Great read! Thanks, BP.

If you were a man, you would take off all your clothes, put a little oil on your body, rub it with dust and go out into the playing field to work up a sweat. Then you would get somebody to scrape off your perspiration with an instrument that looks like a little tiny rake, called a strigil. Then you would get into a tepid bath, then into a really hot bath, then into a cold bath.

Oh, that sounds heavenly. Hardcore exfoliation and a proper soaking.

Or is it just to me that it sounds dreamy?

you would get somebody to scrape off your perspiration with an instrument that looks like a little tiny rake

No, that sounds very un-dreamy to me. :)

Yeah, that sounds great to me too, Elsa.

Well, since y'all wouldn't have hair getting stripped off in the process, I guess it wouldn't be as painful as it sounds to me.

Perfume was also thought to ward off the plague. Then it just stuck and people have been stinking like the stuff for centuries now.
Rats talks a bit about it.

I might be romanticizing the whole notion of bathing right now: I put off my bath yesterday until after I finished making a delicious but stiiiiinky batch of onion-garlic jam...

...only to discover the building had no hot water.

That was last evening. They're working on it, but I simply have to wait for my long-overdue bath.

Meanwhile, my hair wafts out a stale scent of caramelized garlic and onions. I swear I can see a faint stink-trail in my wake.

Oooooh, I want a bath.

If you haven't already, then I'd really recommend you to read Norbert Elias' "The Civilizing Process". It gives you a great picture of the medieval and Renaissance-era nobility (even though it mostly discusses etiquette and table manners). Apparently, they were a filthy lot and they had no manners whatsoever.

Hey, instead of the Christmas Card exchange, we could have meetups based on the above-quoted protocol.

*tap tap*

Is this thing on?

we could have meetups based on the above-quoted protocol.

MetaBath. I'm in.

... and they had no manners whatsoever.

That's a common view espoused after the widespread Western adoption of the fork and the individual setting, but inaccurate. Medieval Europeans had clear notions of what constituted good table manners, which required (among many, many other things) a greater mindfulness of one's tablemates than we common practice. Sharing dishes eaten by hand meant (for example) restraining oneself from grabbing all the best morsels, not crowding others, and pacing the courses so that no one was left sitting unoccupied with one greasy hand.

Incidentally, Margaret Visser (author of Much Depends on Dinner) believes that the medieval etiquette associated with eating by hand (specifically, the common injunction to use only the first two fingers and the thumb to grasp foods from the common dish) is the ancestor to the hoity-toity tea-party gesture of extending the pinkie away from the tea cup.

Sorry, Daniel Charms, I should have been clearer: I'm not at all surprised the book espoused the view of medieval persons as uncivilized diners, and I don't doubt for a moment that you're reporting it accurately.

History is littered with post-medieval writers describing medieval dining as uncivilized and unmannered, but the contemporary texts make clear the concensus on good manners. They were just different from later manners, not worse.

Right, Elsa. I'm reading this book at the moment, and there are whole chapters devoted to table manners at Henry VIII's court.

Actually, I learned from that book, that jrossi's and my grandma's injunction to leave food on the plate arose from Henry VIII's court (where it was simply called "manners" and was deemed to be something akin to a tip for the servers)

That book looks fun, gaspode! Thanks for pointing me toward it. Before I switched directions in my studies, I did a good deal of research on medieval dining, diets, and etiquette, but I promise not to blab on about it.

Yeah, I really like Alison Weir's books. I don't how she is considered by people who actually have studied history rigorously, but for me, who doesn't know shit and would like to, she's a perfect read.

you would get somebody to scrape off your perspiration with an instrument that looks like a little tiny rake

Salon got it wrong. It was more like a blade than a rake. Flat thin metal, slightly curved since the body is curved.

Wealthy Roman women would also often buy the, um, scrapings of the most famous gladiators.

Wealthy Roman women would also often buy the, um, scrapings of the most famous gladiators.

Blurg! And do what with them?

I think they wore it as a perfume, but can't be sure. It was somehow tied to the virility of the gladiators improving the fertility of the women or somesuch.

But wasn't every wacked out thing people did in the past tied to fertility in SOME way... either for or against!
Seems like all of human history can be tied to our desire to have, or not have, kids.

That looks like a really interesting book, gaspode. I'm quite fascinated by the Tudor period. I checked my library and they don't have a copy in the whole system of 20 or so branches, dangit. I requested they purchase it but I don't hold out much hope.

And kellydammit is right about strigils. I'm surprised Salon didn't do their homework.

is the ancestor to the hoity-toity tea-party gesture of extending the pinkie away from the tea cup.

Actually, prinking your pinky acts to stabilize the tendons on the back of your hand, making your grip on a dainty item more sure.

I don't know what it became an affectation for high-society tea parties, though. We're probably both right.

Well, it's Margaret Visser, not me, who posits the medieval origin of the gesture, but I like your reasoning, which explains why I do that instinctively even though I'm crass and clumsy, not dainty and delicate.

An interesting thread!

p.s. I can hardly express how much I love "prinking." Thanks, Specklet!