Turkish bath

From ArticleWorld

The process involved in taking a Turkish bath is similar to that of a sauna, but is more closely related to the bathing practices of the Romans. The Turkish bath is also often called a Hammam. It had an important place in the Ottoman culture as a place of social gathering and ritual cleansing. As indoor plumbing became more common, the importance of the Turkish bath began to diminish.

Architecture

A typical Turkish bath consisted of three rooms, similar to its’ predecessor, the Roman bathhouse. The sicaklik was the hot room, the tepidarium was the warm room, and the sogukluk was the coolest room. The hot room was for soaking up steam and receiving massages. The warm roomwas for washing up, and the cool room was to relax or nap.

Staff

The masseurs in the baths went by the name tellak, and were commonly young boys. They were generally recruited from non-Muslim nations of the Turkish empire. The tellak helped the male clients wash and scrub their bodies. Sexual services were also offered. In some cases, very close relationships formed. Threre is one mid-18th century story about an elite soldier, in the Ottoman army, who had a tellak as a lover. The tellak was kidnapped and a days-long battle ensued. The end came about only when the tellak had been hanged. As a result of the increasing westernization of Turkey, the tellak systen died out in the early twentieth century. In todays Turkish baths, adult attendants specialize in many forms of scrubbing and massage. Today there are just over twenty Turkish baths open in the British Isles. Also, hot-air baths still thrive in the form of Russian steam baths and the Finnish sauna.