Once they had finished exercising, they would clean themselves with a strigil, a small metal tool with a straight handle and a curved part that was used to scrape off sweat, oil and dirt.
The resulting dirt, known in Greek as “gloios,” was collected by slaves in the gymnasiums and then sold at a high price as an ointment. It was thought to have excellent healing properties: Pliny the Elder wrote that it was used to treat sprains, muscle pain and anal and vaginal inflammation, while according to the physician Galen it could even combat tumors.