Itchy clothes and occasional baths
While it may not be quite so disgusting as having a doctor taste your vomit or smearing honey all over your body as a contraceptive, clothing in Ancient Greece was far from pleasant. Of course, the rich and privileged enjoyed a life of comfort in every sense, including in their wardrobes. Silks and linens abounded. Ordinary Greek citizens, however, wore clothes made purely of wool. As you can imagine, these got itchy and were hot and extremely uncomfortable in the sun. What’s more, if the wool didn’t itch you, then the lice or other bugs living in your cloak or other clothes definitely wold have.
But that’s OK, you can always have a nice refreshing bath, right? Think again! Contrary to popular perception, not every city or village in the ancient world had a public bath, and even if it did, they weren’t always open to everyone. For a period, in fact, public baths were positively frowned upon in Ancient Greek society, being seen as far too decadent for a virile man to enjoy. Even when they were in fashion, if you were from a lower class, the best you could expect would be scrubbing yourself with old, impure olive oil – what else? – or scraping the dirt off your body with a rough stick.
Moreover, while almost everyone would have had access to a wash bowl – known as a louterion – those of the lower classes were plain and unadorned compared to the ornate ones used by wealthier citizens. And, of course, the lower classes would be expected to share wash bowls, even sharing the water – tough luck if you had to wait until some slaves cleaned themselves after a hard day toiling under the Athenian sun!
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“Ancient Dentistry”. The British Dental Association.
“Medicine in ancient Rome and Greece”. The Open University, January 2005.
“Horrible Histories: 40 horrible facts”. The Radio Times.
“Birth Control in Antiquity”. US National Library of Medicine, 2007.
“What was it like to live in an ancient Greek family?”. BBC Bitesize.
“A brief history of sex and sexuality in Ancient Greece”. History Extra.
“The Original Greek Olympics and Ancient History’s Coolest Facts”. History Collection.
“11 Things The Ancient Greeks Did Better Than The Modern Hi-Tech World”. History Collection.