Sauna history
The history of saunas comes from the deep past. Already 6 thousand ago. For centuries, the Egyptians placed great importance on the cleanliness of the body and generally used baths. Egyptian priests washed four times during the day: twice during the day, twice at night. Because they had beautifully furnished spas everywhere, accessible to everyone. Fondness for baths and massages, moderation in food helped the Egyptians maintain a slim figure and successfully defend against premature old age. Egyptian doctors of that time were considered the best in the world, and their art in the treatment of various diseases almost did not do without water procedures.
1.5 thousand years BC, saunas and baths were used for hygienic and medicinal purposes in India.
In ancient Greece, baths and saunas first appeared with the Spartans. It was a round room with a stone open hearth in the middle.
Saunas were especially loved and popular by the ancient Romans. There was literally a spa cult here. Even when they greeted each other at the meeting instead of the welcome they asked: "How are you sweating?" The Romans simply could not imagine their life without a steam bath. "Bath, love and joy - until old age we are all together", - such a title has been preserved to this day on the wall of one old building.
In the baths, the Romans not only washed, but also debated, painted, read poems, sang, and held feasts. Next to the saunas there were massage rooms, areas for physical exercises and sports meetings, libraries. Rich Romans visited the baths twice a day.
Both private and social Roman baths (terme) were characterized by extraordinary luxury - precious marble pools, silver and gold basins. Towards the end of the 1st century B.C. 150 community baths were built in Rome.
It is interesting to note that the sweating room was heated in the same way as in contemporary Russian baths and Finnish saunas: in the corner, a furnace - a heater, on a bronze grate - stones over red-hot coals. There were also rooms with dry and wet steam (steam saunas).
In ancient Rome, baths also functioned as a remedy for many diseases. In particular, the excellent Roman physician Asklepiad (128-56 BC) was known for his favor of spa hydrotherapy. Aslepiad believed that the cleanliness of the body, appropriate gymnastics, sweating in the bath, massage, diet and walks in the fresh air are necessary to cure the sick. "The most important thing is - claimed Asklepiad - to control the patient's attention, destroy his despondency, restore healthy ideas and an optimistic attitude towards life". It was the sauna that created similar feelings in the patient.
The steam bath in Russia was already known among the Slavs in the 5th-6th centuries. The bath and sauna were used by everyone: princes, noble people and common people. Apart from its purely functional meaning, the bath played a big role in various ceremonies. For example a bath was considered necessary on the eve and on the second day of the wedding, while the visit to the bath was accompanied by a special ceremony.
Many foreign travelers wrote about Russian spas.
Olearij (German scientist, 1603-1671), who made a trip to Moscow and Persia in 1633-1939, wrote that the Russians firmly adhere to the customs of washing in a bath.
The construction of baths was allowed to everyone who had enough land. The domestic baths were heated only once a week, on Saturdays, and therefore Saturdays were considered spa days. Usually, whole families washed at home baths at the same time, men and women saunaed together. Finally, even in common ("commercial") baths, people of different ages and sexes were also bored and washed together, of course, women on one side, men on the other. It was not until 1743 that a senate decree forbade men to wash together with women in "commercial" baths, and males older than seven years old to enter the female part of the bath, and females of the same age to enter the men's bath as well.
Washing and sauna gives ten benefits: clear mind, freshness, alertness, health, strength, beauty, youth, cleanliness, pleasant skin color and attention of beautiful women. Those who know how to use a steam bath go to the bath not only to wash, but to warm up and sweat.
Overheating the body brings about beneficial changes in the functional state and systems of the body, strengthens the metabolism, helps the development of defense and compensatory mechanisms. This is explained by the beneficial effect of heat and sweating on the cardiovascular, respiratory, thermoregulatory and endocrine systems in most people. The bath calms the nervous system, restores alertness, increases mental activity.
Look at what the Portuguese Sánchez wrote about the Russian steam bath back in 1778 - the physician of Empress Elizabeta Petrovna: "I do not hope to find a doctor who would not recognize the steam bath as beneficial. Everyone can clearly see how happy society would be if it had an easy and harmless effective method that could not only preserve health, but cure or relieve the pains that are so common.
