Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Strigilis

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

STRIG'ILIS (στλεγγίς, ξυστρίς). A strigil or scraper, employed in Greece and Italy for scraping off the moisture and impurities thrown out upon the surface of the skin by the heat of the vapour bath, or the violent exercise of the palaestra. (Cic. Fin. iv. 12. Suet. Aug. 80. Pers. v. 126.) It was made of iron or bronze, with a handle, into which the hand could be inserted (clausula), and a curved blade (Mart. xiv. 51.) hollowed into a channel (tubulatio), down which the moisture and perspiration would flow as in a gutter (Apul. Flor. ii. 9. 2.) When used, the edge was lubricated with a few drops of oil, to prevent abrasion of the skin. The example (Strigilis/1.1), which possesses all the properties enumerated, is copied from an original of bronze, discovered at Pompeii, together with three others, upon a ring, which also held an oil flask (ampulla), and a shallow pan with a handle (scaphium); the whole as mentioned by Plautus (Pers. i. 3. 44.). The method of using it is shown by the woodcut s. ALIPTES.

2. (ὠτεγχύτης). A surgical instrument for introducing lotions into the ear (Celsus. vi. 7. Plin. H. N. xxv. 103.); which may be readily imagined to have received the name from being formed with a hollow channel down its length, like that of the scraper above described.

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  Strigilis/1.1