How did folks do the laundry in Jesus' time?

Question

We were discussing Mark's comment of the Transfiguration that Jesus' clothes were "whiter than any launderer could have made them". We were wanting to know just how white could clothes get during that time. Some were under the impression that laundry was quite primitive at this time, but I'm not so sure.

Answer 1

I've got an idea that they used urine to bleach clothes.

Yep - The clothes were first washed, which was done in tubs or vats, where they were trodden upon and stamped by the feet of the fullones, whence Seneca (Ep. 15) speaks of saltus fullonicus.

The ancients were not acquainted with soap, but they used in its stead different kinds of alkali, by which the dirt was more easily separated from the clothes. Of these, by far the most common was the urine of men and animals, which was mixed with the water in which the clothes were washed (Plin. H.N. XXVIII 18. 26; Athen. XI p484).b To procure a sufficient supply of it, the fullones were accustomed to place at the corners of the streets vessels, which they carried away after they had been filled by the passengers (Martial, VI.93; Macrob. Saturn. ii.12).ºWe are told by Suetonius (Vesp. 23) that Vespasian imposed a urinae vectigal, which is supposed by Casaubon and others to have been a tax paid by the fullones. Nitrum, of which Pliny (H.N. XXXI.46) gives an account, was also mixed with water by the scourers. Fullers' earth (creta fullonia, Plin. H.N. XVII.4),º of which there were many kinds, was employed for the same purpose. We do not know the exact nature of this earth, but it appears to have acted in the same way as our fullers' earth, namely, partly in scouring and partly in absorbing the greasy dirt. Pliny (H.N. XXXV.57) says that the clothes should be washed with the Sardinian earth.

After the clothes had been washed, they were hung out to dry, and were allowed to be placed in the street before the doors of the fullonica (Dig.43 tit. 10 s.1 §4). When dry, the wool was brushed and carded to raise the nap, sometimes with the skin of a hedgehog, and sometimes with some plants of the thistle kind. The clothes were then hung on a vessel of basket-work (viminea cavea), under which sulphur was placed in order to whiten the cloth; for the ancient fullers appear to have known that many colours were destroyed by the volatile steam of sulphur (Apul. Met. IX. p208, Bipont; Plin. H.N. XXXV.50, 57; Pollux, VII.41). A fine white earth, called Cimolian by Pliny, was often rubbed into the cloth to increase its whiteness (Theophr. Char. 10; Plaut. Aulul. IV.9.6; Plin. H.N. XXXV.57).

Answer 2

The folks of the Med. area around 2000 years ago definitely knew about soap, and used it.
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.

As for laundry, if not in tubs (which the affluent folks had) then down at the river and pounding on the rocks, which works quite well, BTW.
Jesus' family was actually well-to-do, so probably had vats and tubs available. Jesus' robe, however, was not laundered to become white. It was made white by the transfiguration event.

Answer 3

The Romans did indeed collect and use human urine to wash clothes commercially as the uric acid used to desolve dirt and grease stains. In fact there was a tax on urine.

Any oxidant will have a bleaching effect on clothes and since there are so many that can be derived from natural sources it is possible that bleach usage is quite old. Your question is very cool, and has made me curious myself about the history of bleaches. Thanks! :o)

Exposure to prolonged sunlight will also bleach most materials.

Soap is a very natural product made from fat, but I am told that the home made version is a bit disgusting compared to the nicely scened ones we have now.

I think that laundry and textile design was probably at various times, highly advanced. The wall paintings in Egypt show very delicate, transparent textiles that look very well laundered. All the best and may your dry cleaning never shrink. :o)

Answer 4

They had soap, they had hot water. What more do you need? I wouldn't be surprised if they had something to keep garments white. Look at 3rd world countries today, many of whose levels of technology in rural areas is not that much different than rural tech 2000 years ago, and far below technology in the cities at that time, and see how white they're clothes are.

Answer 5

It was beaten vigorusly in a urine vat. In fact in many anchient cities there's a urine depository outside the laundrymats. Commonly slaves were forced to wade into the large vats and churn them with their feet.

Answer 6

my guess would be scrub boards

Answer 7

He washed them in the nile duh...