omoplata

Thank you very much Gromit. The pictures are particularly informative. We are still waiting for results of actual experiments from people trying to clean themselves with olive oil. I am thinking of giving it a go too...

Hey Everyone... Don't let this thread die; let's get some more input in here if we can.

Excellent Galba... really looking forward to it. Does the literature provide any further insights as to what exactly the Romans did? Was it straight up, pure olive oil they used? Did they rub it on with their hands? How long did they wait until they removed it? Any other details that we know? By the way, this is a good web site that gives recipes with oil, and one of the recipes is using only olive oil as the oil base http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soapreci.../castrecipe.htm I first thought -upon reading this- that you could make a soap with only olive oil and nothing else, but the way it is written is a little misleading. You do have to add lyle and other things, which becomes clear when you read the instructions further. With regards to olive oil having cleaning properties because it is the main ingredient in soap: well, most chemical reactions work in unexpected ways. You could use petroleum to make plastic bags, and even if most of the ingredients is pure petroleum, the end product will be a very very different substance.

I don't think any soap was ever made from olive oil alone. To make it into a soap you need numerous other ingredients in addition to olive oil. Ash is one that I can think of -though I haven't checked this piece of data, as I am writing in somewhat of a rush. The simple reality, however, is that pure olive oil will certainly not lift oily stains off your skin or any other surface for that matter, oil lifting oil just won't work... I have tried putting a little olive oil on my dirty hand and rubbing off the dirt, and as you can imagine I had no success at all. However, maybe I felt dirty as I did not like the feeling of an oily hand, which is because I am not used to it... I don't know; a larger trial is needed. I am really surprised more researchers of ancient history have not tried to bathe with olive oil. I am sure some historians must have done it, no? After all, historians have tried to reenact almost every imaginable scene from the past, including building mini-pyramids in their back yards, to running with heavy armor while trying to hurl a javelin. I couldn't find the right reference yet, but I am sure someone must have tried. The dirt that must have built up in the water is certainly a good point. Could olive oil have been preferred -among other reasons- because it floats to the top and could have been skimmed of easily?

I am very curious how the Romans cleaned themselves. I always read about people using oil -sometimes perfumed oil, but still fundamentally just plain olive oil- which they would rub on and after a while remove by gently scraping it off with a small piece of wood. Would this really remove much dirt from your body? Did Romans have any material other than oil that would have been more useful in removing oil and dirt from the skin? In public baths, would all of this oil not mess up the pools extremely quickly? Was this oil really just olive oil, or am I mistaken with regards to its composition? And most importantly, has anyone here tried to bathe like the Romans?

caldrail, I do not have sufficient knowledge to evaluate your post on the basis of historic accuracy, but must thank you for the excellent writing and very deep analysis with great insights...

Nice link, thank you so much I was amazed to read that those 3 legions were never replaced... And what was the Teotoberg forest? Any link where we can read up more on it? Here some infos on Arminius and the Battle of Teutoburg Forest cheers viggen

Can you explain a bit more, both issues? What did he do that was nutty? I am only aware of his some of his moral laws, which i consider a little crazy. And what was the Teotoberg forest? Any link where we can read up more on it?

What do you think is the reason Augustus picked such a bad successor in Tiberius?

Thank you very much this really helps a lot

I have a very specific question. The water in the aqueducts must have collected some dirt and debris on its long way. How was this water filtered and purified before consumption? I can't find much information on this and would appreciate any input. Thanks a lot

very informative post and great points in general. but is the above really the case? I know his own "diary" was a major source of our knowledge about the campaign against the Gauls. but is Caesar's writings the only source of our knowledge of the war really?

Cato, if it is not too much trouble, could you very briefly explain/list (in very broad terms) 1- the military roles held by a typical general starting from his first one ("typical" open to interpretation obviously) 2- the military positions held by Caesar

I find it amazing that Caesar decimated the Gauls despite a big numeric disadvantage, when one considers that he was not a soldier from an early age on. So, he runs for office and serves in various political / administrative roles (admittedly in senior positions) and then suddenly bursts on the scene as one of the most successful commanders the world has ever seen... Where on earth does this skill come from? in addition, I have a minor question please: do I understand it correctly that armies were not allowed to enter the city of Rome? If so, was that a rule put in place after Sulla tried to capture Rome with his armies? And how did the victory parade happen? Was it just the commanders that paraded through the city, but not the soldiers? Thanks to all in advance

I am amazed how beautifully appropriate and informative the answers here are. Always reading that the population of Rome reached 1 million, it is easy to assume an anonymous society, but that was perhaps not the case -even in Rome itself. You can have a million people, but in the absence of phones or computers and telegrams, you must interact face to face a whole lot. As an aside, is that 1 million figure for the city of Rome reliable? If so, for how long was the city actually that crowded? FOr many centuries of for a brief period only?

I do understand that the concept of slavery in Rome is quite different from what some people imagine. As opposed to being beaten with whips on the fields, many slaves must have had quite comfortable lives in the house of the master and been very friendly with the members of the household -even growing up with the children of their owner in some cases. However, it is also obvious that they usually desired to buy their freedom and become independent, as we know from many sources. What I always wondered is how masters prevented slaves from running away and establishing a new identity in a different part of the empire. Would it not have been exceptionally easy for a slave sent to the market to buy some olive oil to slip into the crowd in Rome and make his way out of the city, to never return? If some such individual were to go to a different town and pretend to have moved from another province, but robbed on the way, and hence with no papers, how in the world could they check who he really was? How did people in general identify themselves? As far as I know, the nobles had rings and seals for this purpose, bit how about the Plebians and Slaves?

oooops, the link, which was in your post earlier has gone... what happened?

Hello Everyone, First happy Saturnalia to everybody on this 17th Day of December. I have been reading the forum with great fascination and learned quite a bit over and above the modest knowledge I had in the beginning -which, right now, is still modest but at least I know where to go to learn more . I have two very simple questions about daily life in Ancient Rome. First, do I understand it correctly that Romans used no soap or anything that resembles soap while bathing? Was oil all they used? I tried to read around a little bit about the composition of this oil, but I was unable to find much beyond the "it could be plain or infused with fragrances". So was this simple olive oil? How would you really clean yourself with merely oil? And most importantly, did anyone try bathing like this with oil? What were your experiences? Secondly, I am curious about the way Romans wrote. Again, my understanding -and this may be wrong- is that they used no spaces dots or anything between words. This sounds like an extremely inconvenient way to write and read and I am curious if this style of writing was used for all languages by the Romans (greek, latin and other languages they would have used to communicate with the provinces) and why this rather odd way was preserved for the entire duration of the empire. Tradition? Consistency?... Greetings to all from New York City