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The history of Turkish bath: a tray of pastry, stuffed vegetables, a variety of fruits, desserts, jam, sorbet, buxom women who are sitting and singing on the central massage platform. This is the image of women's hamam that
comes to one's mind. In those times, women also brought their small boys with them to the hamam. When the boys
reached a certain age, other women would give the mother a gentle warning: "why don't you bring your husband
along next time ?" |
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There were also "single" or "late morning" hamams, where there were no separate sections for men and women.
In such hamams, the morning session was reserved for women. Men were only allowed during very early morning
or late at night. The women would party so loudly and wildly, the cleaning up of the hamam would take about 2
hours, leading to protests from the men. The girls who are at the age of marriage would meet the match-makers
for the first time in the hamam. |
In the Turkish language, the word hamam is used in many expressions. For example: feel like a hamam, house or
hamam owner, mother of a hamam, hamam fee, to save the honour of a hamam, etc. |
Hamam is one of the first things that come to a tourist's mind when they hear about the Ottoman Empire or Turkey.
It has a special place in literature, cinema and one of the key places in orientalism's mystical world. |
It is not only a place where people get clean, but, with its engraved walls and its domed structure, it serves as an
important part of the social life. It became a cultural symbol with its masseurs (tellak), masseuses (natir) and
workers (kulhanbeyi). |
The history of cleaning dates back to hundreds of thousands of years. Different cultures on different geographies
developed similar traditions and rituals: Ganges River in India, in Mesopotamia, in Euphrates, in Niles River of the
ancient Egypt, etc. |
The tradition of building structures for the purpose of cleaning dates back to the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Aegea and Greece. Common examples include:
- The hamam built by the Assyrian king III. Salmanasar who reigned in 859-824 BC on the coasts of the Tigris
- special bathing chambers that are built in the 3rd century BC around Resulayn near Turkey-Syria border
- hamam ruins that dates back to 1200 BC who are built by the Hittites near Gaziantep
Even though hamam ruins from different periods were found, buildings that have similar mechanisms comparing to
contemporary hamams, such as heating and warm water, were used the first time in Athens during 5th century BC. These circle shaped structures were supported with rectangular rooms and were heated with stoves. Even though
the first hamams were built by the Greeks, the popularity of of independent hamam structures rised during the
Roman civilization. It is assumed that the architect Sergius Orata achieved to heat the whole hamam building using
the heat from a central fire during the 1st century BC. It is known that there were around 170 public hamams in 33
BC in Rome. Romans called this hamam " thermea". This word, after a little change, entered into modern Turkish.
In certain regions of Turkey, health spa' s are still called "termal" .
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Words that are specific to Turkish hamams :
. Külhan: Wide closed stoves that heats the hamams
. Sıcak halvet: The upper side of külhans
. Soğuk halvet: Places that are located far away from külhans
. Natır: masseuse who massages and washes female customers
. Tellak: masseur who massages and washes male customers
. Peştemal: thin clothing that is used to cover up one's body
. Takunya: Hamam slippers |
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