Mattresses. Something so simply and basic that has a long history of importance and necessity in most cultures. Our beds are a place of solitude and comfort; the one place we want to go at the end of a long, grueling day. The word itself derives from the Arabic words “to throw” and “mat or cushion.” The term was adopted during the crusades and has stuck around ever since.

It’s hard to imagine life without a mattress. In fact, as early as 3600 BC, people have been finding ways to make life more comfortable through mattresses. The earliest bed was made of goatskins filled with water. The masterminds behind the world’s first water mattress? The Persians. Next up, the citizens of Ancient Rome used bags of cloth filled with things like hay, reeds, wool, or if you were lucky enough to be amongst the wealthy, your mattress was stuffed with feathers. The feather thing stuck around after that. During the Renaissance period, most beds were made of feathers, although the very poor were stuck with straw. These Renaissance people had a brilliant idea. They invented what we today call sheets. They covered their mattresses in velvets, brocades, and silks. Even the poor people with straw mattresses were in on this game changer.

After the Renaissance, mattresses really didn’t change a whole lot. Until the 17^th century that is, when bed frames were introduced. These wooden frames were used to support the mattress with a woven system of leather or rope. Basically, they built hammock like objects to put their mattresses on which, arguably, increased their comfort level by two hundred percent. In the 18^th century, mattress stuffing was upgraded to cotton or wool. Also, the modern shape and structure of a mattress was born. The mattress stayed in this changeless limbo until 1926. And just like that. The box spring was born. There was no more need to spend night after night, tossing and turning, on a lumpy old mattress.

After that fateful year, the mattress began to evolve at an amazing rate. In the 1940s, the air mattress was born; forever changing the way we camp in the great outdoors. In the 1960s, the modern water bed was developed and the adjustable bed gained popularity with the wealthy. Not sure what an adjustable bed looks like? Watch Breakfast at Tiffany’s and it will all make sense. The 1970s proved to be a magical era for the mattress. NASA developed the material that is now known as memory foam. If for some odd reason you aren’t sure what that is, I have no choice but to believe that you have been living under a rock, and strongly advise you to take a trip to your nearest department store’s bedroom section.

Today, our mattresses are commonly made up of memory foam, gel, or for those of us who just can’t seem to upgrade, rubberized coils and foam. The human race has clearly always had a strong desire to increase the level of comfort in day to day life. But our mattresses and beds have not just evolved, they have come to represent our life and the position we hold in it. In the bible, extensive detail is given to beds. The Jewish bed consists of the mattress, one or more quilts, and the covering, which is a finer quilt. The Hebrews slept in beds that were canopied to fight or prevent sickness. Jesus healed those stuck in their beds as a result of disease, illness, or disability. The bed synonymous with illness.

The bed can also be a symbol of marriage. In Homers "The Odyssey," the bed that Odysseus and Penelope share is carved into an olive tree. The bed itself represents the marriage between the two; that the marriage cannot be moved.