If you haven't, you've missed one of life's great
experiences.
The baths or 'hamams' as they are named, are for many
aspects of health, not just for external cleanliness.
Before Turkey was established as a separate country, the
Romans, Byzantines, and nomadic peoples of the region had
their own variations of bathing rituals. These traditions
combined, creating a different variation of these ancient
bathing habits, The Turkish Bath.
The bather enters the dry heat of a sweating area.
Afterwards, the bather begins to perspire heavily because
of a wet steam.The skin is then washed with soap and warm
water and the muscles massaged. After being scoured and
washed, the bather's body temperature returns to normal
from swimming in cold water. Closely interweaved with
everyday life, as well as the Muslim mandates for
cleanliness and respect for the varied functions of water,
the hamam will probably survive modernity with many other
things in Western Asia.
