HAMMAM - THE SPREADER OF WARMTH

The architectual remains of the Greek baths and the balnea inspired the smaller and more modest hammams of Islam. However, not until Muhammed himself enthusiastically recommended sweat baths around 60O AD did the Islamic hammam begin to proliferate.

Muhammad believed that the heat of the hammam enhanced fertility, and the followers of the faith should multiply. Until the hammam caught Muhammed's fancy, the Arabs used only cold water and never bathed in tubs, which was considered as bathing in one's own filth. But when the conquering Arabs encountered Roman and Greek baths in Syria, holy men immediately adopted the pleasure of hot air bathing.

The hammam gained religious significance and became an annex to the mosque, used to comply with the Islamic laws of hygiene and purification. The hammam developed into a quiet retreat--an atmosphere of half-light, quiescence and seclusion. Architectually, vaulted ceilings shrank as the buildings became smaller and modest.

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