Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

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Cerōma

（κήρωμα). A composition of wax, with different references:

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1.

A plaster, with wax as the principal ingredient (Hippocr. 397, 48); or, like κερίον, an ulcer exuding wax-like matter (Val. i. 25 fin.).

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2.

A mixture of oil, wax, and earth, with which athletes under the Roman Empire rubbed themselves before wrestling (Mart. iv. 19Mart., vii. 32; Plin. H. N. xxxv. 168; Plut. ii. 638d. To keep the hair free from this compound, a cap was worn. (See Juv. iii. 68, with Mayor's note.)

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3.

The place where the ceroma was most used; hence, the wrestling-ring (Brev. Vit. xii. 3).