2012/06/01 by Magda Sibley, Iain Jackson · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · #Archaeology and Historical Studies #Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History #Historical Studies of Medieval Iberia #Byzantine architecture #Islam #Bathing #Ancient history #Turkish #Middle East #Architecture #Capital city #Recreation #History #Archaeology #Geography #Political science #Law
paper · doi:10.1017/s1359135512000462
openalex publication_date 2012/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
The hammams (or Islamic bath-houses), commonly known as ‘Turkish baths’, are one of the key urban facilities in Islamic cities. They evolved from the Roman and Byzantine public baths, as these were assimilated when the Umayyad dynasty conquered Byzantine territories in the Middle East between AD 661 and 750. Early hammams were built in the eighth century by the Umayyad rulers who established their capital in Damascus. The most famous ones are Qusayr Amra, in today's north-eastern desert of Jordan and Khirbat al Mafjar. The period following the rise of Islam witnessed a rapid development in the architecture of baths and the change from Roman to Islamic bathing habits. Public Roman baths consisted of very large establishments, the thermae , which comprised not only bathing facilities but also recreational ones such as libraries, gymnasiums, exercise grounds and gardens, tanning rooms, ball courts and concert halls. The balnea were the smaller privately or publicly owned Roman baths, located in greater number within the city.