Personal Grooming

Roman men and women went to great lengths to look their best. The implements they used to beautify themselves were in themselves items of luxuria, reserved for the elite in society. Displaying your shiny silvered mirror or luxurious shell-shaped water scoop at the public baths was a form of conspicuous consumption, which did not go unnoticed by the Roman moralists.

Elite Romans would have had quite a lot of help with their daily grooming routines. Slaves applied oil to the skin to cleanse the body of dirt and perspiration before bathing, slaves washed you in private or public baths, and slaves combed your hair or shaved your beard after the bath. As the Roman politician Pliny the Younger wrote to his friend, when at leisure: ‘I walk, I am oiled, I exercise, I wash’ (Ep. 9.36).

At Rome, members of the elite would take any opportunity to show off their personal wealth and status, particularly in thermae (public bathhouses). Remains found in bathhouse drains by archaeologists include jewellery such as rings, which had been kept on while in the baths in order to show the sorts of personal adornments their owners could afford. The Roman poet Martial once wrote: ‘Clearinus wears six rings on each of his fingers, and never takes them off; even at night, or when he bathes’ (Ep. 11.59).

Mirror 95.089
Bronze
Greek or Etruscan, from Italy, c. 400 - 200 BC
Purchased from the Toussaint Collection with funds from the Castlehow Bequest, 1995.

Mirror 95.090
Bronze
Roman, from Italy, AD 1 - 200
Purchased from the Toussaint Collection with funds from the Castlehow Bequest, 1995.

“Later, when luxury had already become supremely powerful, full-length mirrors were carved of gold and silver, then adorned with jewels. One of these mirrors cost a woman more than the dowry of ladies of long ago.”
Seneca, Natural Questions, 1.17.8

Mirrors were mostly used by well-to-do Romans. Seneca tells us about expensive, ornate, full-length mirrors, but they could also be much smaller objects used in the everyday grooming routine of men or women. Indeed, Ovid tells us that Roman men of his day (the early Roman empire) were so well groomed that women needed to make a special effort to keep up (Medic. 23-25). Instead of a mirror fixed to the wall, an elite Roman would use a slave to hold his or her mirror, while other slaves fixed their hair or applied their make up: ‘And let not my darling Latris, hold up the mirror for another mistress.’ (Prop. El. 4.7.75-6).

Cosmetic Box Fittings L.16.005 a-d
Bone
Roman, from Fayum, Egypt, AD 1 - 400
On Loan from the Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology, Caboolture, 2016.

“And on the bedcover you saw no mirror, Lygdamus, and at the foot of the bed her toilet-box lying locked?”
Propertius, Elegies, 3.6

To achieve their desired look, Roman women used a variety of implements that were often stored in decorated toilet-boxes. These held perfumes, make up, mirrors and cosmetic tools.

Double Probe 13.022
Bronze
Roman, AD 100 - 300
Gift of Charles Ede Ltd, London, 2013.

Cosmetic Spoon L.16.003
Silver
Roman, possibly from Italy, AD 100 - 300
On Loan from the John Elliott Classics Museum, University of Tasmania, 2016.
Acquired by John Elliott Classics Museum, University of Tasmania, from Charles Ede Ltd., London, 2004.
Part of English Private Collection, Bath, prior to 2004.

Forceps L.16.009
Bronze
Roman, from Rhineland, Germany, AD 1 - 200
On Loan from the Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology, Caboolture, 2016.

Shell-shaped Bath Scoop L.16.002
Bronze
Roman, 100 BC - AD 100
On Loan from the John Elliott Classics Museum, University of Tasmania, 2016.
Acquired by John Elliott Classics Museum, University of Tasmania, from Charles Ede Ltd, London, 1996.

“You, as a common servant, used to sigh in secret for the country; now as a superintendent you long for the town, its games and its baths.”
Horace, Letters, 1.14.14-15

This shell-shaped scoop, despite missing its handle, is a particularly ornate example of a bathing implement from the early-Imperial period. While we may consider having a bath a private matter, bathing in the Roman world was about far more than simply getting clean. Public bath complexes included areas for athletics, ball games, running, boxing, wrestling, fencing, and swimming, in addition to the hot, tepid, and cold baths themselves. After their bath, Roman men and women could also enjoy a light snack or a full dinner at the complex. Emperors wanting to win favour with the Roman people would grant free entry into bath houses, allowing the poor to have a taste of imperial luxuria.