooms, the hot room, which had niches with fountains in the corners for soaking up steam and receiving scrub massages, the warm room, for washing up with soap and water, and cool room, for relaxing, dressing, or having a refreshing drink.
Under the Arabs, the hammam further transformed, as the warm intermediate room became a passageway leading from the dressing room to the hot room, and the relaxing room became a small steam room adjoining the hot room. While the Roman bather might have finished the hammam experience with a stay in the library or study, the hammam bather ends where he or she started, in a rest hall where servants brought drinks and cooled him or her with fans.
Hammams are heated by hypocaust (heating from below) heating systems, and in some regions hammams may use the heat from hot springs to warm the hammam. The oldest hammams were those of the semi-bedouin Camayyad caliphs. These hammams were built outside cities, in the desert wilderness, the oldest of which is named Kusair Aman and is found near the Dead Sea. The hammam then spread to most places touched by Islam, including Iran, Asia Minor, across North Africa, and even in Moorish Spain and near the northern Danube River. Conquered temples, churches, and baths were often converted into hammams.
The hammam served as the social centers of the Ottoman Empire, built in almost every Ottoman city, integrated in daily life, and filled on every occasion with traditional entertainment and ceremonies, such as before weddings, high-holidays, births, beauty trips, etc. Baths were one of the few places in Islamic civilization open to everyone from early morning until late at night. Hammams would sometimes feature a barber who, in addition to shaving, cutting hair, letting blood, and massaging bodies, would also scrub the soles of bathers’ feet to remove calluses from which bad vapors and undesirables would flow down and out of the body. Hammams were also places of religious cleansing, and travelers, ex-prisoners, and people recovering from troubles or disease would come to clean and convene with Allah.
When Mohammed first advocated the use of the hammam for religious and recreational reasons, women were forbidden. But after the hygienic benefits were realized, his words were reinterpreted and women were permitted to bathe after an illness or giving birth. Eventually, Arab men reluctantly allowed women full use of the hammam, one of the first opportunities they received to socialize with anyone outside the home. The hammam became such an important part of women’s lives, that the denial by the husband of his wife’s right to visit the hammam was considered grounds for divorce.
Aaland, Mikkel, The Islamic Hammam is Born, 1997 http://www.cyberbohemia.com/Pages/Islahammam.htm
Wikipedia, The Turkish Bath http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammam
Thanks for crediting my work... and thanks for helping spread the good news about the hammam. Happy new year! Mikkel Aaland
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