Legend has it that Damascus once had 365 hammams or ‘Turkish baths’: one for each day of the year. Originally part of an ancient Roman tradition, hammams were absorbed by Islam to such an extent that many became almost annexes to nearby mosques. For centuries, hammams were an integral part of community life, with some 50 hammams surviving in Damascus until the 1950s. Since then, however, with the onslaught of modernization programmes and home bathrooms, many have been demolished; fewer than 20 Damascene working hammams survive today.
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In July 2011, Sudan officially ‘became plural’, as the country split in two; the unofficial north-south divide between the Arab-dominated north and the more ethnically African south was made official. The people of Southern Sudan voted overwhelmingly to separate from the rest of the country.
