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[German version] Gynaecological vaginal specula (διόπτρα/ dióptra, speculum) are excellent Roman surgical instruments (with  ill.  6) without recognizable Hellenistic antecedents. Finds from Italy (Pompeii: before AD 79), Spain, the Balkans, Asia Minor and Switzerland. The screw-thread was cut by hand. Künzl, Ernst (Mainz) Bibliography L. J. Bliquez, Roman Surgical Instruments and Other Minor Objects in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, 1994  E. Künzl, Forschungsberichte zu den antiken medizinischen Instrumenten, in: ANRW II 37.3, 1996, 2433-2639  J. S. …

(Greek στλεγγίς/ stlengís, ξύστρα/ xýstra). [German version] [1] Implement for sports and cosmetics Ancient implement for sports and cosmetics, primarily of bronze or iron, for scraping off oil, sweat and dirt after practising sport and after visiting a steam bath ( laconica or sudatoria) in the balnea or thermae. It was part of a grooming set, which for the Greeks also included a sponge and a small bottle of oil (Alabastron, Lekythos [1]), and for the Romans an ampulla (small bottle of oil) and a patera (hand-dish for pouring water on the body or for holding oil). A strigilis consisted of …

[German version] Little is known of Mesopotamian and Egyptian SI. Etruscan burial finds are rare (Chiusi; Volterra). The Celtic graves of the 3rd/2nd cents. BC (Munich-Obermenzing in Germany; Batina in Hungary; Galaţii Bistriţei in Romania) contain trepanning saws (for boring through the top of the skull). The metal crown saw was a Hellenistic import (Celtic graves with trepanned skulls at Katzelsdorf and Guntramsdorf in Austria). Publications on Greek SI are few (Mycenaean grave in Nauplia; Lambros Collection, Athens, NM). Greek cupping-vessels are well know…