Thursday, April 14, 2016
Infrequent Bathing
Nicolaus of Damascus, fragment 107, in Felix Jacoby, ed., Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, Vol. II.A (1926; rpt. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1986), p. 389 (90 F 107), preserved by Stobaeus 3.5.16, in Ioannis Stobaei Anthologium, Vol. III, ed. Otto Hense (Berlin: Weidmann, 1894), p. 261 (my translation):
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The Dardanians, an Illyrian people, are washed only three times in their lifetime, when they are born, and second for weddings, and third when they die.Aelian, Historical Miscellany 4.1 (tr. N.G. Wilson):
Δαρδανεῖς Ἰλλυρικὸν ἔθνος τρὶς ἐν τῷ βίῳ λούονται μόνον, ὅταν γεννῶνται καὶ δεύτερον ἐπὶ γάμοις καὶ τρίτον τελευτῶντες.
Note that the Dardanians of Illyria, as I hear, are washed only three times in the whole course of their lives, after birth, on marriage, and at death.
Ὅτι Δαρδανεῖς τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰλλυρίδος ἀκούω τρὶς μόνον λούεσθαι παρὰ πάντα τὸν ἑαυτῶν βίον, ἐξ ὠδίνων καὶ γαμοῦντας καὶ ἀποθανόντας.
