Roman
Bath - Therma
Ancient Romans had a cult of bathhouse. Greeting each
other they said: "How is your sweating?" In the bathhouse (sauna)
they not only washed themselves, but socialized, painted, read poetry,
sang, and feasted. Their Bathhouses (saunas) had special rooms for massage, gyms,
and libraries. Wealthy citizens went to Bathhouse (sauna) twice a day.
Both private and public baths were distinguished by
exceptional luxury - swimming pools were made of precious marble, silver
and gold were used to decorate sinks. By the first century BC there
were around 150 thermas in Rome. Steam rooms were heated in the same
way as Russian Banyas and Finnish Saunas: oven was placed in the corner,
stones were laid on the bronze frame over the red-hot charcoal. Rooms
with wet and dry steam were also available. Hot air was coming through
a pipe under the floor.
The structure of Thermas was complex: there were 5
rooms: a room for undressing and resting after bathing, swimming pool
for the first bathing, a room for washing with warm and hot water, and
finally a room for dry steam and wet bath.
Roman-Irish
Baths
The vast and formidable Roman Empire spread its influence
to the East and to the West. Roman baths appeared in Constantinopol
(later modified and called Hammam) and in Ireland.
Irish-Roman baths became popular in many countries. The are completely
air-based with moderate temperature of 50-60 °C. Hot air is transported
through special pipes under the floor and in the walls. 3 rooms are
visisted: preparatory room, a room of the first heat, and the steam
room, where hot air is coming through the holes in the floor. One significant
difference from the Roman Bath is that Irish bath has a special exit
pipe for disposal of used air, which makes the atmosphere in the bath
more healthy.
Hammam
- Turkish (Eastern) Bath
Hammams (known as Turkish Saunas) were not as luxurious as Roman baths. A visitor
who enters the Bathhouse finds himself in a spacious hall, where he
leaves his clothes and then proceeds down the stairs and through a long
narrow coridor to the soap room. In this room he sees several niches
for bathing and 3 narrow doors leading to steam bath, to a cooler room,
and to the hall for resting. This is the order of the bathing procedure.
Only after having completed it, one goes to give oneself to a masseur.
The source of steam in Hammam (Turkish Sauna) is a gigantic tub of
water inside the wall. The steam goes through the hole in the wall.
Moreover, the entire bath is heated by the hot air, coming through a
special pipe located under the marble floor.
The bather lies on the hot stone and sweats. When sweating
is plentiful, massage starts. Massage is one of the specialties of Turkish
Bath. Sometimes it seems that the masseur beats his client; however
the latter has an extremely pleasurable experience: his body is relaxing
and his muscles become very flexible.
Japanese
Bath - Ofuro
There are
two types of Ofuro (Japanese Sauna): traditional water bath (furo) and its cedar sawdust
variation. In Ofuro (thus Japanese respectfully call Furo, which simply
means "bath"), one sits in a wooden pool or barrel, which
is filled with water and heated until it reaches the temperature of
40-50 °C. Inside there is a bench, on which sit those wishing to
improve their health, so that the upper part of the body (up to the
heart) always be above the water and be steamed by only by the hot vapor.
In its second variation
the cedar sawdust, which perfectly absorb sweat and extract aromatic
and healing substances, are heated to 60 °C.
Finnish
Sauna
Sauna is
the closest relative of Russian Banya. There is almost no difference
between traditional (people's) saunas and banyas. Sometimes, they are
distinguished by sauna's having dry steam and banya's wet steam. However,
historically, both types used wet steam.Finnish Sauna today is using
dry steam, which is tolerated easier than wet steam in Russian banya.
Sauna, with
its ancient history among Nordic and Uralic peoples, is national pride
of Finns. They believe (and for a good reason) that almost any disease
can be treated with the help of Sauna. Ancient Finns consdiered Sauna
a sacred object and that a good spirit lives in the steam vapor.
There are
1 mln saunas per 4.8 mln people in Finland. Sauna Society is active
in Helsinki publishing "Sauna" Magazine and organizing exhibitions.
Finnish coaches believe that sauna plays an important role in preparing
their sportsmen for international competitions.
