The custom of bathing dates from prehistoric ages. In early times bathing was important not only for cleanliness but also as a social activity and a religious ritual. The public baths(hamam) was of special importance in the Ottoman Empire. The moslem bathhouse,as an extension of the Roman baths,included a dressing room ,cold bath and warm bath clustered around a domed,central steam chamber. All areas were heated by a furnace with a system of flues , similar to the Roman hypocaust. The hamam survived ad has developed into the Turkish bath of today.

The hamam tası(bowl) used in the Turkish hamam  is not something new. The same style of bowl was in the relief with snakes on the column at the entrance to the Asclepieum,Pergamum or as phyales in the Phyrigian civilization. 

There are two sections for the man and women. Turkish bath begins in a marble steam room where you can sit down at one of the washbasins and pour warm water from bathing bowl to yourself while your body relexing.

Next, you move to a marble slab in the middle of the room and the hammam attendant begins to scrub your body down – basically a full-body exfoliation. You are lathered in soap and massaged before being washed-down and then wrapped in towels and taken to a room to cool down and rest.