Page 24 - SYTYGIB: Ancient Greece

Many ancient Greek houses had bedrooms, but they didn’t always have beds. So where DID our ancient Greek friends sleep?
Olive oil
strigil
If your house didn’t have easy access to water, a totally NoN-WeT method of cleaning yourself was by rubbing olive oil AlL oVeR yOuR bOdY and then sCrApInG it off, along with dirt and dust, with a special scraping tool called a strigil.
Greasy and scratchy. GrOsS!
At least you got to have a nice bath afterwards to wash off all the grime.
Yaaaawn. I feel
tired. Pass the parsley – I think it’s thyme for a snooze.
It turns out they slept on Greek couches, which doubled up as beds. They probably Wouldn’t have been very comfy, with animal skins to lie on and a simple blanket to cover you. You may not have even had a pillow.
Depending on what period you were living in the ancient Greek world, and how poor you were, you may also have slept on the FlOoR on straw or DrIeD HeRbS. And no, we don’t recommend sprinkling a tub of OrEgAnO from your kitchen cupboard on floor next time you feel like a nap.
Bed of herbs
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