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Written by: Simon Van Lint
A very common and popular attendant at any Roman bath house would be the masseur, he or she would be a skilled slave belonging to the owner of a public bath house, or to an individual who had the luxury of bath's at their own villa.
Two titles come down to us for masseuses, an aelipto, and an unctores, however, an unctores is also referred to as a perfume maker or maker of unctions, and may imply a masseur who makes or blends their own oils for massaging and perfume.A visitor to a bath house towards the end of the 1st Century, whether it be a public or private establishment would at some time get 'cleaned' by one of the attendants or their own slave, this would involve the rubbing of oil and fine sand, often from Africa, onto the body and then being scraped off with a curved metal tool called a strigil. This would normally occur after the bather has been through the warm (tepidarium) and hot (caldarium) rooms, the bather may also wish to have a massage at this point. This would normally involve having more oils rubbed into the skin, often scented to bring about a general feeling of well being to the bather, after the massage is completed, the bather is toweled down with wet linen or woollen towels to remove any excess oil.
At least three types of oil are known to have been used for massaging in Roman times, Olive oil was the most common, with sesame and almond oil also being used. The Roman's preferred these oils as they considered them less greasy, and easy to remove from the skin. Other oils in smaller quantities would be added to these very much like essential oils and base oils in today's aromatherapy. Thyme oil was particularly favoured for massaging as the Romans believed it had invigorating quality's, soldiers are known to have used thyme in the water of their bath's for the same reasons. Other oils used included rose, lavender and acanthus, but these may have been more for their pleasant smell than any beneficial quality. It is also believed that poor people who could not afford their own oils used lentils ground down into a kind of flour as a cheap substitute, this would be like us using talcum powder today. The oils like thyme or lavender would be obtained by squeezing the plant in a press, and the oil residue would be collected in a tray or container underneath. These precious oils would be kept most often in glass or metal bottles and be taken to the bath house by the bather themselves along with their own strigil's, often on a special carrier. A cheaper method was to infuse the oil, an example would be to add some thyme to some olive oil, and then gently boil the oil up to get the scent and essence from the thyme.
Very little is actually known about the Roman massage technique itself, one reference that comes down to us from Seneca who when writing to a friend complains about the noise from the bath house below his flat, and "There's a lazy chap happy with a cheap massage: I hear the smack of the hand on his shoulders, the sound varying with whether it strikes flat or cupped". This implies that the massage was rather rigorous to be heard above all the other noise from a public bath house. It is quite likely, and I must admit there is no direct evidence to support this, that the Roman style massage, which they in turn took from the Greeks, is nearer to the Turkish massage still practiced today, as opposed to the Swedish massage. Add to this the similarity between the Turkish and Roman bath houses and the way they function as well, and the logical assumption is easy to make. Sources:-
Daily life in Ancient Rome, by Jerome Carcapino.
Roman bath's in Britain, by Tony Rook.
Gladiators 100BC -AD200, by Stephen Wisdom
Roman gardens and their plants, by Claire Ryley.
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