Women in your groups?

[Salvianus]

have you considered cosmetics and pharmaceuticals?

I hadn't, but funnily enough half of my family have been industrial chemists, so, although I'm a biologist myself, it's probably closer to my understanding than pecisions handcrafts.

Thanks for the idea!

Any recommendations for reading - I've concentrated on military books up to now?

[Carlton Bach]

have you considered cosmetics and pharmaceuticals?

I hadn't, but funnily enough half of my family have been industrial chemists, so, although I'm a biologist myself, it's probably closer to my understanding than pecisions handcrafts.

Thanks for the idea!

Any recommendations for reading - I've concentrated on military books up to now?

Start with Sally Pointer: The Artifice of Beauty (also google her website, it's amazing). She's an archeologist, so she knows what footnotes and a bibliography are good for, which is a bonus with that book - like it needs one.

In terms of sources, go with:

Dioscurides' Materia Medica
Athenaios of Naucratis' Deipnosophists
Pliny's Natural History
Thepphrastus' On Plants and Treatise on Odours

and check out the 'provincial camp follower/prostitute' thread. I also have some pix of cosmetics containers and palettes from mostly German museums I can share.

Happy mixing