The Origins of Spa

Have you ever wondered where spa’s come from?  Who thought of this concept?  When? How? Why?  Modern day spas today are most closely related to ancient Greek practices with an eventual Roman evolution of bath houses from thousands of years ago.  Our earliest known spa use is tainted by muddled history stories, with whatever evidence feels strongest for one to follow or believe. 

In ancient Greek and Roman times, bath houses were frequented amongst multiple classes of society. While the wealthiest may have had a private bath within their own home, they would still frequent the public bath houses as a way of life. They were places for recreational, health and social activities, in addition to the most obvious use of bathing for personal hygiene and sanitation.  

Detoxifying and Vasoconstriction with a Cold Plunge and Contrast Baths at the Spa

Did you know that Roman bath houses had different baths, usually at different levels and with different temperatures? Public bath houses could be heated with fire under the floors, and cold baths or cold plunges would usually be the lowest level of the bath house, where they are dug deep into the ground to preserve a chilly temperature.  

So, while today, cold plunges are all the rage as it can vasoconstrict soft tissues which helps eliminate waste products held within the body in an ultimate detoxification, it’s likely this cold plunge process started in Roman public bath houses, with its multi-temperature baths which would also known as contrast baths. An ancient Roman bath house is where these multi-temperature baths were collected and housed or used together in one establishment.

Muscular Soft Tissue Healing, Recouperation and Vasodilation at the Spa

Today’s modern day spas will offer a variety of bodywork and massage services that will manually increase circulation whether it’s pressing the soft tissue to create an ischemic effect, then releasing the soft tissue which will in turn produce a resurgence of blood and nutrients to the affected area.  This increases circulation and all the riches of newly oxygenated blood to an area for increased cellular metabolism and healing.  By contrast in ancient Roman bath houses, participants would exercise in a yard or dedicated area to sport to increase their circulation.  

We have gone one step further today by creating machinery and electrical devices to increase circulation within the spa business.  This is anything between pressotherapy garments that even hospitals use, with air pressurized balloons gently squeezing the soft tissue then releasing it, which will help increase cardiovascular circulation as well as help prevent blood clots if an individual is sedentary.  We also have massage chairs that we can sit in to help increase circulation with pressing and releasing soft tissues, as well as hand held devices and much more.

Do Any Ancient Spa Establishments Still Exist?

Yes, many old bath houses which might also be known as the world’s first spas still exist, although most fell into a period of disrepair until being rehabilitated or repaired for mostly tourism attractions today. For example, it’s the Musee de Cluny at 28 rue Du Sommerard, 75005 Paris, France which is the ancient Roman spa that is mostly pictured throughout this article. 

Today’s modern Paris Museum which is called the Mussee de Cluny was built on an approximate 2,000 year old ancient Roman bath house which was actively used for approximately 200 years. The museum’s curators suggest that any Roman city conquered was fairly worthless without a set of Roman baths, and in this particular area, there were three of them.  The bath house we have pictured throughout this article at the Musee de Cluny was the center of the area’s social activity, where people came to relax, exercise, have their hair cut and read.  Some ancient Roman baths had a public library. That’s fairly similar to what is practiced today, where magazines and travel books are shared common fare in a modern day’s spa reception area.

The Musee de Cluny’s ancient Roman bath or spa was split into three different levels.  This included an area deep underground, where hydraulics and drainage were routed.  

The ground floor entrance was an open exercise area.  This ground level area consists of both indoor and outdoor rooms with more rooms above.  

The museum curators suggest that bathers would start at the bath house with a hot bath, which was also called the caldarium. Then bathers would move onto the warm baths with tepid water in a tepidarium.  The last place the bathers would go in their spa ritual would be the frigidarium which is also known as the cold room.  

The Archaeological Crypt from the Ile de la Cité, just in front of Notre Dame Church, has another ancient Roman Bath in ruins available for public display with the purchase of a ticket, similar to how one would view the Musee de Cluny.  The crypt's Roman bath was believed to have been in use until the 4th century. Below shows a map of how this 2nd Roman Bath was configured. 

The following video without narration shows the Roman bath ruins that were buried for centuries and recently unearthed between 1965 and 1970 at the Archaeological Crypt from the Ile de la Cité.  The map showing above is flipped or in reverse to what will be shown on the video below, so the video starts at the left of the unearthed baths and starts with the entrance, then leads to the frigidarium, them moves on to the tepidarium and ultimately ends in caldarium.  

There are many other spas or bathing houses throughout the world that still remain, some in better conditions than others with one of the most popular being “Bath” in Somerset England, where many have gone throughout time to “take the waters.” And pictured below is a peasant spa in Yugoslavia where public bathing and cupping was practiced for health around the 1900s.

The oldest spa in the world may be in Pakistan which is dated back to 2500 BC, approximately 4,500 years ago.  But the truth is, we may never know where the oldest spa originated given volcanic eruption, time and dust has covered most of the earth’s surface as well as the loss of areas due to sea erosion and more.  What we do believe is that the ritual of spa is a centuries old practice that has evolved into a wonderful modern day marvel that continues to restore health through the ages.