A City of Baths
While Ancient Rome may be best known for its expansive empire, the city was a bastion of culture for hundreds of years before it started expanding. The Roman Republic borrowed many customs from the neighboring Greeks and used many similar skin care techniques. They had a tendency for grandeur, however, and focused more on sensual, external pleasures than they did on the advancement of philosophy and science. Nevertheless, many citizens of the Roman Republic were highly educated and applied their knowledge to the improvement of their physical appearance as well as the improvement of their mind.
The Romans were known for their good hygiene. Cleanliness was of the highest importance and Roman men and women were always finding new and improved ways of cleaning themselves. The epitome of the culture of hygiene was the construction of the Roman baths. The Romans were the first society to develop a system of indoor plumbing, using pipes and aqueducts to carry water from its source to public buildings and private residences. While the poorest citizens did not have access to private plumbing systems, indoor plumbing gave Rome's upper classes the ability to clean themselves in the comfort of their own home. Nevertheless, most people attended the public baths, or thermae. These baths