Dear Readers,
We continue our adventure in the footsteps of soap. Let's go back to the origins.
And when was this famous first soap made?
There are very beautiful stories on this subject, especially legends which tell that at the foot of Mount Sapo, or elsewhere, in the city of Savona on the Ligurian coast, friendly young women were happily (yes , yes!) doing the family laundry in the river with waters troubled by the last sacrifices to the gods. Ceres, goddess of agriculture among the Latins and Laran, Etruscan god eager for bloody wars, were generously honored by sacrifices of very fat animals. Then, the rain mixed with the ashes of the pyres reacted with the remains of animal fats to give a "proto-detergent" which already washed more easily than the clear water of the river.
The "whiter than white" race had just seen the light of day !
But the ancient Italians did not seize the soap bar and did not actually make the first soap.
We find the first proofs of manufacturing of a product that can be called "soap" on 4,800 years old terracotta tablets and cylinders: in the kingdoms of Babylon and Sumer, the inhabitants then make a paste which serves to treat skin diseases and also to wash and degrease the wool which will be used to make their beautiful fabrics.
Aleppo soap, the ancestor of hard soap
And above all, about 3000 years ago, in present-day Syria, a real soap made from olive and bay laurel oils was made, the famous Aleppo soap !
Today, its formula remains unchanged, and the soap is available in several versions depending on the amount of bay oil added.
It was the crusades in the Holy Land which brought its formula back to Europe from 1095.
This Aleppo soap is considered today to be the ancestor of all hard soaps in the world.
But our soap continues its journey in space (terrestrial of course) and in time: papyrus attest that it is commonly used by the Egyptians with active ingredients to heal, with perfumes for body wash and laundry detergent for their clothes (tunics, linen loincloths or skirts ... always whiter).
Marseille, first a counter
Thanks to the Phoenician merchant ships and the Arabian caravans which ply the North of Africa, the soap soon discovers and cleans up Spain and the Mediterranean coasts of Gaul and Italy.
In the south of Gaul, a coastal city founded in 600 before Jesus Christ by the Greeks of Phocaea becomes a trading post and a most important soap warehouse.
This city is then called Massalia; later, under the Roman occupation, it changed its name to be called ... Massilia (yes it’s different!) and much later became the famous city of Marseille.
But the famous "Marseille soap" is not yet produced there. The first production of Marseille soap, especially for local use, did not appear until the 7th century AD !
Meanwhile, the soap paste is used by the Gallic and Celts warriors, and their German cousins like ointment, shampoo or coloring gel for their hair: A warrior gesturing and screaming with red hair, that disconcerts the adversary.
Generally made from tallow and ash, this paste from Gaul and Germania will then conquer Roman women who will not use it for the toilet until the second century AD.
That was a long time ago.
See you soon.