A man who wore a toga with sandals, for instance, would be laughed out of the Senate. High-born Romans and Greeks engaged in shoe rituals with rigid standards as to where they could be worn. The dream job for a female house slave was that of sandaligerula, a post that took more time to spell than to do. In the unfree workplace, there were certain positions that most slaves would fight to get. "Like the polisher guru took pumice and other abrasive materials and polished their clients to a rosy glow."
They wanted their bodies to be perfect, which led to some bizarre specialties, Leon says. Romans themselves were slaves to fashion. And a great many of the slaves - because they were well educated, and in some cases, more educated than their masters - they tended to be given positions of great trust," Leon says. Instead, people often became slaves through war and conquest. "Slavery back then wasn't based on race, color or religious preference," Leon says. Ornatrix is just one of the professions described in Working IX to V, a new book about ancient Greece and Rome.Īuthor Vicki Leon tells Renee Montagne about some of the unusual professions of those ancient times, many of which were carried out by slaves. In those days, hair treatments required ingredients like decomposed leeches, urine and pigeon droppings.
If you woke up this morning dreading the workday, you might be thankful that at least you're not an ornatrix - a hairdresser slave in ancient Rome.
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