In the lower part of Case 36 are examples of pestles and mortars (No.
=333=). The pestle usually takes the form of a bent thumb, or of a leg
and foot.
[Illustration: FIG. 125.--ATHLETE USING STRIGIL.]
In early times cooking was done either in the courtyard of the
house or in the principal living-room. Pompeian houses are, however,
generally provided with separate kitchens, small rooms opening off the
court of the peristyle. The hearth is a simple rectangular structure
of masonry, sometimes furnished with projecting supports for holding
vessels over the fire. Much, however, of the warming and working was
done over small braziers, such as are shown on a small scale, and by
a model, in the lower part of Case 36. The terracotta braziers are of
characteristic form, with three internal projecting knobs to support
the cooking vessel. These are generally ornamented with masks of
Hephaestos, Satyrs, or the like (No. =334=). Compare examples in the
Terracotta Room (_Cat. of Terracottas_, p. xix., C 863 ff). See also
in Case 36 a terracotta food warmer, from Olbia, in the form of a
shrine (No. =335=).
[Illustration: FIG. 126.--BRONZE STRIGILS AND OIL-FLASK (NO. 337). Ca.
2:7.]
=The Bath.=--Certain implements shown in Case 37 illustrate the
routine of the bath, which occupied a large place in the life both
of the Greeks and Romans. Celsus, who wrote on the art of medicine
probably early in the first century after Christ, recommended the
bather first to go into the moderately heated room (_tepidarium_), and
perspire slightly, then to anoint himself and to pass into the hot air
room. After perspiring there he was to pour hot, warm, and cold water
alternately over his head, then to scrape himself with the strigil,
and finally to anoint himself--the last probably a precaution against
taking cold. This description will enable us to understand the use
of the implements carried by bathers. Of these the strigil is most
important. It was a curved piece of metal, usually bronze, but
sometimes iron, employed by athletes for removing dust and oil
after exercise, and by bathers for scraping away sweat and dirt. The
accompanying figure (fig. 125), drawn from a Greek vase of the fifth
century B.C., shows an athlete resting after exercise, and about to
use the strigil. Some times a strigil, oil-flask, and sponge are seen
on vases, suspended from the wall of the _palaestra_ where youths are
exercising. In Case 37 a small lekythos (No. =336=) shows an athlete
with a strigil, and an impression from a gem illustrates the method of
using that implement. The strigils here seen range in date from about
the sixth century B.C. to the third century A.D. Many of them are
inscribed with the name of their owners, and some have small figures,
_e.g._, a man dancing or a horse galloping, stamped upon them. Two
strigils which deserve special mention are the silver one found in
the sarcophagus of the Etruscan lady, Seianti Hanunia (second century
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