Note 833 — Chapter XXII · THE GYMNASIUM AND THE PALAESTRA

Phil. Gym. 58. I am pleased to find the explanation of ξηραλοιφεῖν given above, which had occurred to me independently, anticipated and confirmed by Jüthner in his recent edition of Philostratus. The word occurs in a decree of Solon quoted by Aeschines. Galen defines it as rubbing with pure oil as opposed to χυτλοῦσθαι, rubbing with oil mixed with water. But this distinction can hardly be ascribed to Solon or to the Spartans. The latter appear to have used a primitive kind of sweating-bath in the open air (Strabo, iii. 3, 6), and the rubbing connected with such a bath might well be described as ξηραλοιφεῖν in contrast with the rubbing usual in other parts of Greece, which was associated with bathing or washing in water. Jüthner, pp. 181, 182.