Ghar Soap

History

Dear Reader

History

Although olive plantations and olive oil production were known since earliest antiquity - tablets from Ebla dated 2400 BC mention olives and olive oil - the actual manufacture of soap from olive oil seems to have been a more recent development.

Soap is first mentioned as a medicinal lotion used in the treatment of certain conditions of the scalp and skin. This early soap was produced from animal and vegetable fats and oils. It is cited in early Sumerian and Assyrian tablets, as well as in Egyptian papyri. The Roman historian Pliny, writing in the 1st century AD, attributes the invention of soap to the Gauls.

Whatever its origins, by the Early Middle Ages soap produced from olive oil had become a thriving business all over the civilized world. Aleppo in Northern Syria was particularly famous for the quality of its soap produced in the many small workshops concentrated in the Bab Qinnisrin area.

By the 16th century, the workshops had been transformed into large factories and many specialized areas (Hay Al- Masabin), Souks (Shari Al- Sabbana) and Khans (Khan Al Saboun) came into being to cater for the booming soap industry. And they are still in existence today.