Water, baths, and corporeal washing
Paolo Squatriti
In the first five hundred of “thousand years without a bath,” people invested considerable effort, ingenuity, and resources in securing water supplies for their various bathing complexes. Though this “frivolous” use cannot compare to vital functions like irrigation or quenching thirst, still was important early medieval Italians. Naturally enough, it different ways at times during Middle Ages, history supply is never static, being molded instead by shifts outlooks requirements users. This chapter delineates some these differences panoramic sketch bathing, which highlights gradual move away from large, easily accessible baths, increasing reliance on private sources an always more private, intimate bath, surprising endurance very Roman notions purpose function baths urban societies. As will emerge, most relevant innovation customs postclassical Italy separation cleansing bath recreational (both types existed antiquity, but they went together). Such had repercussions how bathed. communal lost allure (this another theme bathing), patronage public rulers did too: ninth century subsidized were rather rare, not include provision among duties.
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