The first definite and tangible proof of soap making is found in the history of ancient Rome. Pliny the
Roman historian, described soap being made from goat’s tallow and wood ashes, usually beech. He also wrote of common salt being added to make the soap hard. The ruins at Pompeii revealed a soap factory complete with finished bars cut and stacked ready for sale.
While the Romans are well known for their public baths, generally soap was not initially used for personal cleaning. To clean the body the Greeks and then the Romans would rub the body with a mix of olive oil and sand. A scraper, called a strigil was then used to scrape off the sand and olive oil also removing dirt, grease, and dead cells from the skin leaving it clean. Afterwards the skin was rubbed down with salves prepared from herbs.
Throughout history people have also been known to take baths in herb waters and other additions thought to be beneficial. It is well known that Cleopatra, who captivated the leaders of the Roman world, attributed her beauty to bathing in mare’s milk. During the early centuries there is written evidence of soap being used by physicians in the treatment of disease. Soap for personal washing became popular during the later centuries of the Roman era. Zosimos of Panopolis ca. 300 AD describes soap and soapmaking. Galen, a noted Greek doctor (AD 129 – 199) describes soap-making using lye and prescribes washing to carry away impurities from the body and clothes. According to Galen, the best soaps were German and ones from Gaul were second best. This is a reference to true soap in antiquity.
The Celtic peoples of Britain are also though by some historians to have discovered soap making, initially for cleansing wool and there is some evidence for it’s being used for bathing and washing before invasion by the Romans. Maybe due to increased contact with the Celts by the Romans, using soap for personal washing became popular.
The Legend of Sapo Hill
There is an interesting legend (and it is just a legend) surrounding the discovery of soap making. This story accords the discovery of soap to the Romans probably to confront the Celtic claim to soap making. It may be that both of these inventive peoples discovered soap making independently.
The legend says soap was first discovered by women washing clothes along the River Tiber at the bottom of Sapo Hill which was used for animal sacrifices. The women noticed the water frothed when agitated and clothes became cleaner with far less effort at that particular location. The bones and grease of animals from the sacrificial fires of the temples situated on the top of Sapo Hill mixed with the rain and the wood ash from these fires making soap which ran down the slope in the streams of rain water giving the women a wash day bonus. You can see at a glance that saponification – the chemical name for the soap making reaction – bears the name of that hill.
As Roman civilization advanced, so did bathing. The first of the famous Roman baths, supplied with water from their aqueducts, was built about 312 B.C. The baths were luxurious, and bathing became very popular.
Romans used a wide variety of herbs – in their cooking, for healing, to deter biting insects and to
fragrance their homes, particularly the Mediterranean herbs we know today such as Spikard, Lavender, Rosemary, Mints and Thymes, so it is safe to say that they found their way along with exfoliants such as sand, pumice, barks and resins into their soaps.
Olive oil was plentiful and used as a moisturising rub after bathing eventually taking the place in the soapmaking process of pungent animals fats.
