The Usage Of Soap In Different Cultures
Soaps & Detergents both belong to the one genus. They are the reason we consider ourselves clean as per dirt free. However they are not the discovery of this century. Although they have been modernized to quite an extent, their presence date back to older times. Now we have spotless clothing and clean room flooring, all because of the ancient Babylonians. They were the ones who actually discovered soap. If it wasn’t for them, we would have never heard big names like Dycem. Now, we feel the need and urgency for cleanliness, but we are not much different from the people of ancient times. It’s proven by excavation through ancient Babylon that its people used to keep soaps in jug like cylinders. These clay jugs were found with inscriptions on them, saying that people used to make soap by heating fats with ashes.
The Egyptians of the older times are not far behind for example, the Ebers Papyrus reveal that the Egyptians used to make soap like substance by mixing animal fats with alkaline salts. Incidentally, they used this concoction for curing skin diseases. This is a really interesting piece of information because soap is quite responsible for removing obnoxious disease causing agents from our skin. The evidence of soaps could also be traced from the time of Moses. He specifically gave comprehensive laws about cleanliness and religious purity. The people of his time were also familiar with this soap like substance which they used for their cleanliness.
Now let’s come to the time of the Greeks. As we all know, they were people of great aesthetic sense. They used to rinse themselves with clay rather than soap, and then they used to anoint themselves with oil, before scraping it with metallic strigil. This used to serve the purpose of the soap. The Greeks also used the mixture of oil and ashes for washing their clothes.
Soap has been used through the ages, but it got its name ‘soap’ within the Roman era. At that time, there was a mount called ‘Sapo’ where animals were sacrificed and the rain used to take away animal lard along with wood ashes into the clay soil. The women cleaning clothes down the river found that this clay mixed substance made their wash easier and since that time, we know soap as soap.There was a period, which came with the downfall of the Romans, when personal cleanliness and hygiene were neglected, and that greatly contributed to epidemics and plagues. With the conslusion of the 16th century, cleanliness was back as a norm. This was the duration when soap making was established as a craft in Europe. The soap makers at that time were very peculiar and used to guard their trade secret. But it couldn’t remain a secret due to the fact that civilizations around the world used it in different forms.
Soap as we know it these days is more than a cleaning agent. Many varieties of soap are now employed for purposes like bathing, laundering, shaving and shampooing. Many industries make huge sums by bringing changes to soap making while the basic ingredients are the same as those that were employed in earlier times.
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