Cosmetics in Ancient Rome
Encyclopedia
Cosmetics, first used in Ancient Rome
for ritual purposes, were part of daily life for women, especially prostitutes
and the wealthy. Some fashionable cosmetics, such as those imported from China
, Germany
and Gaul
, were so expensive that the Lex Oppia
tried to limit their use in 189 BCE. These “designer brands” spawned cheap knock-offs that were sold to poorer women. Working-class women could afford the cheaper varieties, but may not have had the time (or slaves
) to apply the makeup as the use of makeup was a time-consuming affair because cosmetics needed to be reapplied several times a day due to weather conditions and poor composition.
Cosmetics were applied in private, usually in a small room where men did not enter. Cosmetae, female slaves that adorned their mistresses, were especially praised for their skills. They would beautify their mistresses with cultus, the Latin
word encompassing makeup, perfume
and jewelry
.
Scent was also an important factor of beauty. Women who smelled good were presumed to be healthy. Due to the stench of many of the ingredients used in cosmetics at the time, women often drenched themselves in copious amounts of perfume.
Christian
women tended to avoid cosmetics with the belief that they should praise what God gave them. Some men, especially cross-dressers
, did use cosmetics, although it was viewed as effeminate
and improper.
All cosmetic ingredients were also used as medicines to treat various ailments. Lead
, although known to be poisonous, was still widely used.
Of all the surviving texts mentioning cosmetics (all written by men) Ovid
is alone in his approval of their use. The overall consensus was that women who used cosmetics in excess were immoral and deceptive and were practicing a form of witchcraft
. Juvenal
wrote that “a woman buys scents and lotions with adultery in mind” and mocked the need for cosmetics, believing that they were ineffective. Use of perfumes was further looked down upon because they were thought to mask the smell of sex and alcohol. Seneca
advised virtuous women to avoid cosmetics, as he believed their use to be a part of the decline of morality in Rome. Stoics were also against the use of cosmetics, as they were opposed to the usage of all man-made luxuries. Although there are no surviving texts written by women expounding the attitude of women towards cosmetics, their widespread use indicates that women accepted and enjoyed these products.
Women would often prepare their faces with beauty masks prior to applying makeup. One recipe called for the application of sweat from sheep's wool to the face before bedtime, emitting a stench often criticized by men. Other ingredients included juice, seeds, horns, excrement, honey, plants, placenta, marrow, vinegar, bile, animal urine, sulfur, vinegar, eggs, myrrh
, incense, frankincense
, ground oyster shells, onions with poultry fat, white lead, and barley with vetch. Bathing in asses’ milk was an expensive treatment that worked like a chemical peel
and was used by wealthy women such as Cleopatra VII and Poppaea Sabina
.
After their baths, they would then apply face whitener, such as chalk powder, white marl
, crocodile dung and white lead. The Roman recognition that lead
was poisonous underscored their point of view on how important white skin was. Other ingredients used in whiteners included beeswax, olive oil, rosewater, saffron, animal fat, tin oxide, starch, rocket, cucumber, anise, mushrooms, honey, rose leaves, poppies, myrrh, frankincense, almond oil, rosewater, lily root, water parsnip and eggs.
The Romans disliked wrinkles, freckles, sunspots, skin flakes and blemishes. To soften wrinkles, they used swans’ fat, asses’ milk, gum Arabic
and bean-meal. Sores and freckles were treated with the ashes of snails. The Romans pasted soft leather patches of alum directly over blemishes to pretend that they were beauty marks. Criminals and freedmen used these leather patches, which came in both round and crescent shapes, to conceal brand marks.
With the exception of hair on her head, hair was considered to be unattractive on a Roman woman. Consequently, women removed hair by either shaving, plucking, stripping using a resin paste, or scraping with a pumice stone. Older women faced ridicule for their depilation because it was viewed primarily as preparation for sex.
wrote that too much rouge made a woman look showy, while Martial
mocked women, believing that rouge was in danger of melting in the sun.
Sources of rouge included Tyrian vermillion, rose and poppy petals, fucus
, red chalk, alkanet
, and crocodile dung. Red ochre, a more expensive blush, was imported from Belgium and ground against a stone into powder. Despite a widespread knowledge that cinnabar
and red lead were poisonous (and still are to this day), they were both still used extensively. Cheap alternatives included mulberry juice and wine dregs.
wrote that eyelashes fell out from excessive sex and so it was especially important for women to keep their eyelashes long to prove their chastity.
Kohl
was the main ingredient in eye makeup, and was composed of ashes or soot and antimony
, with saffron usually added to improve the smell. Kohl was applied using a rounded stick, made of ivory, glass, bone, or wood, that would be dipped in either oil or water first, before being used to apply the kohl. The use of kohl as makeup came from the east. In addition to kohl, charred rose petals and date stones could be used to darken the eyes.
Colored eyeshadow was also applied by women to accentuate their eyes. Green eyeshadow came from poisonous malachite
, while blue came from azurite
.
The Romans preferred dark eyebrows that almost met in the center. This effect was achieved by darkening their eyebrows with antimony or soot and then extending them inward. Plucking began in the 1st century BCE to tidy their overall look.
Although oral hygiene was nowhere near today’s standards, white teeth were prized by the Romans, and so false teeth, made from bone, ivory and paste, were popular items. Ovid
shed light on the way white teeth were viewed in society when he wrote the statement, “You can do yourself untold damage when you laugh if your teeth are black, too long or irregular.” The Romans also sweetened their breath with pumice powder and baking soda.
claimed that, “The right scent for a woman is none at all.” They came in liquid, solid and sticky forms and were often created in a maceration process with flowers or herbs and oil. Distillation
technology, as well as most of the imported ingredients, originated in the east. The most prominent perfume market in Italy was Seplasia in Capua
. Perfumes were rubbed on or poured onto the user and were often believed to be helpful against different ailments, such as fever and indigestion. Different scents were appropriate for different occasions, as well as for men and women. Deodorants made from alum
, iris and rose petals were common.
In addition to personal use, perfumes were used in food and to freshen the household aroma.
, invented in the first century CE in Syria
, lowered the price of containers. The most common color for glass was teal. Gladiator
sweat and fats of the animals fighting in the arena were sold in souvenir pots outside of the games to improve complexion.
Mirrors in Ancient Rome were mostly hand mirrors made from polished metal, or mercury behind glass. Spending too much time in front of a mirror was thought to denote that a woman was weak in character.
. The Emperor Elagabalus
removed all of his body hair and often donned makeup, which caused the Romans much grief.
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
for ritual purposes, were part of daily life for women, especially prostitutes
Prostitution in ancient Rome
Prostitution in ancient Rome reflects the ambivalent attitudes of Romans toward pleasure and sexuality. Prostitution was legal and licensed. Some large brothels in the 4th century, when Rome was becoming officially Christianized, seem to have been counted as tourist attractions and were possibly...
and the wealthy. Some fashionable cosmetics, such as those imported from China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
, were so expensive that the Lex Oppia
Lex Oppia
The Lex Oppia was a law established in ancient Rome in 215 BC, at the height of the Second Punic War during the days of national catastrophe after the Battle of Cannae....
tried to limit their use in 189 BCE. These “designer brands” spawned cheap knock-offs that were sold to poorer women. Working-class women could afford the cheaper varieties, but may not have had the time (or slaves
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
) to apply the makeup as the use of makeup was a time-consuming affair because cosmetics needed to be reapplied several times a day due to weather conditions and poor composition.
Cosmetics were applied in private, usually in a small room where men did not enter. Cosmetae, female slaves that adorned their mistresses, were especially praised for their skills. They would beautify their mistresses with cultus, the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
word encompassing makeup, perfume
Perfume
Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils and/or aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents used to give the human body, animals, objects, and living spaces "a pleasant scent"...
and jewelry
Jewellery
Jewellery or jewelry is a form of personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets.With some exceptions, such as medical alert bracelets or military dog tags, jewellery normally differs from other items of personal adornment in that it has no other purpose than to...
.
Scent was also an important factor of beauty. Women who smelled good were presumed to be healthy. Due to the stench of many of the ingredients used in cosmetics at the time, women often drenched themselves in copious amounts of perfume.
Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
women tended to avoid cosmetics with the belief that they should praise what God gave them. Some men, especially cross-dressers
Cross-dressing
Cross-dressing is the wearing of clothing and other accoutrement commonly associated with a gender within a particular society that is seen as different than the one usually presented by the dresser...
, did use cosmetics, although it was viewed as effeminate
Effeminacy
Effeminacy describes traits in a human male, that are more often associated with traditional feminine nature, behaviour, mannerisms, style or gender roles rather than masculine nature, behaviour, mannerisms, style or roles....
and improper.
All cosmetic ingredients were also used as medicines to treat various ailments. Lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
, although known to be poisonous, was still widely used.
Mens' attitudes toward Cosmetics
Roman attitudes towards cosmetics evolved with the expansion of the empire. The assortment of cosmetics available increased as trade borders expanded and the resulting influx of wealth granted women additional slaves and time to spend on beauty. Ideas of beauty from conquered peoples, especially the Greeks and Egyptians, greatly influenced the Roman paradigm of beauty. Unlike their eastern trading partners however, the Romans felt that only the “preservation of beauty” was acceptable and not “unnatural embellishment”. Despite exaggerating their makeup to make it appear in the poor lighting of the time, women still wanted to appear natural as a sign of chastity. Artificiality denoted a desire to be seductive, which made men question for whom exactly a woman was trying to appear attractive. This was why men generally viewed the use of cosmetics as deceitful and manipulative. Vestal Virgins did not don makeup because they were supposed to look holy and chaste. Postumia defied this convention and consequently, was accused of incestum.Of all the surviving texts mentioning cosmetics (all written by men) Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
is alone in his approval of their use. The overall consensus was that women who used cosmetics in excess were immoral and deceptive and were practicing a form of witchcraft
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
. Juvenal
Juvenal
The Satires are a collection of satirical poems by the Latin author Juvenal written in the late 1st and early 2nd centuries AD.Juvenal is credited with sixteen known poems divided among five books; all are in the Roman genre of satire, which, at its most basic in the time of the author, comprised a...
wrote that “a woman buys scents and lotions with adultery in mind” and mocked the need for cosmetics, believing that they were ineffective. Use of perfumes was further looked down upon because they were thought to mask the smell of sex and alcohol. Seneca
Seneca the Younger
Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero...
advised virtuous women to avoid cosmetics, as he believed their use to be a part of the decline of morality in Rome. Stoics were also against the use of cosmetics, as they were opposed to the usage of all man-made luxuries. Although there are no surviving texts written by women expounding the attitude of women towards cosmetics, their widespread use indicates that women accepted and enjoyed these products.
Skincare
Pure white skin, a demarcation of the leisure class, was the most important feature of Roman beauty. Native Roman women weren’t naturally fair-skinned and spent their time outside with oils on their faces, requiring whitening makeup to fit their model of beauty.Women would often prepare their faces with beauty masks prior to applying makeup. One recipe called for the application of sweat from sheep's wool to the face before bedtime, emitting a stench often criticized by men. Other ingredients included juice, seeds, horns, excrement, honey, plants, placenta, marrow, vinegar, bile, animal urine, sulfur, vinegar, eggs, myrrh
Myrrh
Myrrh is the aromatic oleoresin of a number of small, thorny tree species of the genus Commiphora, which grow in dry, stony soil. An oleoresin is a natural blend of an essential oil and a resin. Myrrh resin is a natural gum....
, incense, frankincense
Frankincense
Frankincense, also called olibanum , is an aromatic resin obtained from trees of the genus Boswellia, particularly Boswellia sacra, B. carteri, B. thurifera, B. frereana, and B. bhaw-dajiana...
, ground oyster shells, onions with poultry fat, white lead, and barley with vetch. Bathing in asses’ milk was an expensive treatment that worked like a chemical peel
Chemical peel
A chemical peel is a body treatment technique used to improve and smooth the texture of the facial skin using a chemical solution that causes the dead skin to slough off and eventually peel off. The regenerated skin is usually smoother and less wrinkled than the old skin. Thus the term chemical...
and was used by wealthy women such as Cleopatra VII and Poppaea Sabina
Poppaea Sabina
Poppaea Sabina and sometimes referred to as Poppaea Sabina the Younger to differentiate her from her mother of the same name, was a Roman Empress as the second wife of the Emperor Nero. Prior to this she was the wife of the future Emperor Otho...
.
After their baths, they would then apply face whitener, such as chalk powder, white marl
Marl
Marl or marlstone is a calcium carbonate or lime-rich mud or mudstone which contains variable amounts of clays and aragonite. Marl was originally an old term loosely applied to a variety of materials, most of which occur as loose, earthy deposits consisting chiefly of an intimate mixture of clay...
, crocodile dung and white lead. The Roman recognition that lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
was poisonous underscored their point of view on how important white skin was. Other ingredients used in whiteners included beeswax, olive oil, rosewater, saffron, animal fat, tin oxide, starch, rocket, cucumber, anise, mushrooms, honey, rose leaves, poppies, myrrh, frankincense, almond oil, rosewater, lily root, water parsnip and eggs.
The Romans disliked wrinkles, freckles, sunspots, skin flakes and blemishes. To soften wrinkles, they used swans’ fat, asses’ milk, gum Arabic
Gum arabic
220px|thumb|right|Acacia gumGum arabic, also known as acacia gum, chaar gund, char goond, or meska, is a natural gum made of hardened sap taken from two species of the acacia tree; Acacia senegal and Acacia seyal...
and bean-meal. Sores and freckles were treated with the ashes of snails. The Romans pasted soft leather patches of alum directly over blemishes to pretend that they were beauty marks. Criminals and freedmen used these leather patches, which came in both round and crescent shapes, to conceal brand marks.
With the exception of hair on her head, hair was considered to be unattractive on a Roman woman. Consequently, women removed hair by either shaving, plucking, stripping using a resin paste, or scraping with a pumice stone. Older women faced ridicule for their depilation because it was viewed primarily as preparation for sex.
Rouge
Although Romans esteemed pale faces, a light pink on the cheeks was considered to be attractive, signifying good health. PlutarchPlutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
wrote that too much rouge made a woman look showy, while Martial
Martial
Marcus Valerius Martialis , was a Latin poet from Hispania best known for his twelve books of Epigrams, published in Rome between AD 86 and 103, during the reigns of the emperors Domitian, Nerva and Trajan...
mocked women, believing that rouge was in danger of melting in the sun.
Sources of rouge included Tyrian vermillion, rose and poppy petals, fucus
Fucus
Fucus is a genus of brown algae found in the intertidal zones of rocky seashores almost throughout the world.-Description and life cycle:...
, red chalk, alkanet
Alkanet
Alkanet or dyers' bugloss is a plant in the borage family Boraginaceae with a bright blue flower, used to provide a red dye.A. tinctoria is also known as orchanet, Spanish bugloss or Languedoc bugloss...
, and crocodile dung. Red ochre, a more expensive blush, was imported from Belgium and ground against a stone into powder. Despite a widespread knowledge that cinnabar
Cinnabar
Cinnabar or cinnabarite , is the common ore of mercury.-Word origin:The name comes from κινναβαρι , a Greek word most likely applied by Theophrastus to several distinct substances...
and red lead were poisonous (and still are to this day), they were both still used extensively. Cheap alternatives included mulberry juice and wine dregs.
Eye Makeup
The ideal eyes, from the Roman perspective, were large with long eyelashes. Pliny the ElderPliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
wrote that eyelashes fell out from excessive sex and so it was especially important for women to keep their eyelashes long to prove their chastity.
Kohl
Kohl
Kohl is a German word meaning cabbage.Kohl may stand for*Kohl , a traditional Middle Eastern cosmetic*Kohl's, a company that operates department stores located in the United States*KOHL, a radio station in Fremont, California...
was the main ingredient in eye makeup, and was composed of ashes or soot and antimony
Antimony
Antimony is a toxic chemical element with the symbol Sb and an atomic number of 51. A lustrous grey metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite...
, with saffron usually added to improve the smell. Kohl was applied using a rounded stick, made of ivory, glass, bone, or wood, that would be dipped in either oil or water first, before being used to apply the kohl. The use of kohl as makeup came from the east. In addition to kohl, charred rose petals and date stones could be used to darken the eyes.
Colored eyeshadow was also applied by women to accentuate their eyes. Green eyeshadow came from poisonous malachite
Malachite
Malachite is a copper carbonate mineral, with the formula Cu2CO32. This green-colored mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses. Individual crystals are rare but do occur as slender to acicular prisms...
, while blue came from azurite
Azurite
Azurite is a soft, deep blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits. It is also known as Chessylite after the type locality at Chessy-les-Mines near Lyon, France...
.
The Romans preferred dark eyebrows that almost met in the center. This effect was achieved by darkening their eyebrows with antimony or soot and then extending them inward. Plucking began in the 1st century BCE to tidy their overall look.
Lips, Nails & Teeth
Although evidence for the usage of lipstick appears in earlier civilizations, no such evidence has materialized to indicate that the Romans ever colored their lips. The only evidence for painting nails comes from a red dye they imported that was produced from an Indian insect. Generally only the wealthy cut their nails, as they used barbers to clip their nails short, following the contemporary practice for good hygiene.Although oral hygiene was nowhere near today’s standards, white teeth were prized by the Romans, and so false teeth, made from bone, ivory and paste, were popular items. Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
shed light on the way white teeth were viewed in society when he wrote the statement, “You can do yourself untold damage when you laugh if your teeth are black, too long or irregular.” The Romans also sweetened their breath with pumice powder and baking soda.
Perfume
Perfumes were very popular in Ancient Rome. In fact, they were so heavily used that CiceroCicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
claimed that, “The right scent for a woman is none at all.” They came in liquid, solid and sticky forms and were often created in a maceration process with flowers or herbs and oil. Distillation
Distillation
Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in volatilities of components in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....
technology, as well as most of the imported ingredients, originated in the east. The most prominent perfume market in Italy was Seplasia in Capua
Capua
Capua is a city and comune in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. Ancient Capua was situated where Santa Maria Capua Vetere is now...
. Perfumes were rubbed on or poured onto the user and were often believed to be helpful against different ailments, such as fever and indigestion. Different scents were appropriate for different occasions, as well as for men and women. Deodorants made from alum
Alum
Alum is both a specific chemical compound and a class of chemical compounds. The specific compound is the hydrated potassium aluminium sulfate with the formula KAl2.12H2O. The wider class of compounds known as alums have the related empirical formula, AB2.12H2O.-Chemical properties:Alums are...
, iris and rose petals were common.
In addition to personal use, perfumes were used in food and to freshen the household aroma.
Containers & Mirrors
Makeup usually came in tablet or cake form, sold at marketplaces. Wealthy women bought expensive makeup that came in elaborate containers made from gold, wood, glass or bone. Kohl came in compartmentalized tubes that could store more than one color of eye makeup. GlassblowingGlassblowing
Glassblowing is a glassforming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble, or parison, with the aid of a blowpipe, or blow tube...
, invented in the first century CE in Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, lowered the price of containers. The most common color for glass was teal. Gladiator
Gladiator
A gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the...
sweat and fats of the animals fighting in the arena were sold in souvenir pots outside of the games to improve complexion.
Mirrors in Ancient Rome were mostly hand mirrors made from polished metal, or mercury behind glass. Spending too much time in front of a mirror was thought to denote that a woman was weak in character.
Prostitutes & Cosmetics
Cosmetics, and especially their overuse, were commonly associated with prostitutes, both being regarded as immoral and seductive. The Latin word lenocinium actually meant both “prostitution” and “makeup”. Due to their low income, prostitutes tended to use cheaper cosmetics, which emitted rather foul odors. This, combined with the strong, exotic scents used to cover up the stench, made brothels smell especially rank. The procuress of a brothel often used the promise of beauty to entice girls to enter the profession. As prostitutes aged, with their income dependent on their appearance, they opted for more copious amounts of makeup. Courtesans often received cosmetics and perfumes as gifts or partial payment.Masculine use of Cosmetics
Men are also known to have used cosmetics in Roman times, although it was frowned upon by society. Men seen carrying mirrors were viewed as effeminate, while those using face-whitening makeup were thought to be immoral because they were expected to be tanned from working outside. Two of the more acceptable practices were the light use of certain perfumes and moderate hair removal. A man removing too much hair was viewed as effeminate, while removing too little made him seem unrefined. The Romans found it especially inappropriate for an emperor to be vain, as was apparently the case with the Emperor OthoOtho
Otho , was Roman Emperor for three months, from 15 January to 16 April 69. He was the second emperor of the Year of the four emperors.- Birth and lineage :...
. The Emperor Elagabalus
Elagabalus
Elagabalus , also known as Heliogabalus, was Roman Emperor from 218 to 222. A member of the Severan Dynasty, he was Syrian on his mother's side, the son of Julia Soaemias and Sextus Varius Marcellus. Early in his youth he served as a priest of the god El-Gabal at his hometown, Emesa...
removed all of his body hair and often donned makeup, which caused the Romans much grief.
See also
- Medicamina Faciei FemineaeMedicamina Faciei FemineaeMedicamina Faciei Femineae is a didactic poem written in elegiac couplets by the Roman poet Ovid...
, by OvidOvidPublius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
, a singular didactic poem for the female face, whose methods are still used in the manufacture of cosmetics and pharmaceuticals today.