Baths
Baths were a prominent feature of urban life in Byzantine times, since few houses had their own
water supply. Apart from their central function as places for cleaning the body, baths also served
as a hub of social life, a meeting point and entertainment venue where the Byzantines spent a
great part of their day. City dwellers, and above all women, who had few opportunities to appear in
public, could enjoy their bath, meet friends and exchange views on all sorts of issues.
Bathhouses had distinctive architecture and were lavishly decorated on the interior with mosaics,
marble floors, paintings and statues. Special technology was employed to transport and heat
water. In its simplest form, a bathhouse included the following main areas: changing rooms and
toilets in the hall, cold and warm bath rooms, and finally the hot baths, where the body perspired
and was cleaned for the last time. The hot baths were heated by a hypocaust, a system that used
a low basement area and a raised floor resting on dense rows of rectangular clay pipes. Hot air
from a charcoal furnace circulated below the floor.
The baths were open every day of the week, even on Sundays. They were usually visited in the
morning or afternoon, or perhaps in the evening, by people of both sexes regardless of age and
social class. Most bathhouses were in pairs, with separate entrances and wings for men and
women, but a common hypocaust installation. Alternatively, men visited the baths at different days
or times from women. Visitors paid admission fees, though on certain days of the year admission
was free to the public.
Medical records of the period prescribed the frequency of baths depending on the month; each
monastery rule likewise specified the number of baths per year for each monk. Despite the
Church’s austere stance on the use of bathhouses, even clerics would visit them.
From the 7th century onwards, large bathhouses baths fell into disuse due to population
shrinkage, water scarcity and high maintenance costs. This resulted in a significant reduction in
their number and size, not only in the capital but also in the provinces. At the same time, their
function was restricted exclusively to washing.
Glossary (1)
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mosaic: patterns or images composed of small, colored tesserae. Mosaic decoration can be
applied to all the surfaces of a building: floor, walls or ceiling.
Information Texts (0)
Bibliography (7)
1. Berger, A., Μοναστηριακά και ιερά λουτρά, Μάιος 2001
2. Κουκουλές Φ., Βυζαντινών Βίος και Πολιτισμός, Παπαζήση, Athens, 1954
3. Μουτζάλη, Α., Η φροντίδα για την καθαριότητα του σώματος και τα βυζαντινά λουτρά, 1989
4. Yegul, F., Baths and Bathing in Classical Antiquity, New York, 1992
5. Χαρκιολάκης, Βυζαντινά λουτρά στην Ελλάδα, Μάιος 2001
6. ‘ Η κοινωνική ζωή στο Βυζάντιο’ in Ψηφίδες του Βυζαντίου
7. Velmans T., La peinture murale a la fin du Moyen Age, 1977
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