Bronze strigil (Roman, 1st century AD, Walters Art Museum
The strigil (Latin: strigilis) or stlegis (Greek: στλεγγίς, probably a loanword from the Pre-Greek substrate) is a tool for the cleansing of the body by scraping off dirt, perspiration, and oil that was applied before bathing in Ancient Greek and Roman cultures. In these cultures the strigil was primarily used by men, specifically male athletes; however, in Etruscan culture there is some evidence of strigils being used by both sexes.[1] The standard design is a curved blade with a handle, all of which is made of metal.[2]
Strigils were commonly used by individuals who were engaging in vigorous activities, in which they accumulated large amounts of dirt and sweat on their bodies.[3] The people who used the strigil included athletes, the wealthy, soldiers, and more. However, wealthy or prestigious individuals often had slaves to wield the strigils and clean their bodies, rather than doing it themselves.[4]
Strigils were not only significant in a practical sense, but culturally as well. They are often found in tombs or burials, in some cases along with a bottle of oil.[5]
^De Puma, Richard. "A Third-Century B.C.E. Etruscan Tomb Group from Bolsena in the Metropolitan Museum of Art". American Journal of Archaeology: 429–40.
^Padgett, J. Michael (2002). Objects of Desire: Greek Vases from the John B. Elliot Collection. Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University. pp. 36–48.
^Boardman, J.; Kenyon, K. M.; Moynahan, E. J.; Evans, J. D. (1976). "The Olive in the Mediterranean: Its Culture and Use [and Discussion]". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 275: 187–96. doi:10.1098/rstb.1976.0080.
^Leader, Ruth E. "In Death Not Divided: Gender, Family, and State on Classical Athenian Grave Stelae". American Journal of Archaeology: 683.
^Boardman, John. "Sickles and Strigils". The Journal of Hellenic Studies: 136–137.
The strigil (Latin: strigilis) or stlegis (Greek: στλεγγίς, probably a loanword from the Pre-Greek substrate) is a tool for the cleansing of the body...
small curved instrument that the Greeks called a stlengis and the Romans a strigil. The most renowned Apoxyomenos in Classical Antiquity was that of Lysippos...
olive oil to cleanse themselves by applying it to their bodies and using a strigil to remove the excess. This was sometimes left on the floor for the slaves...
for scraping off dirt, perspiration, and oil to cleanse the body. The strigil was most commonly used by male athletes, although in other cultures such...
for a massage with oils and final scraping with metal implements called strigils. Some baths also contained a laconicum (a dry, resting room) where the...
bottle of oil, and a strigil, which is a curved stick. They would rub the oil on their skin and then scrape it off using the strigil. In this way, they...
Callipyge statue, 1st or 2nd Century B.C. An Ancient Greek athlete using a strigil, which is a device used for cleaning off oil and dirt Ancient Greek sprinters...
widely available), shower,[citation needed] and remove the excess with a strigil (cf. the well known Apoxyomenus of Lysippus from the Vatican Museum). Often...
most likely scrape the by now grimy oil with the help of a curved metal strigil off his skin, before finally moving to the frigidarium with its small pool...
scalp or the skin. Another ancient device that creates mild bruising is a strigil, used by Greeks and Romans in the bath. Archaeologically there is no precedent...
olive oil to their masters' bodies, which was then scraped off with a strigil, a scraper made of wood or bone. Roman bath-houses were also provided for...
oil into the skin and then scrape away both the oil and any dirt with a strigil. The standard design is a curved blade with a handle, all of which is made...
sweat and dust from his body with the small curved instrument called a strigil. After the Croatian Apoxyomenos was raised from the sea in 1999, it was...
Institute of Art Bronze statue of an athlete from Ephesus cleaning his strigil; 1st century CE copy of a possible original by Polykleitos Pan with flute...
upon the bare ground; and never washed or cleansed his body with oil and strigil." Smedley, Edward; Rose, Hugh James; Rose, Henry John. (1845). Encyclopaedia...
"because the scrapings, which the Argonauts formed when they used their strigils, became congealed, the pebbles on the shore remain variegated still to...
Press. ISBN 0-7914-3042-1. Butler, Margaret Erwin (2008). Of Swords and Strigils: Social Change in Ancient Macedon. Stanford, CA: Stanford University. Cartledge...
the oil with ash, and we know they used a scraping implement called a strigil. In the Roman baths, a man would bathe in this way before taking a Caldarium...
an assistant is sometimes called "squeegee boy"). Cleret Squeegee man Strigil Doctor blade "squeege". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford...
substances, and then scraping it off with a special curved spatula, a strigil. The plants in the genus Equisetum ("horsetails") are also called "scouring...
inscriptions and is also the cursive form used in Latin.: 384 One bronze strigil found near the necropolis by San Antonio one inscription contains the cursive...
getting inside the urns. In 2018, archaeologists also discovered many strigils, some of them iron, but most of them bronze. Archaeologists also uncovered...
buried with silver objects, including a mirror, aryballos (oil vessel), and strigil. Study of Seianti's skeleton has revealed several details about her life...
Two Roman strigils (scrapers for body cleansing with sand and oil) in bronze. One has a name on the handle, the other is decorated with a grotesque mask...
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