The hamam, or Turkish bath as it is alternatively known, stands for more than getting a leisurely bath. It is a rite of the body in which the elements are harnessed to cleansing and purification. It inverts the classical notion of the bondage of the body to the soul and suggests a different metaphysics.

Further, the hamam as a social institution played a key role both in the socialization and segregation of Ottoman men and women (in a manner comparable to the harem). As a public space where social status was relatively fluid and open to negotiation, it helped to sustain the Ottoman Empire for many centuries, and came to a decline only in recent times.

It is recorded that there were 4 thousand 536 private and 300 public baths in Istanbul in the 16th century. The hamam once provided the only avenue of socialization especially to women. In fact it played such a crucial role in the lives of Ottoman women that it is rumored that women who did not receive their biweekly allowances from their husbands to go to the hamam were entitled to a divorce! Stories about young tellaks (male masseurs) turning the head of their customers and providing them with many side benefits are based on real life events...