Summary of Katherine Ashenburg's The Dirt on Clean

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The Odyssey is a book full of departures and arrivals. It is the story of Odysseus, who struggles for a decade to return home after the Trojan War, and his son, Telemachus, who searches for his father.

#2 When Odysseus visited the palace of King Alcinoos, the king ordered his queen, Arete, to draw a bath for their guest. Homer describes it in the deliberate, formulaic terms reserved for important customs.

#3 The Odyssey is a tall tale, but it does describe the power of the bath. It turns nice-looking young men into near-divinities, and Odysseus gains strength and height when his old nurse bathes him.

#4 The Odyssey is a book about Odysseus, who is away from home for twenty years. When he returns, he finds his father, Laertes, digging in his vineyard. Laertes’ clothes are dirty and patched, and he is wearing a goatskin hat, an emblem of rustic poverty.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822518162

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Insights on Katherine Ashenburg's The Dirt on Clean

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The Odyssey is a book full of departures and arrivals. It is the story of Odysseus, who struggles for a decade to return home after the Trojan War, and his son, Telemachus, who searches for his father.

#2

When Odysseus visited the palace of King Alcinoos, the king ordered his queen, Arete, to draw a bath for their guest. Homer describes it in the deliberate, formulaic terms reserved for important customs.

#3

The Odyssey is a tall tale, but it does describe the power of the bath. It turns nice-looking young men into near-divinities, and Odysseus gains strength and height when his old nurse bathes him.

#4

The Odyssey is a book about Odysseus, who is away from home for twenty years. When he returns, he finds his father, Laertes, digging in his vineyard. Laertes’ clothes are dirty and patched, and he is wearing a goatskin hat, an emblem of rustic poverty.

#5

The ancient Greeks also cleaned themselves for health reasons. They believed that a judicious combination of cold and hot immersions could bring the body’s all-important humours into a healthy balance.

#6

The Greeks were a bathing culture, and they believed that any respectful relationship with the gods required cleanliness. They also took baths as part of a rite of passage.

#7

The Greeks developed the tradition of bathing, which was a combination of native and foreign practices. The upper-middle-class or patrician Greek, Pittheus, could clean himself in various ways. His house would probably have a bathroom, which was a washing room next to the kitchen.

#8

The public bath was a place where people could go to take a bath, and it was usually free of charge. It was a basic facility by Roman standards, but it was more than the wealthy Pittheus had at home.

#9

The public bath was a place where people could go to relax and socialize. It was a modest, intimate setting, with wood ashes or fuller’s earth as a cleansing