Roman Athlete's Strigil and Balsamarium. 1st-2nd century AD. A pair of bronze items for use by athletes, comprising: a strigil with rectangular-section handle, curved C-section blade and rounded tip; a tapering hexagonal balsamarium with discoid plinth foot, short neck, rolled rim, two pierced lugs and handle.See The British Museum, museum number 1868,0105.46, for a comparable strigil; museum number 1824,0482.1, for a very similar but undated strigil; The Metropolitan Museum, accession number 97.24, for a similar strigil; see Roberts, P., Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum, London, 2013, for discussion.170 grams total, 14-22cm (5 1/2 - 8 3/4"). From the collection of a Surrey gentleman; acquired 1970-1980.Before the introduction of fat-based soaps in the late Empire, the usual method of cleansing by athletes, as well as bathers of both sexes, was a mixture of low grade olive oil, and a pumice. The oil was applied to the body and then scraped off by means of the long, scoop-like scraper, known as a strigil. A common form of public benefaction was money for a free distribution of such oil. The physical well-being of the gladiator was of the utmost importance so that they could perform at the games; vast sums of money were spent by the owners of gladiatorial schools on the training and upkeep of the athletes, and this would have included regular bathing, exercise and massage. [2]