The Hammam Through Time and Space (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780815638322)

Julie Peteet offers a fascinating tour through the rich cultural history of hammams, or baths, in the Mediterranean and Middle East. These sacred structures date back to the Bronze and Iron Ages and have evolved through the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic periods. In this original work, Peteet provides the first comprehensive examination of hammams through their architecture, labor pool, clientele, meanings, notions of the body and hygiene, and economy. Exploring the hammam as both a tangible architectural structure and an intangible social practice, Peteet sheds light on how the bath has functioned as a central hub of religious ceremonies and a space that transcends any specific religious affiliation.

Although hammams have experienced a decline due to modernization, new domestic technologies, and rejection of the Ottoman-Islamic past, their current reinvigorated form illuminates neoliberal conceptions of heritage and leisure industries. Hammams have become spaces for cleansing and fashioning a gendered and aesthetically appropriate body as defined by a global wellness syndrome. Peteet's captivating narrative traces the hammam's historical significance and contemporary role as both a sacred and profane cultural phenomenon.

Author: Julie Peteet
ISBN-10: 0815638329
ISBN-13: 9780815638322
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Language: English
Published: 05/15/2024
Pages: 392
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.60lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.00w x 1.20d