History ![]() We do not know who really started making soap in antiquity, but must be discovered in Babylon around 2300 BC. Initially, the soap was used as a medicine for wounds and as a cosmetic for hair and later as a cleaning agent. ![]() The soap came to Europe probably with the fall of Constantinople to the Turks, who had learned it from the Arab tribes of the Arabian Desert which also had subjugated. It was used by other tribes such as the Celts and Vikings. ![]() These areas were rich in olive oil and a plant called Barilla from the ashes of which the lye was made. This "new" method (the blending of vegetable fat with lye) was established for the next 4-5 centuries. Later, the French chemist Nicolas Leblanc discovered a new way of making the lye using common salt. Myths about Soap ![]() When housewives were washing their clothes found that the water turned yellow and their clothes cleaned better. The soap was named in honor of the poet Sappho who lived at that time in Lesbos is a paraphrase of her name. The Italian version of the myth says that the above scene happens on the river Tiber, at the foot of Mount Soap, where ancinet Romans washed their clothes. The soap got its name from the above mountain. ![]() Today a lot has changed in the way that we make manufactured soap. The new trend in America and Europe is the use of handmade soap by the whole family. In Greece and some other countries of the Mediterranean we are lucky because it is quite easy to find soaps made with olive oil. We, in soap company Elaa, we produce pure soap with the traditional way, using pure Greek olive oil. |