In medieval times, long before there were bathrooms in private ... People were advised to avoid public baths, along with other crowded places, although it would take another three centuries before ...

bathing was considered an unclean and fearful act. For medieval Christians, public baths were seen as "spaces of sin." In Islamic cultures, where stagnant water is considered unclean, bathing ...

Ancient Buddhist monks, for example, purified themselves in the communal baths of their monasteries ... But that didn’t mean everyone stopped washing. Medieval European villages instead used ...

The echoes of communal bathing ring around the room; chattering friends, gushing taps, the occasional clanging of steel water buckets. I have been to over a dozen hammams now, but a familiar panic ...