bathing bathing bathing is the act of washing the body, usually with water, or the immersion of the body in water. it may be practiced for personal hygiene, religious ritual or therapeutic purposes. by analogy, especially as a recreational activity, the term is also applied to sun bathing and sea bathing. astronaut jack r. lousma taking a shower in space, 1973 detail of jean-pierre norblin de la gourdaine's bath in the park (1785) people bathe at a range of temperatures, according to custom or purpose, from very cold to very hot. in the western world, bathing is usually done at comfortable temperatures in a bathtub or shower. this type of bathing is done more or less daily for hygiene purposes. a ritual religious bath is sometimes referred to as immersion or baptism. the use of water for therapeutic purposes can be called a water treatment or hydrotherapy. recreational water activities are also known as swimming and paddling. history ancient world a woman preparing to bathethree young women bathing. side b from an ancient greek attic red-figure stamnostwo women after a bath throughout history, societies devised systems to enable water to be brought to population centers. bathing in ancient china can be traced back to shang dynasty 3000 years ago (1600-1046 bce). archaeological findings from the yinxu ruins show a cauldron to boil water, smaller cauldrons to draw out the water to be poured into a basin, skin scrapers to remove dirt and dead skin. 2300 year old lavish imperial bathrooms with exquisite tiles and a sewage system can be seen in xi'an. bathing grew in importance in the han dynasty (202 bc-ad 220) where officials were allowed to take a day's leave for bathing at home every five days, and bathing became the reason for a bank holiday for the first time. the oldest accountable daily ritual of bathing can be traced to the ancient indians. they used elaborate practices for personal hygiene with three daily baths and washing. these are recorded in the works called grihya sutras which date back to 500 bce and are in practice today in some communities. ancient greece utilized small bathtubs, wash basins, and foot baths for personal cleanliness. the earliest findings of baths date from the mid-2nd millennium bc in the palace complex at knossos, crete, and the luxurious alabaster bathtubs excavated in akrotiri, santorini. a word for bathtub, asaminthos (ἀσάμινθος), occurs eleven times in homer. as a legitimate mycenaean word (a-sa-mi-to) for a kind of vessel that could be found in any mycenaean palace, this linear b term derives from an aegean suffix -inth- being appended to an akkadian loan word with the root namsû ('washbowl', 'washing tub'). this luxurious item of the mycenaean palace culture, therefore, was clearly borrowed from the near east. later greeks established public baths and showers within gymnasiums for relaxation and personal hygiene. the word gymnasium (γυμνάσιον) comes from the greek word gymnos (γυμνός), meaning "naked." ancient rome developed a network of aqueducts to supply water to all large towns and population centers and had indoor plumbing, with pipes that terminated in homes and at public wells and fountains. the roman public baths were called thermae. the thermae were not simply baths, but important public works that provided facilities for many kinds of physical exercise and ablutions, with cold, warm, and hot baths, rooms for instruction and debate, and usually one greek and one latin library. they were provided for the public by a benefactor, usually the emperor. other empires of the time didn't show such an affinity for public works, but this roman practice spread their culture to places where there may have been more resistance to foreign mores. unusually for the time, the thermae were not class-stratified, being available to all for no charge or a small fee. with the fall of the roman empire, the aqueduct system fell into disrepair and disuse. but even before that, during the christianization of the empire, changing ideas about public morals led the baths into disfavor. medieval japan before the 7th century, the japanese were likely to have bathed in the many springs in the open, as there is no evidence of closed rooms. in the 6th to 8th centuries (in the asuka and nara periods) the japanese absorbed the religion of buddhism from china, which had a strong impact on the culture of the entire country. buddhist temples traditionally included a bathhouse (yuya) for the monks. due to the principle of purity espoused by buddhism these baths were eventually opened to the public. only the wealthy had private baths. the first public bathhouse was mentioned in 1266. in edo (modern tokyo), the first sentō was established in 1591. the early steam baths were called iwaburo (岩風呂 "rock pools") or kamaburo (釜風呂 "furnace baths"). these were built into natural caves or stone vaults. in iwaburo along the coast, the rocks were heated by burning wood, then sea water was poured over the rocks, producing steam. the entrances to these "bath houses" were very small, possibly to slow the escape of the heat and steam. there were no windows, so it was very dark inside and the user constantly coughed or cleared their throats in order to signal to new entrants which seats were already occupied. the darkness could be also used to cover sexual contact. because there was no gender distinction, these baths came into disrepute. they were finally abolished in 1870 on hygienic and moral grounds. author john gallagher says bathing "was segregated in the 1870s as a concession to outraged western tourists". at the beginning of the edo period (1603–1868) there were two different types of baths. in edo, hot-water baths ('湯屋 yuya) were common, while in osaka, steam baths (蒸風呂 mushiburo) were common. at that time shared bathrooms for men and women were the rule. these bathhouses were very popular, especially for men. "bathing girls" (湯女 yuna) were employed to scrub the guests' backs and wash their hair, etc. in 1841, the employment of yuna was generally prohibited, as well as mixed bathing. the segregation of the sexes, however, was often ignored by operators of bathhouses, or areas for men and women were separated only by a symbolic line. today, sento baths have separate rooms for men and women. mesoamerica codex magliabechiano from the loubat collection, 1904 spanish chronicles describe the bathing habits of the peoples of mesoamerica during and after the conquest. bernal díaz del castillo describes moctezuma (the mexica, or aztec, king at the arrival of cortés) in his historia verdadera de la conquista de la nueva españa as being "...very neat and cleanly, bathing every day each afternoon...". bathing was not restricted to the elite, but was practised by all people; the chronicler tomás lópez medel wrote after a journey to central america that "bathing and the custom of washing oneself is so quotidian (common) amongst the indians, both of cold and hot lands, as is eating, and this is done in fountains and rivers and other water to which they have access, without anything other than pure water..." the mesoamerican bath, known as temazcal in spanish, from the nahuatl word temazcalli, a compound of temaz ("steam") and calli ("house"), consists of a room, often in the form of a small dome, with an exterior firebox known as texictle (teʃict͜ɬe) that heats a small portion of the room's wall made of volcanic rocks; after this wall has been heated, water is poured on it to produce steam, an action known as tlasas. as the steam accumulates in the upper part of the room a person in charge uses a bough to direct the steam to the bathers who are lying on the ground, with which he later gives them a massage, then the bathers scrub themselves with a small flat river stone and finally the person in charge introduces buckets with water with soap and grass used to rinse. this bath had also ritual importance, and was vinculated to the goddess toci; it is also therapeutic when medicinal herbs are used in the water for the tlasas. it is still used in mexico. medieval and early-modern europe a sweat bath: illumination from peter of eboli, de balneis puteolanis ("the baths of pozzuoli"), written in the early 13th century christianity has always placed a strong emphasis on hygiene. despite the denunciation of the mixed bathing style of roman pools by early christian clergy, as well as the pagan custom of women bathing naked in front of men, this did not stop the church from urging its followers to go to public baths for bathing, which contributed to hygiene and good health according to the church fathers, clement of alexandria and tertullian. the church also built public bathing facilities that were separate for both sexes near monasteries and pilgrimage sites; also, the popes situated baths within church basilicas and monasteries since the early middle ages. pope gregory the great urged his followers on value of bathing as a bodily need. great bathhouses were built in byzantine centers such as constantinople and antioch, and the popes allocated to the romans bathing through diaconia, or private lateran baths, or even a myriad of monastic bath houses functioning in eighth and ninth centuries. the popes maintained their baths in their residences which described by scholar paolo squatriti as "luxurious baths", and bath houses including hot baths incorporated into christian church buildings or those of monasteries, which known as "charity baths" because they served both the clerics and needy poor people. public bathing was common in larger towns and cities such as paris, regensburg and naples. the catholic religious orders of the augustinians and benedictines had rules for ritual purification, and inspired by benedict of nursia encouragement for the practice of therapeutic bathing; benedictine monks played a role in the development and promotion of spas. protestantism also played a prominent role in the development of the british spas. in the middle ages, bathing commonly took place in public bathhouses. public baths were also havens for prostitution, which created some opposition to them. rich people bathed at home, most likely in their bedroom, as 'bath' rooms were not common. bathing was done in large, wooden tubs with a linen cloth laid in it to protect the bather from splinters. additionally, during the renaissance and protestant reformation, the quality and condition of the clothing (as opposed to the actual cleanliness of the body itself) were thought to reflect the soul of an individual. clean clothing also reflected one's social status; clothes made the man or woman. therapeutic bathing hydropathic applications according to claridge's hydropathy book. public opinion about bathing began to shift in the middle and late 18th century, when writers argued that frequent bathing might lead to better health. two english works on the medical uses of water were published in the 18th century that inaugurated the new fashion for therapeutic bathing. one of these was by sir john floyer, a physician of lichfield, who, struck by the remedial use of certain springs by the neighbouring peasantry, investigated the history of cold bathing and published a book on the subject in 1702. the book ran through six editions within a few years and the translation of this book into german was largely drawn upon by dr j. s. hahn of silesia as the basis for his book called on the healing virtues of cold water, inwardly and outwardly applied, as proved by experience, published in 1738. the other work was a 1797 publication by dr james currie of liverpool on the use of hot and cold water in the treatment of fever and other illness, with a fourth edition published not long before his death in 1805. it was also translated into german by michaelis (1801) and hegewisch (1807). it was highly popular and first placed the subject on a scientific basis. hahn's writings had meanwhile created much enthusiasm among his countrymen, societies having been everywhere formed to promote the medicinal and dietetic use of water; in 1804 professor e.f.c. oertel of anspach republished them and quickened the popular movement by the unqualified commendation of water drinking as a remedy for all diseases. a popular revival followed the application of hydrotherapy around 1829, by vincenz priessnitz, a peasant farmer in gräfenberg, then part of the austrian empire.