Turning On The Taps - The Amazing Story of your Bathroom and its Accessories

By Lorraine Michele

A thoroughly entertaining romp through history! Who would believe an innocuous bath could have provoked such passion; 
from sex, scandal, the devil and disease, to royalty, money, religion and class? Filled with fascinating characters, anecdotes and facts, our journey takes us from the heady days of Queen Cleopatra, to Greece and the cut-throat world of shaving; we discover the origins of soap and the extraordinary tooth-powders favoured by the populace; experience the 'Pleasure Domes' of ancient Rome; peak into the secretive world of mirrors in medieval Venice; witness the bawdy 'Stews' of King Henry VIII and uncover the sex and scandals of the Georgian spas.
It may be the smallest room in the house,but your bathroom will never seem the same again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lorraine Michele
• Release date: Aug 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781649701183

Book preview

The Amazing story of your Bathroom

and its Accessories

LORRAINE MICHELE

Dedicated to my wonderful husband Greg.

This book is the result of that great idea

in Naples, Florida.

Thanks for all your great enthusiasm and support.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. THE BATH

From Palaces to Pleasure Domes

The Imperial Thermae

Kings and Queens

An Inedible ‘Stew’

Pioneers

Three Facts about - BATHS

2. BIDETS

A Touch of Oh La La

Three Facts about - BIDETS

3. SHAMPOO

The Heads Up

Three Facts about - HAIR

4. MIRRORS

Looking In

Three Facts about - Mirrors

5. TOOTHPASTES and BRUSHES

Ebony and Ivories

Three Facts about – TEETH-CLEANING

6. DENTAL FLOSS

7. PERFUME

The Sweet Smell of Success

Three Facts about - PERFUME

8. TOILET PAPER

From Rags to Riches

Three Facts about – TOILET PAPER

9. TOILETS

On The Throne

Chamber Pots

Flushed with Pride

Three Facts about - TOILETS

10. GRAFFITI

Writings on the Wall

Three Facts about - GRAFFITI

11.RAZORS

The Cut-Throat World of Shaving

Three Facts about - SHAVING

12.ON THE MOVE

Bathrooms Aboard the Orient Express

13.SOAP

A Real-Life Soap Opera

Three Facts about - SOAP

14.SPAS

Sex, Scandal and Society

Three Facts about - SPAS

15.HAMMAMS and SAUNAS

Hammams

Saunas

Three Facts about – HAMMAMS and SAUNAS

16.UNUSUAL BATHROOM ETIQUETTE

Around the Globe

Acknowledgements – Picture Credits

List of Illustrations

1. Silhouette of a woman in bath with foam. (Cover)

(Plus added feathers). 

2. Ancient Egyptian Queen enjoying a shower  9

3. Interior, Caracalla Baths, Rome  17

4. Golden Crowns  27

5. Henry VIII  31

6. A variety of baths and treatments  42

7. Classic, antique, sketch of bathroom  57

8. Head shower  61

9. Elegant black frame set  67

10. Toothbrush and toothpaste icon  75

11. Woman flossing her teeth  87

12. Perfume bottle spraying flowers  89

13. Rolls of toilet paper  103

14. Toilets of Ephesus, ancient Greece  108

15. Chamber pot. Date 1501  112

16. Toilet retro poster  118

17. Cartoon graffiti artist  134

18. Illustration man and woman shaving  139

19. Interior, Orient Express  157

20. Handmade natural soap  165

21. Spa sign  175

22. Victorian engraving Turkish bath  190

23. Girl in Sauna, illustration  194

24. World landmarks  197

"Mother, may I go and bathe?

Yes, my darling daughter.

Hang your clothes on yonder tree.

But don’t go near the water."

Introduction

Languishing in my bath, one cold winter’s eve, I glanced around and realised with some astonishment, that I knew nothing about the room I was in. When for example was the bathtub conceived? How did people cleanse themselves before the invention of toothpastes, soaps and shampoos? How did men shave prior to razors? Indeed, what inspired our bathroom in the first place? I decided it might be rather fun to find out.

I was totally unprepared for the voyage of discovery on which I was about to embark, for the story of the bathroom is a fascinating tale, full of passion and intrigue. Strikingly, throughout history, people’s attitude toward cleanliness or an innocent bath, actually mirrored the beliefs of society itself, consequently bathing was alternately linked with sex, scandal, the devil and disease as well as royalty, money, religion and class. It wasn’t until much later and then only as an afterthought, that people concerned themselves with the trivia of hygiene.

Clearly mortals were far less appealing than they are today. Skins were blotchy and red and lovers must have had a fine time, running their fingers through their beloved’s matted and lice-ridden hair. As you smiled seductively, your teeth, providing of course you had any, would be an unflattering shade of black. Nestling closer to one’s sweetheart, it would be their breath, not their kiss, that would make you swoon. What a pretty daunting world it was, yet for centuries that’s exactly how people survived, struggling, improvising and jolly well making do.

Thankfully that is no longer the case, for as your bathroom evolved, a more luxurious world began to emerge, a world where men and women could bathe in privacy, where lustrous shiny locks, clear skin and dazzling white teeth soon became the norm. A place where everyone, both rich and poor, had the right to cleanliness, that most basic of human needs. In truth, I discovered that the history of the smallest, albeit one of the most important rooms in the house, was truly an epic tale.

So dear reader, if you are sitting comfortably, the story of your bathroom will begin. I hope as on all great adventures you’ll be both enlightened and entertained.

Chapter 1

THE BATH

From Palaces to Pleasure Domes

"There must be quite a few things

that a hot bath won’t cure

but I don’t know many of them."

Sylvia Plath

Ancient Egyptian Queen enjoying a shower, aided by slaves

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Who would believe that an innocuous bathtub, could have prompted such an intoxicating tale, brimming with sex, scandal, royalty and disease? Nowadays, as we revel in our bathwater, we take it all for granted but that’s not always the way life was.

Centuries ago, if you were poor, cleanliness would have meant a quick dip in the local river while the rich drenched themselves with heavy fragrance, to mask the layers of dirt and grime that had accumulated over the years. Even today in some parts of the world, your bathroom no matter how modest, would still be considered the height of luxury. So how and when did your bathroom evolve?

Our story starts over five thousand years ago, across the sands of time in ancient Egypt, for it was here that some of the world’s oldest bathrooms were created. Egyptians, like us, took great pride in their appearance thus those prosperous enough to have their own well, ‘showered’ in the privacy of their own white-washed villas. Bathroom walls were lined with limestone to protect them from splashes, as the bather knelt in a bath little bigger than a shallow tray. A slave then doused them with jugs of water, after which they were dried with linen towels.

Poorer Egyptians simply cleansed themselves in the river Nile, Egypt’s heart and highway. The Nile was considered sacred, so people believed that not only were their bodies purified but also their hearts and souls. Though Egyptian priests were obliged to bath in cold water a staggering four times a day and Moses prescribed it to his people as part of a religious rite, it seems, even in those days, bathing wasn’t always so innocent...

One morning Bathsheba, the stunning wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of King David’s warriors, was luxuriating in her bath, when King David espied her as he walked across the roof top of his palace. At the time, Uriah was commanding David’s army and fighting the king’s enemies. The sight of a naked Bathsheba sent David’s temperature soaring and he immediately set about seducing her, making her pregnant into the bargain. He then arranged for her husband Uriah to be killed in battle, orders poor Uriah unwittingly carried to the very men who would carry out the dastardly deed.

Though David later repented, he and Bathsheba believed they were punished by the death of their first son. In 974 BC a second son, Solomon, was born, a boy destined to become the third King of Israel and famed throughout history for his wisdom and seduction by the fabled Queen of Sheba.

It seems even in ancient times, keeping clean was conspicuously high on the agenda, for in the lost city of Mohenjo Daro in the lower Indus Valley, in modern day Pakistan, another of the worlds’ oldest baths was uncovered, built an astonishing 4,500 year ago. What’s so extraordinary is how these folks not only enjoyed public baths, equipped with both chambers and swimming pool, but also constructed a fantastic drainage system.

Within the Mari Palace, created over 4000 years ago in neighbouring Mesopotamia, one bathroom contained not only conventional tubs but a sexy double tub made of clay, built for simultaneous bathing, it’s fun design evoking all sorts of illicit games and eastern delights. One could easily imagine the king and queen as they playfully scrubbed each other’s back, the water glistening on their skin or the agility of a lone bather as he gleefully plunged from one tub to the next, revelling in the contrast of both hot and cold water.

On the Mediterranean island of Crete, the royal palace of Knossos, built before 2000BC by the Minoans for the mythical King Minos, also contained bathrooms, the problem though was finding them. The columned, four-storey palace was so huge, it’s often been compared to a modern-day maze. Set around a spacious courtyard, it comprised over a thousand rooms, and was adorned with baths, water-falls, staircases and fountains. According to Greek myth, the palace was designed with such complexity that no one could ever find the exit! One can only hope, that after drinking several goblets of wine, the palatial guests either had a spectacular sense of direction or incredibly strong bladders.

Within the queen’s apartments, bathroom walls were decorated with frescoes of dolphins and fish swimming under water. When the queen bathed, slaves fetched hot and cold water in jugs, to fill her five foot long terracotta bath, which was then emptied by hand.

Around 485BC, Queen Vashti, the feisty first wife of  the Persian king, Ahasuerus, refused to appear before him and his guests without a veil. Ahasuerus was promptly advised to dump her and find himself a new queen, his Wise men fearful of possible repercussions throughout the kingdom between women and their husbands. All the most luscious virgins, including Esther, an orphaned beauty were gathered at the palace, where the girls spent an entire year in his harem, bathing and scenting themselves in preparation, after which, King Ahasuerus had his pick. Needless to say he and Esther were shortly wed.

In the first century BC, legendary sex kitten Cleopatra knew that when her taps were running, a mere male stood no chance. She was right as Plutarch wrote from his ‘Life of Marc Anthony’ circa AD 75....

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"Her beauty was not so striking that it stunned the onlookers

but it made an inescapable impression on people around her...

the intelligence of all that she said and did was bewitching"

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Famed for her love of Egypt, her lovers and her opulent baths, the Egyptian siren regularly bathed in milk and honey which softened her skin. Baths were scented with lavender or rose petals or for special occasions, a sprinkling of strawberries, after which, servants wrapped the queen in soft towels and massaged her skin with fragrant oils.

Besides being the richest woman in the world of that era, Cleopatra VII ( there were six previous Cleopatra’s) was also a shrewd politician who used her seductive talents to expand and maintain her empire. After arranging to be smuggled in to Caesar’s palace, hidden in a bedroll (as portrayed in the 1963 movie ‘Cleopatra’ by the late, Elizabeth Taylor) the temptress was delivered and then unwrapped in front of the roman Emperor’s eyes. Naturally, the Italian was smitten. Though Caesar ‘Came and Saw’, it was Cleopatra who ‘Conquered’.

In ancient Greece, attitudes towards bathing varied according to their view of bodily comfort. In the 6th century BC, showers became extremely popular, when wily Athenian politician, Pisistratus installed the first public facility in Athens. Here amidst the shimmering waters of the fountains and porticoes that graced the city, men and even athletic women, bathed together under shower heads, shaped like faces of boars and lions.

Though born into a noble family, Pisistratus assumed the leadership of the Peasant Party, regularly taking land from the rich aristocratic families and donating it to the poor. A kind of Grecian Robin Hood you may think? Not so, for like most politico’s, Pisistratus had ulterior motives. As a dictator he needed the support of the small farmers and urban poor, thus in order to win it, he simply helped them out.

Besides being a patron of the arts, Pisistratus was  the first to have Homer’s poems written down. Homer, one of the worlds’ greatest poets and author of the epics ‘The lliad’ and ‘The Odyssey’ lived in the 8th century BC. As he noted in the Odyssey

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"Telemachus and Peisistratus went

to the polished bath tubs and bathed;

or rather the house-maidens bathed them

and rubbed them down with oil."

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Homer often mentioned the Greeks passion for bathing, believing that Greek god’s and goddesses took a bath as a prelude to love-making, a practice observed by many common folk even today.

If you were unfortunate to live during the time of the Persian war around 499 to 479BC, it was austerity all the way, for anything remotely self-indulgent was totally vetoed. Red-blooded Greeks believed it un-manly to use hot water, thus bathing consisted of an invigorating plunge in icy water, warm baths considered suitable only for women or wimps. Guys showered in a polished marble bowl measuring about 30 inches in height, a slave then poured cold water on them, the colder and brisker the better. 

Over time and secretly I imagine, to much relief, hot baths soon returned. Now males either worked out or wrestled in the gym, then sweated it out in a steam room. Water was heated in a caldron over a fire, then poured over the bathers. For the less active, drafts, or snakes and ladders were played in preference to exercise. Later the bathers would take a quick dip, change into fresh clothes and pass an invigorating afternoon discussing democracy or the Olympic games, both of which the Greeks invented. Many debated with the likes of Plato or Socrates, the later one of the world’s greatest philosophers and an incredibly ugly little man, whose sheer brilliance, attracted to him a number of the brightest young stars in Athens.

Socrates encouraged people to think about how to live a good life. Aptly nicknamed ‘Gadfly’ because of his stinging arguments, he claimed to be guided by an inner voice that always told him what was right, a dangerous belief that enabled his enemies to accuse him of listening to false God’s. Charged by the Athenian authorities with corrupting the youth with his ideals and worshipping the wrong God’s, Socrates refused to change and was condemned to death. To avoid giving the judges the pleasure of executing him, he died by his own hand in 399BC using hemlock, a deadly poison. The last words uttered by one of the world’s wisest men, according to Plato’s ‘Phaedo’, was to Socrates’ friend Crito, words not concerned with himself but the God Asclepius, the God responsible for healing the sick and preserving health. ‘Crito he murmured  we owe a cock to Asclepius.