Chalk - did the Romans (ancients) use it?

[Theodosius the Great]

Avete,

I'm having trouble discovering if the Romans or Greeks had used chalk.

For example, was any of the graffi in Pompeii or Herculaneum scribbled in chalk? Or is it paint, ink?

If they had chalk but didn't use it for writing, what did they use it for?

~Theo

[M. Demetrius]

Chalk was used by the Roman launderers in making togas very white, for political candidates. Latin for "bright white" is candidatus (and its other forms), which is the source of the word "candidate". Chalk powder was put in an already white tunic and toga to make it even whiter, with the idea that the one wearing it was pure.

Strange, isn't it? To add a foreign substance to wool so a candidate would appear pure. Hmm. Some things don't really change, do they?

[Nurglitch]

I know the XVIIIc soldiers also used it to whiten their kit. A question here: if you use chalk powder to whiten your clothing does it not fall off in dusty clouds? Doesn't it adhere to your skin if you touch your own clothes? How does it behave when rubbed in?

[Theodosius the Great]

Now there's an interesting application.

Chalk powder was put in an already white tunic and toga to make it even whiter, with the idea that the one wearing it was pure.

Strange, isn't it? To add a foreign substance to wool so a candidate would appear pure.

Before adding the chalk I'm sure the toga was thoroughly cleansed in a barrel of urine. Yes, very pure indeed!

~Theo

[M. Demetrius]

I hadn't thought of that. I guess politicians still do that urine thing, too, Theo, but in a little different way. Now they call it lobbying.

[Vindex]

I know the XVIIIc soldiers also used it to whiten their kit. A question here: if you use chalk powder to whiten your clothing does it not fall off in dusty clouds? Doesn't it adhere to your skin if you touch your own clothes? How does it behave when rubbed in?

Was it chalk or an early form of (what is now called) pipe clay (I can just remember the smell of blanco!!!) :wink:

[Theodosius the Great]

Yes, togas that reek of urine and chalk dust. No wonder the Jews felt defiled being among the Romans. :-)

~Theo

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

You know that has always puzzled me. :?
Surely they would not have worn something that stunk of urine? hock:
Perhaps the chalk nutralised the odour....? Even though they had different values and standards,
being a nation of Pishy Pants (or togas in this case)was surely not acceptable?

[Theodosius the Great]

No one would notice after a while. People can get used to anything rather quicky. It would just smell 'normal'. Chalk dust might mask the urine stench but no one mentions allergic reactions.

~Theo

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

They might just think they had been aflicted by a curse?

[Athena Areias]

Why would the urine be left in the toga? After it did its thing, chemically-speaking, why would it not be rinsed out? (And then have the final whitening with chalk or pipe-clay...)

Oops. Thread drift...

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Thats what I was thinking Athena. And yes, sorry, guess i helped with the drift!

Theym ust have used slates as well as wax tablets???
I was sure that I had read of the Greeks using slates, but perhaps that was a myth too?
Or just a story when I was young....it was soooooo long ago apparently!

[M. Demetrius]

The urine was somehow fermented to extract the ammonia compounds. So it would not smell like urine, and would surely have been rinsed clean. Then the white powder rubbed in after the fabric was dry. Probably, a slap on the shoulder would produce a puff of white, but almost just as surely, candidates were not treated in such a familiar way.

[Epictetus]

Chalk, or substances similar, seems to have been fairly common and used for a variety of purposes.

Streams of gummy paint and sweat poured from his heated brow, and such a lot of chalk filled the wrinkles of his cheeks, you might have thought his face was an old dilapidated wall with the plaster crumbling away in the rain.

Petronius, Satyricon

So let the Tribunes await their turn; let money carry the day; let the sacred office give way to one who came but yesterday with whitened feet(*) into our city.

*: Slaves imported for sale had white chalk-marks on their feet. [Editor's note]

Juvenal, Satires

Vitruvius mentions it often, as does Cato, as ingredients in other materials. Vitruvius Chapter XIV is basically about chalk in its uses in the manufacturer of coloured materials.

Purple colours are also manufactured by dyeing chalk with madder root and with hysginum. Other colours are made from flowers. Thus, when fresco painters wish to imitate Attic yellow ochre, they put dried violets into a vessel of water, and heat them over a fire; then, when the mixture is ready, they pour it onto a linen cloth, and squeeze it out with the hands, catching the water which is now coloured by the violets, in a mortar. Into this they pour chalk and bray it, obtaining the colour of Attic yellow ochre.

Vitruvius, Achitecture

But as what we think of chalk – a white piece used to mark something – Juvenal was the best I could remember.

[Theodosius the Great]

What a wealth of information.

Thanks, David!

I thought chalk must have had some use in the ancient world but just couldn't find anything on the web to confirm it. Using chalk as a cosmetic makes a lot of sense. The Egyptians used things like ash for similar purposes.

~Theo