This entry traces the long history of swimming, bathing and washing, dividing it into public and private activities. It starts with the evident bio-physical functions, describes the tribal cultures of bathing in hot-springs, and then outlines cosmetic bathing as a feature of high society in all ancient civilizations. The Greco-Roman discourse on bathing in the regimen of health is described, and the medieval practices of morning washing, spring baths, courtly baths and communal hot-baths. It outlines the later rise of cold bathing and hydropathy, and concludes with the mass use of the private domestic bath in the 19th and 20th centuries.\