Beauty care occupies an important place in the life of the Greek woman. She was the subject of spirited controversy in the Greek world. We can learn about it by reading the works of the ancient authors (Plato, Xenophon and etc) as well as by looking at the painted pottery that depicts key moment of this very ritual. Another major source of information are the discovered archaeological materials –the toiletries – toilet boxes, pyxides, mirrors, perfume containers, combs, tweezers, different instruments and etc. Regrettably, the vast in its volume material found as a result of the salvage excavations on the seaside of the Bulgarian Black Sea, which have been ongoing for the past twenty years, still remains unpublished. This thesis will focus on its study and interpretation. The toiletries from the funds of the museums in the cities of Sozopol (Apollonia Pontica), Burgas, Nesebar (Messambria) and Varna (Odessos) will be processed. They contain the materials from the excavations of the ancient Greek colonies at the Bulgarian territory. As far as the archaeological materials from the Greek colonies on the territory of the Republic of Romania are concerned, mainly publications will be used.

The work on the doctoral research includes several tasks, mapped out along the three year doctoral program (2009-2011):

• Main task: Clarify the place and use of toiletries in the cycle of life of the Ancient Greek woman.

• To attain the main task the following secondary tasks must be completed:

1) Collecting bibliography and creating a data base about women’s life in Greek Antiquity – her birth, her initiations as a parthenos or kore (maiden), nymphe (marriageable maiden) and gyne (matron) and her death. Clarify the place and importance of toiletries in each of those milestones in her life.

2) Creating a catalogue of all existing archaeological materials concerning the research.

3) Analyzing the collected data: examine their use both in the daily life and in the important and special events in the life of the Greek woman; clarify their importance as burial gifts, relationships and dependencies between their use and social status of the Greek woman; clarify their chronology and what changes occur at different times; localize main production centers; clarify if there are differences or similarities of toiletries and care of the beauty not only between women who lived in Ionic and those who lived in Doric colonies on the West coast of the Black Sea, but also between women who lived in the colonies and those who lived in their metropolises.