Between Ideology and Social Practice: Baths and Bathing in Christian Communities in Late Antiquity
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Dallas DeForest
Abstract
Scholars of Late Antiquity have explored rhetorical constructions of the Christian life from many different angles, yet they have not done so in the context of public bathing culture. This article explores the polyvalent ways in which baths and bathing culture were used in rhetorical constructions of the Christian life in Late Antiquity, and how, in turn, this discourse structured Christian communities ideologically and affected the attitudes and practices of the laity. Since bathing culture was intimately associated with the Roman body, self, and personal appearance, it was implicated in rigorist Christian discourse quite commonly. Ultimately, this article demonstrates that Late Antique Christians, especially rigorists, wrote about baths and bathing because it was an important element in constructing a framework for an idealized Christian life and maintaining meaningful divisions within the Christian oikoumene based on ascetic practices and spirituality. But these writings should not be taken as an accurate reflection of social practice or mentalities concerning bathing in Late Antiquity, although certain changes, which reflect the importance of the ideal among the laity, are notable. In the end, Late Antique Christians emerge here as quite Roman in the manner in which they cared for their bodies, personal appearance, and health. And public bathing culture allows us to glimpse the rich social mosaic of Late Antiquity vividly.
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Editorial Introduction to Volume Six
- Articles
- Divine Vengeance in Herodotus’ Histories
- Routes across Calabria in Antiquity: Locri Epizephiri’s communications over the peninsula and its control of the Tyrrhenian littoral
- Camillus as Numa: religion in Livy’s refoundation narratives
- Athens and the Anchoring of Roman Rule in the First Century BCE (67–17)
- Ius vitae necisque: the politics of killing children
- Between Ideology and Social Practice: Baths and Bathing in Christian Communities in Late Antiquity
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Editorial Introduction to Volume Six
- Articles
- Divine Vengeance in Herodotus’ Histories
- Routes across Calabria in Antiquity: Locri Epizephiri’s communications over the peninsula and its control of the Tyrrhenian littoral
- Camillus as Numa: religion in Livy’s refoundation narratives
- Athens and the Anchoring of Roman Rule in the First Century BCE (67–17)
- Ius vitae necisque: the politics of killing children
- Between Ideology and Social Practice: Baths and Bathing in Christian Communities in Late Antiquity
