Interesting article, going back pre 19th century I think it would be difficult to tell which Roman Bathhouses were some cover, nude and mixed nude except maybe by the murals, we will never know with certainty! Same with ancients river and lake bathing/washing clothing, maybe the latter were women doing that job!
FYI, bowling shoes make decent ballroom dance shoes especially for those of us with over size 14 feet unless one can afford custom made.
Thanks! So you've hit on something of a hobbyhorse of mine. Roman bathhouses are a custom that extends over 2,000 years - there are even some that are still in use today in Turkey and Anatolia - and there's some pretty good documentation from the first couple of centuries of the Empire about their use. Juvenal is a fantastic source for this because he wrote bitingly about the things he disliked about the bathhouses. We do know that full nudity seems to have been customary when using the pools, at least during the first two or three centuries of the empire, and we also know that mixed-gender bathing was banned a couple of times at various points, which tells us that it was something that was happening. But, like anything that's lasts over 2,000 years, the customs changed over time. There's a Roman Mosaic in Sicily from the 4th century AD that shows women exercising in something like a bikini, but we don't know if that was used for swimming or bathing. And If you really want to do some deep reading, the mechanics of how the temperature of the various pools was controlled by airflow under the floors is absolutely fascinating.
Interesting article, going back pre 19th century I think it would be difficult to tell which Roman Bathhouses were some cover, nude and mixed nude except maybe by the murals, we will never know with certainty! Same with ancients river and lake bathing/washing clothing, maybe the latter were women doing that job!
FYI, bowling shoes make decent ballroom dance shoes especially for those of us with over size 14 feet unless one can afford custom made.
Thanks! So you've hit on something of a hobbyhorse of mine. Roman bathhouses are a custom that extends over 2,000 years - there are even some that are still in use today in Turkey and Anatolia - and there's some pretty good documentation from the first couple of centuries of the Empire about their use. Juvenal is a fantastic source for this because he wrote bitingly about the things he disliked about the bathhouses. We do know that full nudity seems to have been customary when using the pools, at least during the first two or three centuries of the empire, and we also know that mixed-gender bathing was banned a couple of times at various points, which tells us that it was something that was happening. But, like anything that's lasts over 2,000 years, the customs changed over time. There's a Roman Mosaic in Sicily from the 4th century AD that shows women exercising in something like a bikini, but we don't know if that was used for swimming or bathing. And If you really want to do some deep reading, the mechanics of how the temperature of the various pools was controlled by airflow under the floors is absolutely fascinating.