n.
An instrument used in ancient Greece and Rome for scraping the skin after a bath.
[Latin strigilis.]
strigil
Dictionary:
strig·il (strĭj'əl) 
|
n.
An instrument used in ancient Greece and Rome for scraping the skin after a bath.
| Architecture and Landscaping: strigil |
| Archaeology Dictionary: strigil |
[Ar]
Thin narrow curved scraper of horn, bone, or metal used by Greek and Roman bathers in the hot rooms of their bath-houses to cleanse the skin.
| Obscure Words: strigil |
an instrument used by ancient Romans/Greeks for scraping the skin esp. after the bath
| Wikipedia: Strigil |
A strigil was a small, curved, metal tool used in ancient Greece and Rome to scrape dirt and sweat from the body before effective soaps became available. First perfumed oil was applied to the skin, and then it would be scraped off, along with the dirt. For wealthier people, this process was often done by slaves. Strigils were often used in Roman baths.
 Roman strigils 1 century B.C. |
 Apoxyomenos: an athlete cleaning himself |
A strigil sarcophagus is a sarcophagus carved with S-shaped parallel grooves reminiscent of the marks left by strigils.
See also
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Copyrights:
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Architecture and Landscaping. A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Copyright © 1999, 2006 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Obscure Words. © 2008 by Michael A. Fischer http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Strigil". Read more |
