Changes

Both ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt have evidence for bathing in private spaces, such as homes and palaces, but public bathhouses are largely absent. In second millennium BCE, Akrotiri in Santorini and Knossos in Crete show evidence there were bathing facilities, although these, similar to Mesopotamia and Egypt, may have been for more wealthier individuals or classes. In fact, daily washing in a bathroom may have meant you were wealthy enough to have these facilities in your own private space. In Greece from the first millennium BCE, bathing had a more public aspect, perhaps similar to ancient Indian/Indus cultures. As the Greeks emphasized sports that meant participants were generally naked, where our modern term gymnasium comes from, communal baths for the competitors were required. Even some of the earliest showers may have developed in baths used for athletes between 500-300 BCE.

==Later Bath Houses==