Ancient Rome and Greece Research

 16th September 2020

Ancient Rome and Greece Research:


This time period was between 3000BC and 1500AD, during this time period men did not wear makeup and women wore very little makeup. Obvious makeup was shamed upon as a woman’s place was believed to be in the home and to run the home (Lisa Eldridge, 2015).

Ancient artefacts such as paintings and statues/busts are used to determine what people looked like and archaeological digs helps us determine what people used as makeup.

Most women would wear a light dusting of white powder over the whole face, some colour would be added to the lips and cheeks using plants or fruit, some people also used more harmful products such as lead or mercury based dyes. They eyebrows were also quite natural, and they could be defined using things such as burnt cork or soot and it was better if they met in the middle (Lisa Eldridge, 2015). This can be seen in Lisa Eldridge’s interpretation of an ancient Roman woman:








The symbolism of the eyebrows meeting in the middle was also shown in the 2000 film ‘Gladiator’ when makeup artist Jo Allen drew dots between the eyebrows.









Cold creams were also used by the ancient Romans as moisturizers and they are still being used today, the recipe has barely changed. It was thought that red cheeks make you look healthy and red lips make you look young and scandalous (SKY History, 2007).

Hair was a huge statement for the Romans, elaborate hairstyles were a symbol of wealth as the more elaborate the hairstyle, the longer it would take which showed that you could pay servants for hours. The best way to determine what hairstyles looked like is by looking at statues/busts.



Bibliography:

Lisa Eldridge (2015) Best and Worst Makeup Moments in History #FacePaintBook 0:57-1:41 Available at: https://youtu.be/i8e5D83P6UI (Accessed: 16 September 2020)

SKY History (2007) The History Channel: An Ancient Roman Make-up Lesson Available at: https://youtu.be/utdeCvlNppM (Accessed: 16 September 2020)

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