Make-Up and Body Care in Ancient Israel

In the hot, dry climate of the ancient Near East, skin care was almost as common as now, and at a very advanced stage of development. Women applied fragrant ointments to protect their skin from drying out. They also made up their faces with bright colours, used perfume and lacquered their nails.

Women of all status of the population wore make-up. It was made from raw materials like copper carbonate (green or blue in colour), lead sulphate (grey) or stibium (antimony, silver grey). Such materials were ground into powder and rubbed out and mixed with olive oil and ointment. This was done with the help of the so-called “make-up pallet”, a small, flat, limestone dish. Archaeologists have found several of these. Some examples even still reveal preserved traces of blue make-up. The make-up powder was then also kept on the pallet. The powder was applied to the face and around the eyes with the fingers or with a sort of pen or spatula.
There are rare references in the Bible to applying make-up to the face: see especially 2 Kings 9:30, Jeremiah 4:30 and Ezekiel 23:40.

For scrubbing the face, “lava stone” (scoria) was used, a very porous kind of stone that is formed during volcanic eruptions. It washed up on the beach in Israel, carried there by the sea from far-off regions.

After bathing, the skin is smeared with ointment. The basis of this kind of ointment consisted largely of vegetable oil, such as olive oil, almond oil or sesame oil. Expensive creams, for restricted use, were made from animal fat. Binding agents (such as milk, honey and various salts) and water or wine were added to the fat or the oil. Fragrant herbs or flower petals were then mixed in. The ointment was kept in small earthenware (alabaster) jugs. Besides providing care for the body, the fragrant oil was also used as perfume.
Perfume and sweet-smelling ointments were very precious in Bible times. In this period, techniques for extracting scent substances from plants were still rather limited. Furthermore, the fragrant herbs often had to be imported from faraway countries.
In the Bible we find various references to fragrances, including Song of Songs 1:3, Esther 2:12, Psalms 45:8-9, Matthew 26:7 and Luke 7:37.