DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9840#0235
184
preservation of an
[chap.
The Turkish ladies seem also to resemble those of
ancient Greece in another point: I mean in the extra-
ordinary care which they bestow on their personal
cleanliness37. The peculiar practice to which I more
especially allude, was general among the ladies of ancient
Greece, at least with the young and beautiful38, though
not so with older matrons 9. It has not only been
37 Tourneeort, Voyage, Lettre xiii. Vol. n. p. 94. " Leur proprete
est extraordinaire; elles se baignent deux fois la semaine, et ne souft'rent pas
le moindre poil, ni la moindre crasse, sur leurs corps : tout cela contribue fort
a leur sante'." The custom of depilation is also observed by the ladies of
Persia: see the Kitabi Kulsum Naneh, or Customs and Manners of the
Women of Persia, translated by Mr Atkinson, Lond. 1832. pp. 17-18.
38 Aristophanes, Frogs, 517-
'HfiuXXiuxraL KapTt Trapa.TeTiXp.eva.i.
Compare Lysist. 89. 151. Eccles. 13.
39 In Aristophanes, Lysist. 825. an aged dame says, boastingly,
'AW UfX(W3 av OVK i(Wv,
Kaiirep o£!<r?|S ypao's, ovt av-
tuv ko/x^ti^p, dXX' dired/i-
Xwp.evuv to) Xdyyu).
Thesm. 537-
Tecppav irodeif \a(3ovarai
t(ii)ti|s drrro\pi\wcrop.ev tov yolpov, 'Lva 6i.da~x0fl
yuvi] yvvaZicas ovcra pi] kcikws Xeyeiv to Xolttov :
where the poet represents Mnesilochus as an old woman (v. 637. 'Evvea
ttu'lowv p.i]Tepa.) The -recppu in question is elsewhere mentioned by Aris-
tophanes. An unguent called opdnra^ was used for the same purpose, and is
spoken of, by Synesius, Calvit. Encom. p. 75. as 5s dK.pi(3ea-TF_pov cnotjpov
Tals dpL^lv eTre^epxe-raL: see Toup's learned note, Emendat. in Suid.
Vol. i. p. 143—145. The generic name for such depilatories was ^/iXiuQpov,
and they are frequently mentioned, by both Greek and Latin authors. The
usage in question was anciently regarded as highly effeminate, and excited
the indignation of the Roman Satirists. Juvenal, viii. 16. ix. 14. Per-
sius, iv. 36. Lucian, also, in the Cynic, §. 14. Tom. hi. p. 547. speaks
of the men of his day as XeaivovTes /cat \p-iXovpevoi irdv tov awpaTOS fj.epo<;t
/cat p\.i]oe twv diroppi]tu>v ohoev, if 7ri(pvKev, e-^eiu ecui'Tes. To Such an
extent did the custom prevail among men that at length a class of women,
called TrapaTiXTpiaL, attended in the baths, ut hominibus pilos evellerent:
see, however, Olearius, on Philostratus, V. A. iv. 27. p. 167- n. 8. At the
present day the practice extends to men as well as women, among the Turks :
and the observations of Sandys, Travailes, p. 49. are still perfectly true:
" The Turks be generally well complexioned, of good statures, and full
bodies, proportionably compacted. They nourish no hair about them, but a
lock on the crown, and on their faces only. But their beards they wear at full
length; insomuch that they will scoffe at such Christians as cut, or naturally
want them, as if suffering themselves to be abused against nature."
preservation of an
[chap.
The Turkish ladies seem also to resemble those of
ancient Greece in another point: I mean in the extra-
ordinary care which they bestow on their personal
cleanliness37. The peculiar practice to which I more
especially allude, was general among the ladies of ancient
Greece, at least with the young and beautiful38, though
not so with older matrons 9. It has not only been
37 Tourneeort, Voyage, Lettre xiii. Vol. n. p. 94. " Leur proprete
est extraordinaire; elles se baignent deux fois la semaine, et ne souft'rent pas
le moindre poil, ni la moindre crasse, sur leurs corps : tout cela contribue fort
a leur sante'." The custom of depilation is also observed by the ladies of
Persia: see the Kitabi Kulsum Naneh, or Customs and Manners of the
Women of Persia, translated by Mr Atkinson, Lond. 1832. pp. 17-18.
38 Aristophanes, Frogs, 517-
'HfiuXXiuxraL KapTt Trapa.TeTiXp.eva.i.
Compare Lysist. 89. 151. Eccles. 13.
39 In Aristophanes, Lysist. 825. an aged dame says, boastingly,
'AW UfX(W3 av OVK i(Wv,
Kaiirep o£!<r?|S ypao's, ovt av-
tuv ko/x^ti^p, dXX' dired/i-
Xwp.evuv to) Xdyyu).
Thesm. 537-
Tecppav irodeif \a(3ovarai
t(ii)ti|s drrro\pi\wcrop.ev tov yolpov, 'Lva 6i.da~x0fl
yuvi] yvvaZicas ovcra pi] kcikws Xeyeiv to Xolttov :
where the poet represents Mnesilochus as an old woman (v. 637. 'Evvea
ttu'lowv p.i]Tepa.) The -recppu in question is elsewhere mentioned by Aris-
tophanes. An unguent called opdnra^ was used for the same purpose, and is
spoken of, by Synesius, Calvit. Encom. p. 75. as 5s dK.pi(3ea-TF_pov cnotjpov
Tals dpL^lv eTre^epxe-raL: see Toup's learned note, Emendat. in Suid.
Vol. i. p. 143—145. The generic name for such depilatories was ^/iXiuQpov,
and they are frequently mentioned, by both Greek and Latin authors. The
usage in question was anciently regarded as highly effeminate, and excited
the indignation of the Roman Satirists. Juvenal, viii. 16. ix. 14. Per-
sius, iv. 36. Lucian, also, in the Cynic, §. 14. Tom. hi. p. 547. speaks
of the men of his day as XeaivovTes /cat \p-iXovpevoi irdv tov awpaTOS fj.epo<;t
/cat p\.i]oe twv diroppi]tu>v ohoev, if 7ri(pvKev, e-^eiu ecui'Tes. To Such an
extent did the custom prevail among men that at length a class of women,
called TrapaTiXTpiaL, attended in the baths, ut hominibus pilos evellerent:
see, however, Olearius, on Philostratus, V. A. iv. 27. p. 167- n. 8. At the
present day the practice extends to men as well as women, among the Turks :
and the observations of Sandys, Travailes, p. 49. are still perfectly true:
" The Turks be generally well complexioned, of good statures, and full
bodies, proportionably compacted. They nourish no hair about them, but a
lock on the crown, and on their faces only. But their beards they wear at full
length; insomuch that they will scoffe at such Christians as cut, or naturally
want them, as if suffering themselves to be abused against nature."