Hammam: Difference between revisions

A '''hammam''' ({{lang-ar|حمّام|translit=ḥammām}}, {{lang-tr|hamam}}), called a '''Moorish bath''' (in reference to the Muslim Spain of [[Al-Andalus]]) and a '''Turkish bath''' by Westerners, is a type of [[steam bath]] or a place of [[public bathing]] associated with the [[Islamic world]]. It is a prominent feature in the [[Islamic culture|culture of the Muslim world]] and was inherited from the model of the [[Culture of ancient Rome|Roman]] ''[[thermae]].''<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|editor-last=M. Bloom|editor-first=Jonathan|chapter=Bath|editor-last2=S. Blair|editor-first2=Sheila}}</ref><ref name="Sibley" /><ref name=":02">{{Cite book|last=Marçais|first=Georges|title=L'architecture musulmane d'Occident|publisher=Arts et métiers graphiques|year=1954|location=Paris}}</ref> Muslim bathhouses or hammams were historically found across the [[Middle East]], [[North Africa]], [[al-Andalus]] (Islamic [[Spain]] and [[Portugal]]), [[Central Asia]], the [[Indian subcontinent]], and in [[Southeastern Europe]] under [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman rule]].

The word "hammam" ({{Lang|ar|حَمَّام}}) is a noun meaning "bath", "bathroom", "bathhouse", "swimming pool", etc. derived from the [[Arabic]] [[Semitic root|triconsonantal root]] H-M-M (<big>ح م م</big>) which yields meanings related to heat or heating.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wehr|first=Hans|url=http://ejtaal.net/aa/#hw4=250,ll=38,ls=1,la=1,sg=20,ha=21,br=26,pr=9,aan=24,mgf=33,vi=51,kz=10,mr=25,mn=1,uqw=106,umr=26,ums=14,umj=34,ulq=247,uqa=17,uqq=2,bdw=h19,amr=h7,asb=h17,auh=h37,dhq=h2,mht=h6,msb=h8,tla=h8,amj=h22,ens=h1,mis=h1|title=A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic|publisher=Foreign Language Study|year=1979|isbn=9783447020022|editor-last=Milton Cowan|editor-first=J.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Project|first=Living Arabic|title=The Living Arabic Project – Classical Arabic and dialects|url=https://www.livingarabic.com/|access-date=2020-10-11|website=Lughatuna|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of HAMMAM|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hammam|access-date=2020-10-11|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en}}</ref> This is also the root of the word ''al-ḥamma'' ({{Lang|ar|الحَمَّة}}) meaning [[hot spring]], origin of the name of the [[Alfama]] neighborhood in [[Lisbon]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Ferreira|first1=Emília|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2rQH2oKbywUC&q=alfama+lisbon+hotspring&pg=PA46|title=Lisbon|last2=Cabello|first2=Jorge|date=1998|publisher=Casa Editrice Bonechi|isbn=978-88-8029-394-1|language=en}}</ref> From Arabic {{Lang|ar|حمّام}}<big>,</big> it passed on to [[Persian language|Persian]] ({{Lang|fa|حمام}}) and [[Turkish language|Turkish]] ({{Lang|tr|hamam}}).<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Isaac |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=faxMAAAAMAAJ&dq=persian+arabic+word+hammam&pg=PA316 |title=Names and Their Histories: A Handbook of Historical Geography and Topographical Nomenclature |date=1898 |publisher=Rivingtons |pages=316 |language=en}}</ref> The first recorded use of the term 'Turkish bath' in English was in 1644.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of TURKISH BATH|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Turkish+bath|access-date=2020-10-16|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en}}</ref>

Later the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] became prolific patrons of hammams. Since they were social centres as well as baths, they were built in almost every city across their European, Asian, and African territories. The Ottomans were thus responsible for introducing hammams to much of eastern and central Europe, where many still exist today in various states of restoration or disrepair. Such Turkish baths are found as far as [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]], [[Greece]], and [[Hungary]].<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|last=Kuban|first=Doğan|title=Ottoman Architecture|publisher=Antique Collectors' Club|year=2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sudár|first=Balázs|date=2004|title=Baths in Ottoman Hungary|journal=Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae|volume=57|issue=4|pages=391–437|doi=10.1556/AOrient.57.2004.4.1}}</ref><ref name=":15">{{Cite journal|last=Kanetaki|first=Eleni|date=2004|title=The Still Existing Ottoman Hammams in Greek Territory|url=http://jfa.arch.metu.edu.tr/archive/0258-5316/2004/cilt21/sayi_1-2/81-110.pdf|journal=Middle East Technical University Journal of the Faculty of Architecture|volume=21|pages=81–110|access-date=2 October 2020|archive-date=24 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124054908/http://jfa.arch.metu.edu.tr/archive/0258-5316/2004/cilt21/sayi_1-2/81-110.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Many early Ottoman hammams survive in [[Bursa]] and [[Edirne]], as well as in Eastern Europe and [[Anatolia]], but hammams became even more numerous and architecturally ambitious in [[Istanbul|Constantinople (Istanbul)]], thanks to its royal patronage, its large population and its access to plentiful water.<ref name=":9" /> The city's [[Byzantine Greeks|Greek]] inhabitants had retained a strong Eastern Roman bath culture, with the [[Baths of Zeuxippus]] constituting one early example.<ref>[http://www.cyberbohemia.com/Pages/Islahammam.htm Hamams in Islamic tradition (cyberbohemia.com)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040814082956/http://www.cyberbohemia.com/Pages/Islahammam.htm |date=14 August 2004 }}</ref> Ottoman architects expanded on the experience of [[Byzantine architecture|Byzantine architects]] to create particularly well-balanced designs with greater symmetry and regularity in the arrangement of space than could be seen in hammams in other parts of the Muslim world.<ref name=":052" /> Some of the city's oldest monumental hammams are the [[Tahtakale Hamam]] (probably built right after 1454), the [[Mahmut Pasha Hamam]] (built in 1466), and the [[Bayezid II Hamam]] (built some time between 1500 and 1507).<ref name=":8" /> The monumental hammams designed by the 16th-century Ottoman architect [[Mimar Sinan]] (1489–1588), such as the [[Çemberlitaş Hamamı]], the [[Süleymaniye Hamam]] (in the complex of the [[Süleymaniye Mosque]]), and the [[Hagia Sophia Hurrem Sultan Bathhouse|Haseki Hürrem Sultan Hamam]], are major examples of hammams that were built later in the era of classical [[Ottoman architecture]].<ref name=":8" /> When Sultan [[Mustafa III]] issued a decree halting the construction of new public baths in the city in 1768, it seems to have resulted in an increase in the number of private hammams among the wealthy and the elites, especially in the [[Bosporus|Bosphorus]] suburbs where they built luxurious summer homes.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book|last=Artan|first=Tülay|title=The Ottoman World|year=2011|editor-last=Woodhead|editor-first=Christine|pages=386–387|chapter=Forms and Forums of Expression}}</ref>

In Turkey many historic hammams continue to operate either for locals or for tourists; in some cases this has led to neglected historic hammams such as the [[Kılıç Ali Pasha Complex|Kılıç Ali Pasa Hamamı]] and the [[Hagia Sophia Hurrem Sultan Bathhouse|Hürrem Sultan Hamamı]] being renovated and returned to their original function, while others were abandoned or repurposed.<ref name=":10">{{Cite book|last1=Sumner-Boyd|first1=Hilary|title=Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City|last2=Freely|first2=John|publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks|year=2010|edition=Revised}}</ref><ref name=":13">{{Cite book|title=The Rough Guide to Istanbul|publisher=Rough Guides|year=2015}}</ref><ref name=":14">{{Cite journal|last=Büyükdigan|first=Ilter|date=2003|title=A critical look at the new functions of Ottoman baths|journal=Building and Environment|volume=38|issue=4|pages=617–633|doi=10.1016/S0360-1323(02)00184-1|bibcode=2003BuEnv..38..617B }}</ref> In Morocco, many hammams continue to serve locals in historic cities such as [[Fez, Morocco|Fes]] and [[Marrakesh]], where they are especially useful to the urban poor residing in the old cities (''[[Medina quarter|medina]]''s).<ref name=":2" /><ref name="Sibley" /><ref name="Hybrid Transitions 2015">{{Cite journal|last1=Sibley|first1=Magda|last2=Sibley|first2=Martin|date=2015|title=Hybrid Transitions: Combining Biomass and Solar Energy for Water Heating in Public Bathhouses|journal=Energy Procedia|volume=83|pages=525–532|doi=10.1016/j.egypro.2015.12.172|doi-access=free|bibcode=2015EnPro..83..525S }}</ref> In many other regions, however, hammams have become obsolete and have either been abandoned or converted to other uses. In Iran, some baths continue to operate in the historic districts of cities like Isfahan where they continue to serve religious functions, but there is an overall decline in their numbers. Many surviving Iranian examples have been converted to other uses, most notably as restaurants and [[teahouse]]s.<ref name=":6" /> In [[Damascus]], [[Syria]], only thirteen hammams were still operating in 2004, mostly in the old city; many others had been either demolished or repurposed.<ref name="Sibley" /> [[Cairo]] in [[Egypt]] contained an estimated 77 operational hammams at the beginning of the 19th century but only eight were still in business by the start of the 21st century, with many others abandoned or neglected.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|last1=Telmissany|first1=May|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rlvp2KmeZMUC|title=The Last Hammams of Cairo: A Disappearing Bathhouse Culture|last2=Gandossi|first2=Eve|publisher=The American University in Cairo Press|year=2009|isbn=9789774162435}}</ref> In the former European territories of the Ottoman Empire such as [[Greece]] and the [[Balkans]], many hammams became defunct or were neglected in modern times, although some have now been restored and turned into historic monuments or cultural centres.<ref name=":15" /><ref name=":19">{{Cite journal|last1=Erdoğan|first1=Nevnihal|last2=Alik|first2=Belma|last3=Temel Akarsu|first3=Hikmet|date=2018|title=The Ottoman-Turkish Hamams in Urban History and Culture in Balkan Countries|journal=14th International Conference in "Standardization, Prototypes, and Quality: A Means of Balkan Countries' Collaboration"|pages=93–102}}</ref>

A massage in a Turkish bathhammam is likely to involve not just vigorous muscle kneading, but also [[cracking joints|joint cracking]] - "not so much a tender working of the flesh as a pummelling, a cracking of joints, a twisting of limbs".<ref>Richard Boggs, ''Hammaming in the Sham: A Journey Through the Turkish Baths of Damascus, Aleppo and Beyond'', 2012, {{isbn|1859643256}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=uoMH_psyizoC&pg=PT161 p. 161]</ref><ref>[[Alexander Russell (naturalist)|Alexander Russell]], ''[[The Natural History of Aleppo]]'', 1756, 2nd edition, 1794, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EtTkC5ek_a8C&pg=PT134 p. 134-5]</ref> Hammams aiming for a tourist clientele are likely to also offer an array of different types of massage similar to what might be offered in a spa.

A legend claims that [[Damascus]] once had 365 hammams, one for each day of the year. For centuries, these hammams formed an integral part of community life and some 50 of those in Damascus survived until the 1950s. However, by 2012, as a result of modernisation and the installation of home bathrooms, fewer than twenty Damascene hammams were still working.<ref>[http://garnetpublishing.co.uk/book/hammaming-sham ''Hammaming in the Sham: A Journey through the Turkish Baths of Damascus, Aleppo and Beyond''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120605040051/http://garnetpublishing.co.uk/book/hammaming-sham |date=5 June 2012 }}, Richard Boggs, Garnet Publishing Ltd.</ref>

[[File:Yeraltı Hamam (2).jpg|thumb|left|Baku's underground Yeraltı Hammam]]Within the Old City, the building of baths continued over the years. The [[Underground Bath (Baku)|Yeraltı Hammam]] is said to have been built in the 17th century and, like others, is located underground, helping to maintain steady temperatures inside.{{efn|In these very brief descriptions of some Azerbaijani hammams, sources have not generally been given as they could not easily be checked; instead, links have been provided to those pages which do include them, and which have here been used.}} The 18th century [[Agha Mikayil Bath]] near the fortress gates, is the oldest hammam still open in Baku and is one of the few with women's days. Its four central pillars allow large square bathrooms with pointed arches, covered with a variety of cupolas and domes. Another 19th century bath, the Agha Zeynal Hammam, is atypical in that it is housed in a residential building, although the interior maintains the more traditional layout.<ref name="relax">"[https://azerbaijan.travel/traditional-hammams-baku Relax at Baku’s traditional hammams]". Meeting Azerbaijan. Retrieved 1 May 2024.</ref> In the centre of Baku, the Tazabay Hammam was built in 1886 in Islamic style, though with separate rooms. It was fully 'restored' in 2003 and currently has many additional modern facilities, such as manicure and three saunas, which help to make it popular with tourists while still attracting local residents.<ref name="relax">"[https://azerbaijan.travel/traditional-hammams-baku Relax at Baku’s traditional hammams]". Meeting Azerbaijan. Retrieved 1 May 2024.</ref>

Public baths were a feature of life in [[Turkey]] in Ancient Greek and Roman times, and the [[Seljuq dynasty|Seljuk Turks]] continued to build hammams here.<ref name=":052" /> The majority of historic hammams, however, survive from the Ottoman period (14th–20th centuries). Many examples of early Ottoman hammams remain, particularly in the early Ottoman capitals of [[Edirne]] and [[Bursa]], where many of their early structural and decorative features were established.<ref name=":8" /> Many were built in association with particular mosques or religious complexes (''külliye''s). Notable examples from the pre-1453 period include the Orhan Bey Hamam in Bursa (built around 1339<ref>{{Cite web|last=basin|title=Eski Aynalı Çarşı (Orhan Hamamı)|url=https://www.bursa.com.tr/eski-aynali-carsi-orhan-hamami-380.html|access-date=2020-10-14|website=Bursa.com.tr {{!}} Tüm Zamanların Güzel Şehri|language=tr|archive-date=26 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926154843/http://www.bursa.com.tr/eski-aynali-carsi-orhan-hamami-380.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>), the Demirtaş Hamam in Bursa (14th century<ref>{{Cite web|title=TİMURTAŞ (DEMİRTAŞ) PAŞA HAMAMI|url=http://www.kulturportali.gov.tr/turkiye/bursa/gezilecekyer/timurtas-demirtas-pasa-hamami|access-date=2020-10-14|website=Kültür Portalı}}</ref>), the Hacı Hamza Hamam in [[İznik|Iznik]] (late 14th or early 15th century<ref name=":0522">{{Cite book|last1=Mordtmann|first1=J.H.|title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition|last2=Fehérvári|first2=G.|publisher=Brill|year=2012|editor-last=Bearman|editor-first=P.|chapter=Iznīḳ|editor-last2=Bianquis|editor-first2=Th.|editor-last3=Bosworth|editor-first3=C.E.|editor-last4=van Donzel|editor-first4=E.|editor-last5=Heinrichs|editor-first5=W.P.}}</ref>), the Çelebi Sultan Mehmet Hamam in [[Merzifon]] (1413<ref>{{Cite web|title=Eski Hamam, Merzifon|url=https://kulturenvanteri.com/yer/eski-hamam-merzifon/#17/40.873035/35.4655|access-date=2020-10-14|website=kulturenvanteri.com|date=7 April 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=merzifonpusula.com|title=ÇELEBİ SULTAN MEHMED HAMAMI|url=http://merzifonpusula.com/yazarlar/cuma-akbulut/celebi-sultan-mehmed-hamami/463/|access-date=2020-10-14|website=Pusula Gazetesi – Günlük Siyasi Gazete Merzifon – Amasya – Suluova – Taşova – Hamamözü – Göynücek Haberleri|language=tr-TR}}</ref>), the Mahkeme Hamam in Bursa (1421<ref>{{Cite web|title=MAHKEME (İBRAHİM PAŞA) HAMAMI|url=http://www.kulturportali.gov.tr/turkiye/bursa/gezilecekyer/mahkeme-brahim-pasa-hamami|access-date=2020-10-15|website=Kültür Portalı}}</ref>), the Gazi Mihal Hamam in Edirne (1422, now partly ruined<ref>{{Cite web|title=GAZİ MİHAL BEY HAMAMI|url=http://www.kulturportali.gov.tr/turkiye/edirne/kulturenvanteri/gazi-mihal-bey-hamami|access-date=2020-10-14|website=Kültür Portalı}}</ref>), the [[Emir Sultan Mosque|Emir Sultan]] Hamam in Bursa (1426<ref>{{Cite web|title=EMİR SULTAN HAMAMI|url=http://www.kulturportali.gov.tr/turkiye/bursa/kulturenvanteri/emir-sultan-hamami|access-date=2020-10-14|website=Kültür Portalı}}</ref>), the Beylerbeyi Hamam in Edirne (1429, now partly ruined<ref>{{Cite web|title=BEYLERBEYİ HAMAMI|url=http://www.kulturportali.gov.tr/turkiye/edirne/kulturenvanteri/beylerbeyi-hamami|access-date=2020-10-14|website=Kültür Portalı}}</ref>), and the Karacabey Hamam in [[Ankara]] (1444<ref>{{Cite web|title=Hamamlar -|url=https://ankara.ktb.gov.tr/TR-152969/hamamlar.html|access-date=2020-10-14|website=ankara.ktb.gov.tr}}</ref>).[[File:ÇEKİRGE-ESKİ KAPLICA - panoramio - HALUK COMERTEL.jpg|thumb|The ''Eski Kaplıca'' ''Hamamı'' ('Old Thermal Baths') in [[Bursa]], dating from the 14th century and using one of Bursa's [[Hot spring|thermal springs]]]]

In Bakhchisarai, by order of the Crimean Khan Sahib I Geray, the Sarı-Güzel hamam was built in 1532.<ref>{{Cite web |last=admin |title=Бахчисарайский историко-культурный и археологический музей-заповедник – Баня Сары-Гузель |url=https://handvorec.ru/pamyatniki/hanskij-dvorets/historymus/guzel/ |access-date=2024-03-12 |language=ru-RU}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Память Крыма. Выпуск 67. Хансарай: Баня Сары-Гузель | date=26 April 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EjN9LB5sew |access-date=2024-03-12 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-08-15 |title=Хансарай. Часть 4: Баня Сары-Гузель |url=https://avdet.org/2023/08/15/hansaraj-chast-4-banya-sary-guzel/ |access-date=2024-03-12 |website=avdet.org |language=ru-RU}}</ref>

[[File:Hammam, Marseille (France).jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.75|La Bastide des Bains, rue Sainte, Marseille (France)]]The second half of the 20th century saw a new generation of war-weary, air-travelling holidaymakers returning from Turkey and other countries where they had discovered the hammam. But bytheir nowdiscovery they werewas not discoveringspecifically it specificallyseen as an extremely important part of Islamic culture, but as what had become, as a result of diminishing local use, a significant tourist leisure attraction.

It was not long before baths based on the internal appearance of the hammam, with its central area and ''göbek tasi'' (belly-stone), started appearing in European hotels, health spas, and even as standalone hammam establishments—aestablishments. In Spain, for example, after nearly five centuries' absence, hammams are reappearing in cities such as Cordoba, Granada, Seville, and Madrid.<ref>Peteet, Julie (2024). ''The hammam through time and space''. Gender, culture, and politics in the Middle East. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press. pp.172—173. ISBN 978-0-8156-3832-2</ref> Drawing on centuries of mixed traditions, their signs in Spanish and English, they are promoting a new view of the hammam to a younger generation of bathers, thereby attracting both tourists and locals, a trend currently continuingdeveloping around the continent.

In [[Western world|Western]] art, especially in the context of 19th-century [[Orientalism]], the hammam is often portrayed as a place of sexual looseness, disinhibition and mystery. These Orientalist ideas paint the Arab or Turkish "[[Other (philosophy)|other]]" as mystical and sensuous, lacking morality in comparison to their Western counterparts.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Staats |first=Valerie|title=Ritual, Strategy, or Convention: Social Meanings in the Traditional Women's Baths in Morocco|journal=Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies|year=1994 |volume=14|issue=3 |pages=1–18 |doi=10.2307/3346678|jstor=3346678}}</ref> A famous painting by [[Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres]], ''Le Bain Turc'' ("[[The Turkish Bath]]"), depicts these spaces as magical and sexual. There are several women touching themselves or one another sensually, while some dance to music played by the woman in the centre of the painting. More recently, [[Sylvia Sleigh]], has painted a gender-reversal take on Ingres's painting. Her version also counters Ingres's orientalist fantasy brothel figures by using her husband and some of her friends as real life models in more realistic surroundings.

<gallery class=center heights="200" widths="150" perrow="53">

File:Gerome baigneuses.jpg|''Baigneuses'', by [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]], {{''circa|'' 1889}}

*[[Sauna]]{{div col end}}

==PrimaryFurther bibliographyreading==

*{{citation |last=CosgrovePeteet |first=J.Julie J. |orig-year=1913|year=20012024 |title=DesignThe ofhammam through time and space (Gender, culture, and politics in the TurkishMiddle bathEast) |publisher=BooksSyracuse forUniversity BusinessPress |location=Syracuse, New York |isbn=978-0-894998156-0783832-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D4cHAAAACAAJ2}} (Deals only with the Victorian Turkish bath)