Next time you take a shower think of public bathhouses or Hammams which were common in the Middle East and North Africa until less than half a century ago.
We think of bathing as a private activity. But going to the bathhouse was more than going to a place for sanitation. It was a hugely important part of people’s social life.
It required packing a bag of clean clothes and other essentials, entering a warm hall with arched ceilings and tiled walls, drinking tea before shedding your clothes, and soaking in warm water, and perhaps having someone scrub dead skin off your skin. People chitchatted, surveyed one another in complete nakedness before getting dressed and socializing a bit more.
The entire ritual could take half a day.
In fact, Hammams were important social institutions. They were as important as the bazaar, the mosque, and schools. They were named after governors and architects who ensured they were built exquisitely and beautifully.
Hammams have become a popular destination for modern western tourists too. Viking Ocean Cruises calls Turkish baths a place to soothe both body and mind. Hammams offer therapy, it claims.
In Iran and other countries, many important political events took place in Hammams. Amir Kabir, a beloved prime minister, was murdered in the Finn Hammam in the city of Kashan in 1852. Tourists flock to this bathhouse, located in the corner of a walled garden, to see where the prime minister slowly bled to death.
The Stories of Hammams
Hammams were segregated by gender.
Women visited bathhouses to clean, relax, and mingle. They got haircuts, clipped their nails, exfoliated, and removed excessive hair. In complete nakedness, they searched for potential brides for young and old men in their families.
Brides spent a good amount of time in the bathhouse a day before their wedding.
Men negotiated business and discussed politics.
Hammams served as wellness centers for people to get traditional medical treatments like massage, bloodletting, cupping, and circumcision.
The walls of every bathhouse echo laughter, gossip, and tales.
And that is why Hammam is the main scene of Nastouh fictional story.
Nastouh was a man who disguised himself as a female worker at a hammam. Because the workers were dressed, he was able to hide his gender for a long time. He took pleasure in touching naked women, including a favorite client, the king’s daughter.
One day, the king’s daughter lost a piece of jewelry at the bathhouse. To retrieve it, she ordered everyone, including the workers, to undress. Nastouh knew he could lose his head if anyone found out his secret. So, he trembled and repented from the bottom of his heart. Luckily, the princess found her jewelry before Nastouh had to undress.
After the incident, he withdrew to the mountains and began a life of stoicism. But since then, “Nastouh’s repentance,” meaning God accepts true remorse, according to the story, became an expression.
Inside a Hammam
People of upper and lower social classes entered a bathhouse from different entrances. But once they were inside and took off their clothes, they were all on the same level. The clergy and the merchant, who enjoyed a higher social standing, bathed in the same place with farmers and blacksmiths.
Traditional Persian bathhouses usually had four main spaces. The purpose was to prepare the body as people moved from a cool area to warm and then hot rooms gradually.
The four sections included:
Sardkhaneh or the Cold Room: The first room was cold and dry and had an octagonal shape. It had a domed roof with furniture and carpets where people could undress. There were cubicle spaces, like changing rooms, for more privacy.
Mian Dar: This room was cold and wet and functioned as the connection between the Cold Room and the Warm Room. This space was like a maze to help prevent the heat and energy in the next room from being wasted.
Garmkhaneh or the Warm Room: The third room was warm and wet and the bathing took place there.
Khazineh: This is where there was a large cold or hot water tank, similar to today’s Jacuzzi pools.
The History of Hammams
The Romans were the first people to make public baths. They were common throughout the Roman Empire in a geographic range stretching from Europe to North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean. Roman baths generally featured a reception room which led to a hot room called a caldarium, a warm room, or tepidarium, and a cold room known as a frigidarium. Visitors moved through these rooms, where temperature changes stimulated the flow of blood and encouraged the body to sweat out impurities. Some baths included areas where bathers could exercise.
While the tradition of public baths under the Romans slowly died out in the West, it continued over many centuries in the eastern Mediterranean.
In Persia, cleanliness and hygiene were already important in the pre-Islamic era with roots in the state religion of Zoroastrianism. In all pre-Islamic religions like Zoroastrianism bathing was one of the necessary conditions for participating in ceremonies. Archeologists found signs that similar baths existed in Persepolis and concluded that the construction of public baths was common in all cities of Iran since the Achaemenid era.
But Islam attached more importance to bating and brought a whole new ritual that became prevalent in the Muslim world. During the Islamic period, especially during the Safavid era, as reported by Jean Chardin in his book The Travels of Sir John Chardin, there were more than 270 public bathhouses only in the city of Isfahan.
The number shows the significance of sanitation but also the high level of urban development of the city in that era.
Different Kinds of Baths
It is important to note that kings and noble families had private bathhouses. The rest of the people went to public Hammams.
These baths became an important part of community life, and the quality and number of baths counted among any city’s most admired attributes. Medieval authors mention hammams alongside mosques, madrasas or religious schools, and gardens in their descriptions of beautiful and prosperous cities.
Depending on their use there could be different kinds of public bathhouses in a city. Some of them can be categorized as follow:
Bazaar Bathhouses: These bathhouses were usually located in the city center and were a part of a bigger complex consisting of a mosque, a bazaar, and sometimes a religious school, and they were used by citizens and locals but mostly they were men-only bathhouses.
One such Hammam is the famous bathhouse of Ganjali Khan in the city of Kerman. Paintings based on the Book of Kings decorate the walls of this four-hundred-year-old bathhouse.
City Gate Bathhouses: You could find these types of public bathhouses at the entrance of large cities which foreigners, merchants, tourists, and students often visited. They were usually located near the city gate to provide a washing and cleaning spot for the visitors before entering it.
The existence of these bathhouses highlights the emphasis on hygiene and efforts to curb contagious diseases that travelers could spread.
Caravanserai Bathhouses: Caravanserais were roadside establishments built to accommodate travelers on their long trips. Along with other convenience facilities, they usually had bathhouses to provide guests with an appropriate place to wash and clean themselves. The water used in the caravanserai bathhouse was supplied by Qanat, an underground tunnel leads the water from the heights to the surface of the ground sustainably.
Hot Spring Bathhouses: People used natural hot springs as a place for bathing, especially in the Qajar period.
