UNGUENTA

ointments, oils, or salves. The application of unguenta in connection with the bathing and athletic contests of the ancients is stated under Balneum and Athletae . But although their original object was simply to preserve the health and elasticity of the human frame, they were in later times used as articles of luxury. They were then not only employed to impart to the body or hair a particular colour, but also to give to them the most beautiful fragrance po ible; they were, moreover, not merely applied after a bath, but at any time, to render one’s appearance or presence more pleasant than usual. In short, they were used then as oils and pomatums are at present. At Rome these luxuries did not become very general till towards the end of the republic, while the Greeks appear to have been familiar with them from early times. The wealthy Greeks and Romans carried their ointments and perfumes with them, especially when they bathed, in small boxes of costly materials and beautiful workmanship, which were called Narthecia . The traffic which was carried on in these ointments and perfumes in several towns of Greece and southern Italy was very considerable. The persons engaged in manufacturing them were called by the Romans Unguentarii , or, as they frequently were women, Unguentariae , and the art of manufacturing them Unguentaria . In the wealthy and effeminate city of Capua there was one great street, called the Seplasia, which consisted entirely of shops in which ointments and perfumes were sold.