Put pieces of lead into a container filled with vinegar and then place the container in fresh dung. A few weeks later, flakes of the purest white will appear. This recipe for a perfect white paint was used – in different variations – for 6000 years. As it turned out, it was deadly. With one significant exception.

This common, naturally-occurring heavy metal was known as early as in Ancient Egypt in 4000 BCE, but started being extracted and used on a wide scale in Ancient Greece. It was undoubtedly linked to the discovery of silvery vein in Laurion near Athens. The mines became the source of wealth for this city, and one side effect of refining silver was tons of lead, since those two metals often appear in ores together.

Ancient Greeks and Romans knew how to use lead, as it is malleable, soft and has a low melting point (327.5°C). They used it in construction and shipbuilding, to make pipes, sarcophagi, figurines and writing tools. Because of its preserving and sweetening properties, lead was also used extensively in the kitchen to make dishes and containers, as well as medicines and face-whitening cosmetics.

Virtue the colour of alabaster

For thousands of years, the beauty canon, both in Europe and the Far East, encompassed a very pale complexion. People believed that