The Queen's Bathroom at Knossos is dated from 1700 B.C., even here we can see that the 'bathroom' was in fact a room with a bath in it - it is a room based on the 'product' within it as opposed to a room in itself. However if we look at Roman Baths, they can be defined by "thermae" which is the whole building as a bath, or "balneae" which is the chambers containing the bathing-vessel.
The Queen's Bathroom, above, was filled and emptied by hand, although she had a cistern in her toilet and a drain-able sink - it is thought that the bath water was probably re-used here. I wonder if the filling and emptying of the bath was purposeful and part of the bathing experience? If so, the bath today has resigned to convenience and laziness. Baths were not always as deep as the Queen's Bath - in the times of Agamemnon, a person did not have the ability to recline and water was only a couple of inches deep. This was to deter from "over-indulgence" and baths were "brief and cold" (P. 12).
