The hammam is the Turkish bathhouse: a place of steam, heated marble and ritual washing that has been part of social life across the historic Ottoman world for centuries. The towel most associated with it is not the thick looped terry we use at home but the peshtemal (also spelled pestemal), a thin, flat-woven cotton or linen wrap. Understanding why this particular cloth suited the bathhouse explains both its long history and its recent return to popularity.
What is a hammam?
A hammam is a communal steam bath that drew on earlier Roman and Byzantine bathing culture and developed within the Islamic world, where ritual cleanliness gives bathing particular importance. A typical bathhouse leads visitors through a sequence of rooms of rising heat, centred on a hot chamber with a large heated marble slab where bathers relax, sweat, are washed and are scrubbed.
The hammam was never only about getting clean. It served as a meeting place, a venue for celebrations before weddings and births, and one of the few public spaces where women could gather. Bathing was sociable, unhurried and woven into the rhythm of community life.
What is a peshtemal, and how was it used?
The peshtemal is a flat-woven towel, traditionally cotton or linen, usually rectangular and often finished with hand-twisted fringes at each end. Unlike terry, it has no looped pile; it is woven smooth and thin, more like a light wrap than a fluffy bath towel.
In the bathhouse the peshtemal did several jobs at once:
- It was worn wrapped around the body for modesty between the rooms.
- It was used to sit or lie on the hot marble.
- It dried the skin after washing.
- A bather might use more than one, with separate cloths for wrapping and drying.
Its modesty role mattered as much as its drying role, which is part of why a light, easily wrapped cloth was preferred over a bulky one.
Why flat weaving suited the bathhouse
The qualities that make a peshtemal seem thin by modern standards are exactly the qualities that suited a hot, humid bathhouse.
| Quality | Why it helped in the hammam |
|---|---|
| Thin, flat weave | Wraps and folds neatly around the body |
| Dries quickly | Does not stay sodden in a steamy room |
| Lightweight | Easy to carry and to handle when wet |
| Smooth surface | Comfortable against skin warmed by steam |
A thick looped towel, by contrast, would soak up moisture and stay heavy and damp in humid air. The flat-woven cloth shed water fast and dried between uses, which mattered in a space where everything was warm and wet. This is the same trade-off that still separates a peshtemal from a terry towel today: terry holds more water against the skin, while flat weave is lighter and dries faster.
The modern revival
For much of the 20th century the thick cotton terry towel dominated bathrooms everywhere, and the peshtemal was seen mainly as a traditional or regional item. In recent decades it has been rediscovered well beyond the bathhouse. Light, packable and quick-drying, it suits the beach, the pool, the gym and travel, and its simple striped designs and fringed ends appeal to modern tastes.
Sold widely as the Turkish towel, the peshtemal is now a familiar product in homes that have never seen a hammam. Buyers value the very features that made it work in the bathhouse: it takes up little space, dries fast and doubles as a wrap, scarf or throw. You can read more about the fabric in our guide to Turkish towels and how the cotton compares in Egyptian vs Turkish cotton.
Why it matters
The hammam and the peshtemal are a reminder that the thick fluffy towel is not the only good answer to drying off, but one answer suited to one setting. The bathhouse rewarded a cloth that was light, modest and quick to dry, and the flat-woven peshtemal delivered exactly that for centuries. Its modern comeback shows how a design shaped by a very specific ritual can find an entirely new life. For the longer story of how drying cloths evolved, see the history of towels and the history of terry cloth.