IX
THE TOILET
CONCLUSION
The toilet of the ancient Greeks was quite as elaborate as that of any modern people, and much time and care was bestowed upon it. That of the men was usually performed at the barber’s shop (Κουρεῖον), which became, as we gather from frequent allusions in Aristophanes, a regular resort for lounging and picking up news and scraps of gossip of all kinds. A fashionable Athenian would probably spend a whole morning at the barber’s shop, where, in addition to having his hair cut and beard clipped or shaved, he could submit to the various operations of manicure and chiropody. An epigram in the palatine anthology[205] gives a list of barber’s implements, some of which have survived in a few examples, and may be seen in our museums. The list includes: scissors (ψάλις), razor (ξυρόν), some sharp, pointed instrument for paring and cleaning the nails (στόνυξ). Mention is also made of a scraper (ψήκτρα), which was probably used after bathing. An ancient razor differs from a modern one, in that it is crescent shaped.
In addition to these implements, various ointments were used, one of which, ψίλωθρον, containing arsenic, was employed for removing superfluous hairs.
Fig. 50.
When repairing to the wrestling school or the gymnasium, a Greek would invariably be provided with an oil-flask (ἀρύβαλλος, λήκυθος) and a strigil (ξύστρα). The aryballos ([Fig. 50]) was a small globular vessel, with an opening just large enough to allow the oil to trickle slowly out, the lekythos being a long narrow bottle with a foot and a narrow neck.[206] Both were used to carry the olive oil with which athletes were accustomed to anoint themselves. The strigil was a curved metal instrument used for scraping the oil and sand from the body after wrestling. The famous statue of the Apoxyomenos in the Vatican Museum represents an athlete engaged in this operation.
Fig. 51.
The processes and requisites of the feminine toilet were many and various, and toilet scenes are frequently represented in vase-paintings. Sometimes we may see the process of the bath: an attendant slave pouring water from a large vessel over the crouching figure of the bather; in other instances we find a lady engaged in binding her hair with a fillet, tying her girdle, or fastening her sandal. There is almost invariably a maid in attendance, who assists in the operations, holding a scent-bottle, or a casket from which her mistress selects jewels.[207] One vase-painting shows a lady applying powder or colour to her cheeks with a brush.
Many allusions in literature, and especially in Aristophanes, show that paint and cosmetics of various kinds were in use in Athens in the fifth century B.C. It is not surprising to learn that hetairæ made use of these artificial aids to beauty; but from a passage in Xenophon’s Œconomicus[208] we gather that the wives and daughters of respected citizens did not despise such means of enhancing and preserving their appearance. The passage describes how Ischomachus found his young wife ἐντετριμμένην πολλῷ μὲν ψιμυθίῳ ὅπως λευκοτέρα ἔτι δοκοίη εἶναι ἢ ἦν, πολλῇ δ᾽ ἐγχούσῃ ὅπως ἐρυθροτέρα φαίνοιτο τῆς ἀληθείας, ὑποδήματα δ᾽ ἔχουσαν ὑψηλά, ὅπως μείζων δοκοίη εἶναι ἢ ἐπεφύκει, “with much white lead rubbed into her skin, to make her look fairer than she was; and with much rouge, to make her appear rosier; and wearing high sandals, to add to her natural height.”