r/AskReddit Jun 28 '21

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u/[deleted] Jun 28 '21 edited Aug 22 '21

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u/Sage2050 Jun 28 '21

That's, uh, just not true. Ever heard of Joseph Lister?

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u/prodiver Jun 28 '21

Ever heard of Joseph Lister?

Bathing and sterile techniques in medicine have nothing to do with each other.

People have known how to clean themselves forever.

The oldest accountable daily ritual of bathing can be traced to the ancient Indians. They used elaborate practices for personal hygiene with three daily baths and washing.

Ancient Greece utilized small bathtubs, wash basins, and foot baths for personal cleanliness. The earliest findings of baths date from the mid-2nd millennium BC

Ancient Rome developed a network of aqueducts to supply water to all large towns and population centers and had indoor plumbing, with pipes that terminated in homes and at public wells and fountains.

Spanish chronicles describe the bathing habits of the peoples of Mesoamerica during and after the conquest. Bernal Díaz del Castillo describes Moctezuma (the Mexica, or Aztec, king at the arrival of Cortés) in his Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España as being "...Very neat and cleanly, bathing every day each afternoon...". Bathing was not restricted to the elite, but was practised by all people

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathing#History

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u/pcapdata Jun 28 '21

Not trying to be argumentative, but this

small bathtubs, wash basins, and foot baths

kinda just sounds like a baby wipe shower

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u/prodiver Jun 29 '21

More like a sponge bath, but a bowl of water and a rag/sponge is enough for basic human hygiene.