Asaminthus

Asaminthus (ἀσάμινθος, σκαφή, πύελος, ἔμβασις, μάκτρα), a bath-tub, in which the bather sat, while hot water was poured over his head and shoulders (cf. Od. 10.361). This was the usual mode of bathing in Homeric times; in later times, however, when regular baths were introduced, other methods seem to have been preferred. So Suidas says, speaking of the ἀσάμινθος: σκαφή ἐν ᾗ οἱ ἀρχαῖοι ἐλούοντο, οὐκ ᾔδεσαν γὰρ βαλανεῖα (cf. Suid. s. v.); and no representation of a tub, in which bathers could sit, appears on any of the vases, which depict scenes from the baths. There is, however, no doubt that baths of this kind still remained in use, as occasional references to them occur in later writers (cf. Aristoph. Kn. 1060; Poll. 7.166), and Eupolis (ap. Poll. 7.168) speaks of several people bathing together in a bath of this kind. [BALNEAE]

[J.H.O]