Bloomsbury (2016) p/b 171pp £17.99 (ISBN 9781472506573)
This slim volume precisely fulfils the task it sets itself in the subtitle, being a convenient compilation of Ovid’s Treatments for the Female Face and other excerpts concerning the art of beautification (Amores 1.14, Ars Amatoria 3.101-250, Remedia Amoris 343-356 and Ars Amatoria 1.505-524). It provides a Latin text of each passage accompanied by a readable translation and is fully accessible to a non-linguistic audience as all Latin and Greek references are also quoted in English. Commentaries take the form of short, thematic essays rather than line-by-line analysis. The audience envisaged by the author is that of scholars interested in literary and sex and gender studies, and historians researching the plants, medicines and culture of the ancient world.
The author’s 40 page introduction draws a careful distinction between cosmetics and cosmeceuticals, examining the anti-cosmetic literary tradition represented by Xenophon, Seneca and Juvenal, and the fine line trodden both by Roman women of the early imperial era, eager to enjoy the benefits of national affluence and international trade without being condemned as prostitutes, and by Ovid himself, the master of eroto-didacticism, in his witty subversion of the Augustan moral agenda, which promoted the idealised ancestral traditions of simplicity, modesty and chastity.
This book deals with the scientific background of cosmeceuticals provided by Celsus, Dioscorides and Pliny the Elder, as well as Ovid’s literary antecedents, such as Alexandrian didactic poetry and Augustan love elegy. It discusses Roman attitudes to hygiene, defines the key terms cultus (cultivation), munditia (elegance) and ars (skill) and explores the links between female adornment, sexuality and morality, concluding with a short section on male grooming. There are 11 black and white illustrations of cosmetic containers, dressing table implements and botanical specimens, 4 appendices containing notes on the Latin texts and lists of cosmeceutical terminology, face-pack ingredients and Roman weights and measures, an extensive bibliography and indices. This is certainly the book to come to if you want to find out about the evidence for hair-curling irons (p. 93), popular fabric colours (pp. 114-5) or where to buy a wig in ancient Rome (p.113). It also reassures us that costly ornamental trimmings and expensive purple dye are unnecessary: cheaper imitations are available for those of us on a budget (p. 114)!
Claire Gruzelier