Throughout history the hygiene habits of humanity have changed profoundly, due to new scientific discoveries and inventionsbut above all of cultural context. We don’t know exactly when the man began to wash himself, but it is probable that this happened since Prehistoryin relation to innate sense of hygiene that many mammals (like us) possess. With the transition from a hunter/gatherer life to that of a farmer, which occurred during the Neolithic (about 10,000 years ago), men’s lifestyle has changed profoundly, but the possibility of washing has always remained subordinate when accessing clean water sources. Let’s see how the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans washed themselves and how habits changed in the Middle Ages and beyond.
How did the Egyptians wash themselves?
The Egyptian civilizationbecause of the environment hot and dry in which it developed, it has always held personal cleanliness in the highest regard. To bathe, if you didn’t have direct access to puddles o watercoursespeople still had the ability to draw water from wells o reserves. The richest had instead private bathrooms. They were used soaps of natural originobtained from the processing of animal or vegetable fats. A habit of the Egyptians was that of eliminate all body hairincluding i hair. To minimize the risk of infestations of fleas and lice, people depilated themselves completely (archaeologists found tweezers and razors), preferring the use of wigs. For more intimate hygiene, it is likely that the Egyptians used fabrics o vegetable fibres.
Egyptian bathtub from the Hellenistic period. Credit: isawnyu
How did the Greeks and Romans wash themselves?
The hygienic habits of the Egyptians were taken up by other civilizations of the Mediterranean ancient. The Greeks placed great importance on cleanliness, also based on medical theory of humors. They believed that good hygiene could keep in place balance the four humors of the body and prevent the onset of illnesses. The poleis Greeks saw the birth of first public bathroomsseparated between women and men and also characterized by the presence of places dedicated to socializing, such as the gyms. For the Greeks, the well-being of the body was deeply linked to physical prowess and it was very common for athletes (but not only) sprinkle yourself with oilwhich was believed toned the muscles and helped clean the skin. Before taking a bath, the oil was then removed using a special tool called cry.
Bronze strigil kept at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
I Romani they resumed the hygienic habits of the Greeks, but they improved the public toilet systemwith the creation of large spas accessible to all in cities. In this way washing became possible for all segments of the populationensuring better public hygiene. In Ancient Rome, especially in afternoona lot of time was dedicated to one’s personal hygiene in the spa. We usually didn’t wash in the morning (at most they cleaned their teeth using powders based on sodium bicarbonate) precisely because we already knew that in the afternoon we would spend a few hours at the public baths. These had cold water tanks (frigidarium), lukewarm (tepidarium) and syrup (calidarium), and were integrated with gyms and wellness areas. These were places where there was also great space for sociality.
The frigidarium of the spa at Pompeii. Credit: Alexander Zykov
As for intimate hygiene, the Greeks and Romans used a tool called xylospongium o tersoriumnothing more than a simple stick on whose end a sponge was applied. It is unclear how this was used in practice. Some scholars believe it was used to clean yourself after defecatingwhile others more recently have proposed that it had the same function as modern toilet brushes.
The replica of one xylospongium o tersorium. Credit: Dickson Herdemerten
How did people wash themselves in the Middle Ages?
Contrary to what is usually believed, personal hygiene remained very important even during the Middle Ages. Although it was no longer possible to supply the cities with water as before, due to the decay of the Roman aqueducts, no longer subject to maintenance due to the progressive deterioration of state authority, people still tried to wash themselves oftenexploiting rivers and lakes. This obviously paid off difficile access to hot water. In some places Roman water supply systems came maintained: for example, the seat of the court of Charlemagne, Aachenin Germany, was known for its ancient spas still in operation. In major cities it was not unusual to find gods public toilets.
Miniature representing public baths of the medieval period. It would be a steam bath. Credit: Denghiù
Things began to get worse between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of Renaissance. This was mainly due to two reasons: the first, the most important, was the famous epidemic of over del 1348. This caused the death of almost a third of the entire population of Western Europe at the timeand had long-term political, economic and cultural consequences. Doctors of the time wondered how the disease could spread so rapidly and correctly guessed that public toilets were indeed a place of easy transmission. Thus the belief spread that bathrooms weakened the body, and made it easier to contract diseases. The second reason, strongly influenced by the first, was the morality of the Catholic Church. Very often public toilets were places of promiscuityand consequently, taking advantage of the problems related to the transmission of diseases, the Church managed to impose greater controllimiting the popularity of these places. Starting from the Late Middle Ages, the habit of washing became more and more discouragedand to reach the previous hygiene standards Western Europe will have to wait until industrial development of the 19th and 20th centuries.
