The development of soaps led to improved hygiene
As noted, the ancients bathed, and elaborate baths featured in ancient cities and towns. Even in the medieval period, bathing for pleasure rather than for cleanliness was common. Ancient documents, including the Bible, made mention of items to be used in addition to water in a bath; hyssop was favored in the books which became the Old Testament. Hyssop, an herb of the mint family, is frequently mentioned in the Bible, and was used to cleanse the skin of lepers. It was hyssop God instructed the Israelites to use to adorn their doorframes with sacrificial blood before the plague which slew the first born sons of the Egyptians (Exodus 1-11). In Psalm 51-7, David entreated God to cleanse him with hyssop: “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow”.
Despite its Biblical applications, hyssop as a cleaning agent, at least as regards bathing for hygienic purposes, is lacking. The Bible specifies bathing with water, cleansing with water, immersion in water, but it does not describe many agents to be used in company with water to obtain cleanliness. Rinsing with scented water, the scent obtained from various plant oils, is not the same as cleanliness. For true hygienic purposes, a cleansing agent is necessary. Some agents used pumice to scrub away visible dirt. Numerous American Native tribes used the ashes from fires, followed by rinsing with water, followed by a sweat bath. By then, soap was known to some of the ancients, though its use for personal hygiene was not yet widely practiced.