this post was submitted on 16 May 2025
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[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

One thing caught my attention though: what did they scrape oil off the skin with? I must see this ancient tool!

The Strigil!

Depiction of an athlete cleaning himself with one, though oftentimes they'd have someone do it for them.

The Emperor Hadrian once came upon a veteran in the public baths scraping his back against a wall. When the Emperor asked him why, the veteran replied that he had no other way to scrape his back. Hadrian, moved by the relative poverty of the veteran, gifted him a slave (look, the ancient world was shitty) and money to maintain himself.

The next time Hadrian went to the baths, there were numerous men scraping their backs against the wall. Hadrian called them all over to him, and then had them pair up and scrape each other.

Also, related to olive oil, there's a kind of simple pancake that the Romans fried with olive oil, and I can attest that it's delicious and easy to make.