soap...when and how was it discovered?

Question

i was taking my shower today when it suddenly occured to me that soap just didnt fall from the sky, it must have been created by someone sometime, so how did the idea come about? and who first started to use it and of course when?

Answer 1

If soap was invented and used for bathing and cleaning before the Roman Empire, it was a custom that was subsequently lost.

The oldest reference to the manufacture of soap comes from Babylonian tablets, but these tablets make no mention of what the soap was used for. This tells us that soap as a material existed as early as 2800 BC.

There is evidence that Egyptians and Phoenicians made use of soap, but this evidence suggests that they used it to prepare wool for dying, not for cleaning themselves or their clothes.

An account from Pliny the Elder who died in 53 AD mentions soap once. Interestingly enough, however, it is mentioned as a kind of hair gel instead of a cleaning agent, and the way it is described suggests that people reading his accounts would be completely unfamiliar with the stuff. It is well known that ancient Romans and Greeks did NOT use soap for cleaning.

There is a sort of urban myth about soap getting its name from a Mount Sapo. Rain supposedly washed a mixture of melted animal fat, or tallow, and wood ashes down from a sacrificial altar into the clay soil along the Tiber River. Women then found that this clay mixture made their wash cleaner with much less effort. There are a number of reasons to believe that this is a completely fictional account, not the least of which is the value of fat and the fact that it was not sacrificed.

The origin of the word 'soap' is actually very clearly linked to words in the Celtic or Germanic language, and there are also accounts of Celts teaching Romans to use soap for personal cleaning. Romans and Celts had lots of contact, though the former tended to view the latter as 'barbarians' for much of their history. If we take these accounts as fact, they probably occurred at least a few centuries after Pliny's account.

After that, there are accounts of people making and using soap from time to time all over the place, though it did not become customary, even among royalty, until the seventeenth century or so.

So, in summary, soap as a substance was discovered very early in human history. Soap as a cleaning agent was probably discovered by the Celts in the first few centuries AD. Soap as something commonly used didn't spread until the seventeenth century. Hope that helps!

Answer 2

The History of Soap

Soap making became a craft in Italy by about 700, and by 800 Spain was a leading soap maker. Soap making began in England around 1200. Nicolas Leblanc, a French scientist, found that lye could be made from ordinary table salt in the late 1700's. Following this discovery, soap began to be made and sold a prices that almost everyone could afford.

Many early settlers in North America made their own soap. They did this by pouring hot water over wood ashes to make the alkali potash. They then boiled the potash with animal fats in iron kettles to make soap. The soap cleaned well, but much of it was harsh and smelled bad.

The soap industry in North America began in the early 1800’s. Some people collected waste fats from others and made soap in large iron kettles. They poured the soap into large wooden frames for hardening. After the soap hardened, they cut the soap into bars that were sold from door to door. Manufacturers have made big improvements in the mildness, color, fragrance, and cleaning ability of soaps since the early 1900’s. Soap making is still a craft in the United States, as well as all over the world.

Answer 3

The earliest known evidence of soap use are Babylonian clay cylinders dating from 2800 BC containing a soap-like substance. A formula for soap consisting of water, alkali and cassia oil was written on a Babylonian clay tablet around 2200 BC

Answer 4

Blessings to all. Your soul has been discovered since our birth. it's part of our being. People are looking for meaning in life in all the wrong places, and we have the answer. It's only Jesus who can satisfy the soul. Fame, fortune and wealth fall short and often lead to depression and loneliness. But Jesus can change the heart and make man whole. My prayer is that you have discovered this truth and that your soul is satisfied because you've trusted Him. Thank you Anil for this question. Take care dear.

Answer 5

soap, along with a lot of other things, was invented by accident. Someone, nobody knows who, was cooking meat and the fats mixed with wood-ash from the open fire and once the fire was cold the end product was unrefined soap, no scent or additives to make it smell nicer. Wood ash was used to make soap for hundreds of years until scientists invented an artificial substitute for it which is used now.

Answer 6

Soap's been known for thousands of years and there's no record of the actual inventor. It was invented by an accident as most things. Someone mixed just the right amount of ashes, water and rendered fat and got soap as a result.

Answer 7

As unbelieavable as this sounds the origins of soap were written about in the book, "Unusual Origins of Household Items" by Charles Panati (Penguin Press, 1988) when Dr. Panati revealed that soap was invented around 211 BC in Rome, by a man named Jimmy Soap. He named after himself.

Answer 8

Some nuns invented it as a way of relieving their tensions.

Where's the soap?

Yes it does doesn't it.

Answer 9

Israelis during WW3?

Answer 10

It wasn't invented in Cowdenbeath anyway