Vapor Baths & Cannabis

According to Herodotus, the Scythians did not bathe themselves in water or oil as the Greeks did, instead they took “vapor baths.” They would construct a tipi and put heated stones in the center of it and pour water over the stones, creating a dense steam that would clean those inside (1). What’s more, the Scythians would often put cannabis onto the stones as well, and everyone would be able to get high as they enjoyed the steam (1). Mayor states in her book that this likely served an additional purpose of helping with pain reduction for those who were injured in battle or from hunting (1).

Mayor also states that Scythian women had a special beauty treatment for use after taking a vapor bath. They would take cypress, cedar, frankincense, and a little water and grind it into a paste and would then apply it all over their faces and bodies and go to sleep (1). In the morning they would remove the paste and their skin would be clean and glossy, and their bodies would have a lingering sweet fragrance to them that lasted for quite some time (1). All of these are still in use in beauty products today, so clearly the Scythian women were ahead of the game.

This would have been an important part of Scythian folklore, serving as a time when people would meet together and relax, similar to saunas today. What’s interesting though is that these particular practices were unique to the Scythians as while the Romans had saunas, they were not for the purpose of bathing solely, nor did they incorporate cannabis, that custom was unique to just the Scythian people (2).

(1) Mayor, Adrienne. The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2016.

(2) Sims, Martha C., and Martine Stephens. “Ritual.” Essay. In Living Folklore: An Introduction to the Study of People and Their Traditions, 2nd ed., 98-104. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press, 2011.