One of life's simplest pleasures is taking a long, hot shower during the winter. It seems like every morning when I wake up -- no I don't find a halo hanging over the corner of my four post bed ... I don't even have a four post bed-- I am freaking freezing. Since I am weak and refuse to function if I am not nearly sweating, I like to run to the shower, turn up the hot water and just stand there until I am warmed up. If I am already clean that is all I will do before starting my day ... if I am dirty, well I guess I needed to shower anyway huh?
The sad part about this is that this simple task is actually a luxury. Think of the simple things you need to be able to afford a nice hot shower. You need someplace to shower -- in this case we will say your own home or apartment. You need running water. You need some sort of power, generally electricity, to have hot water. You need the money to be able to pay for this electricity and not just be capable.
The fact of the matter, not everyone in your own city has this ability. It is an action you don't even think about, and yet there are people in your own city (key word is city, if you live in a tiny town with power this may not be true) unable to do more than dream of a hot shower. When you expand your thinking to the rest of the world, you find even more people unable to afford what is thought of as common practice by you and me.
Historically, how long as the ability for a hot, clean shower been around? Even if we expand it to a bathtub, how long? Showers did not even gain popularity until the late 19th century after the Prussian army installed showers in 1879. No word on whether they were hot or not ... severely doubtful.
Until this time, also, running water to individual residences was quite rare. Clearly, before the start of the 20th century a hot shower or bath was either a major luxury of the rich or something that may have only been possible at a public place. It did not even become common for running water to be in individual homes until the mid-20th century. Electric power to homes was not even possible until the 1880s (around, no time to do real research) and not common until much later.
Some public spots for hot bathing historically would be places with hot springs .. ala Bath, England (114 degrees F) or Spa, Belgium (only 90 degrees F). These places were used for bathing and for spa like treatments.
Public bathhouses were common in the middle ages in Europe, but eventually went out of style due to the necessity of public nudity and a growing idea that clean clothing was more important socially and health-wise than personal hygiene. Only in the 19th century was it suggested bathing may help health (the germ theory beginning to catch on) and public baths began to be reopened in Europe. Meanwhile, they had remained open and used in the Ottoman Empire, at the least.
Basically, what I am saying is this ... Until right around the turn of the 20th century ... it was impossible to have a warm/hot shower in the privacy of your own home. The only exception would be if you were insanely powerful and rich and could afford to have servents heat water for you and fill a tub for you (obviously only for the very rich and powerful) or if you were powerful enough to build your own bath house in your residence (rich Romans did this).
Outside of the home the only ability for a hot shower or bath ... well really just a bath ... would be frequenting a local hot spring or a public bath. The Roman baths (thermae) during the empire times were frequented by both rich and poor alike as a ways of socializing. So for a period of time hot bathing was possible to a large population. Though in honesty it was only free people living in cities of the Roman Empire (most cities had at least one bath and Rome in 354 AD had 952) so in the grand scheme of things it was still fairly rare occurrence as slaves and people working in rural farmland -- most of Europe -- did not partake. However, it was possible ... in public.
So all of a sudden this hot shower at home seems more and more like a luxury. In the history of mankind (womankind for you feminazis) it has only been in the last 130 years (maximum) that taking a hot shower was even possible for a common individual in their own home. This has only even become common place for a common individual (in America, probably not the world) since World War II or later (estimation). For everyone in the world, it being common? I am not sure if that is even the case today. Dang, a luxury! Time to go soak...
Sidenote: ... Greeks began the use of heated bath houses in much simpler ways than the Romans .. at least in Europe. So there was some bathing going on in Ancient Greece though not the extent of the Roman Empire time. There is even stories of "drug baths" where in heated rooms "hempseeds" were burnt. Sounds like they were getting high. Also, Alexander the Great deeply loved Greek culture and there is always a possibility he may h ave spread the Greek tradition of bathing to other parts of the world on his conquests.
Sidenote II ... Bathing and religion: evidently bathing is a part of ancient Jewish ritual (no word on if it was hot or not before the Roman era), looked down upon because of public nudity by early Christians (though not prohibited for cleanliness and health), encouraged by Islamic leaders as washing is important religiously (they rebuilt and continued the Roman bath tradition ... hence Turkish baths ... and may have sparked European re-interest in baths after the Crusades), and Buddhists in Japan provided baths for the poor locals as far back as the 4th century AD because good hygeine protected against sin and brought good luck.
Sidenote III .. why are you still reading? Ok .. well I actually did do a little research on this out of curiosity. However, other than Roman baths and a few words on Greek baths, not much is stated regarding bathing prior to middle ages. The middle ages in Europe seem to be hit or miss depending on what was in vogue with bathing eventually falling out of favor for a long period of time. Though in some areas, especially those with hot springs, it seems to have remained constant. A major problem started with public nudity and eventually it became a societal norm not to bathe frequently. Bathing was evidently common in Japan as both Chinese and the first Europeans frequently commented on their cleanliness. This was due to the Buddhist monks, which raises the theory that other places of large Buddhist monk populations should have had baths too. Also, much of the Islamic world could conceivably had popular baths as they retained them for both social and religious reasoning.
Historically it makes little to no sense for any tropical area to have developed hot bathing, since it was already hot outside and therefore a cool dip in a river or cold water splashed on you in some manner would not be a problem. Hot water baths would be more important in colder areas ... We've all heard of Roman baths and the Nordics are known for their spas.
In the grand scheme of things being able to turn a knob and have hot water rush into your private residence for you to bathe with is something relatively new. In the entire world, I would even venture to say it is not a reality for over half the population. I don't know why this fascinates me. To think that 150 years ago no one on my family tree could do this thing I do everyday is mind boggling. What will people be able to do 150 years from now?
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