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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.…

(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…