A SOAK THROUGH TIME

Roman luxury, medieval soap, and scandal in the bathhouse: Sophia Cano uncovers the trends of bathing through the ages

- Sophia Cano

Although we may imagine the bathing practices of our ancestors to be few and far between, in fact there exists a longstanding love story between bathing and the British Isles. This tale begins with the arrival of the Romans in Britain, in AD 43. Dr Giacomo Savani, a lecturer of Ancient History at the University of Leeds and author of Rural Baths in Roman Britain, explains that bathing was a ubiquitous aspect of modern life in Roman Britain. ‘Baths were essential facilities in antiquity, and were common in cities, towns, military outposts, and villas,’ he says. ‘People with very different cultural and social backgrounds shared a love for bathing.’ These were not rudimentary baths, either: the Romans developed the ‘hypocaust’ system as an early form of central heating, where hot rooms in bathhouses would be built raised up on small pillars, and heated by a furnace from below.

‘A trip to the baths was an important social event,’ says Giacomo. ‘People met their friends and carried out business there. By frequently being seen at the baths, they wanted to appear well-groomed, healthy, and socially knowledgeable.’ Bathing was known to maintain one’s health, but also carried social currency – Romans prided themselves on their bathing practices, in part because they set them apart from the ‘barbarians’ (or, non-Romans). Thus, the bathhouses of Roman Britain were not just a means to get clean, but a communal space for socialising and a proud expression of an individual's ‘Romanness’.