The Romans paid particular attention to personal hygiene, and the care and adornment of the body
Cosmetic accessories, i.e. items for personal hygiene, were most often made of bone, which was easily available. At the site of Burnum, we have found several toiletry and cosmetic accessories such as combs, balsamaria, scrapers, spatulas, mirrors, cosmetic containers, etc.
In the cosmetic set of a modern woman, you can find items and preparations for the same purpose as that of the women of ancient times. It is known that they used creams, eyeshadow, ointments, oils, make-up (for drawing eyebrows, outlining eyes, and blusher for cheeks), and even preparations to prevent the formation of wrinkles and to cover scars. For washing their skin, they used solid soaps of various compositions, for washing hair liquids based on sodium lye, and sometimes very fine powdered clay. In addition, recipes have been preserved for preparing a tooth cleaning powder from crushed pumice stone and mastic. Makeup and perfumes were also used by men, but it remains unknown to what extent they used cosmetic products. Suetonius, when he wrote, for example, about emperors who love so-called “female” products, in fact wanted to prove that they were not suitable to rule, and therefore it can be assumed that men used cosmetic preparations to a much lesser extent than women.
Women from high social circles strove for as pale a skin as possible, which they achieved using creams that contained lead white or by applying a special type of clay (melinum). Various cosmetic or medicinal preparations were applied by the Romans with toiletry utensils, among which it is possible to distinguish spatulas that had one pointed end while the other could be shaped with a smaller deep notch (cyathiscomela) or with a spatula-like widening (spathomela). They were also used in everyday life to maintain personal hygiene (cleaning the ears, removing cuticles on the fingers), to apply fragrant essences from perfume bottles, and preparations from cosmetic boxes (narthecia). With the pointed end of the cosmetic spatulas, eyes, eyebrows, and lips could be outlined, and even fragrances could be spread on the hair. They were made of bronze and, more rarely, of bone.
The first combs (pecten) appeared as early as the beginning of the Neolithic period. The most commonly used material for their manufacture was wood (boxwood, yew, cedar), but bone, horn, ivory, and sometimes gold and silver were also often used. Combs could be used for combing hair, cutting hair, removing dirt from hair, but also for making hairstyles or even as a hair decoration. Hairpins (acus crinale) were also used for hair styling. It is known that Roman women wore long hair, which they always formed into some type of hairstyle.
In the Roman period, cosmetic boxes (narthecium) were part of the women’s toiletry set, “mundus muliebris”. They were made of various materials: wood, stone (alabaster, marble), glass, metal, bone, and ivory. They were of small dimensions and had approximately the same width throughout, which was determined by the size of the tubular bone from which they were made. They were used in everyday life for various purposes, both cosmetic and medical. Traces of cosmetic paints, fats, fragrant oils, and medicinal substances have been found in situ in many cosmetic boxes. In the Roman period, such bone boxes were often given as wedding gifts to brides.
An integral part of every cosmetic set were the balsamaria, small glass or pottery flasks that were used to store various fragrant oils, medicinal substances, various essences, ointments, balms, pigments, and incense (balsamum, unguenta). Balsamarias had an elongated narrow neck, which gave the flask the most suitable shape for storing the above-mentioned substances with a slower evaporation rate. They were mostly closed with plugs made of organic material, which were hence not preserved.
Several fragments of mirrors also come from Burnum. Roman mirrors were made by polishing a metal surface and then applying an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony. After applying this “enamel”, it would additionally be polished with a powder of cuttlefish bone or pumice stone. In addition to metal mirrors, glass ones also existed, which began to be manufactured in the 1st century AD in ancient Sidon (Lebanon).
Good hygiene is a prerequisite for good health, and the Romans were quite aware of this. Bathing and daily cleansing were an integral part of Roman life, and in addition to private baths, there were a large number of public baths. Bath accessories included balsamaria, sponges, various soaps, fabrics, and a strigil, i.e. a scraper. This was a bronze or iron object (more rarely made of silver), consisting of a flat handle and a rounded body, and it served to remove excess oil from the skin after applying fragrant oils and fats. They were often used by women to remove wax after depilation. In addition to wax, women also used tweezers for hair removal, which have not changed their appearance or shape to this very day.
