why do we bath here and not somewhere else?
Japanese bathhouse, 1901 / Japan: the place and the people, by Browne, George Waldo, 1851-1930
japan...soaped and cleaned before entering the bathtub... hierarchy says who enters first...guests will be offered this privilege...
a sweet bath: illumination from Peter of Eboli, De Balneis Puteolanis (The Baths of Pozzuoli), written in the early 13th century
middle ages, western hemisphere: public bathing in larger villages and cities... uh, but etiquette and churches and public nudity... so medical manuals advised people to wash only the parts of the body which are visible to the public (ears, hands, neck)... richer people started to build their own baths in their sleeping rooms... cleanliness of the body stood for cleanliness of the soul, the body got replaced by the linen... the public bathing was wiped out and left the cleaning to the privacy of one's home...
