Minium and Cinnabar for Decoration

The mineral cinnabar was also known as minium in ancient Greece and Rome. The beautiful red powder was mixed with wax and used for decorative purposes. The pigment was often applied to interior walls. Phny makes some notes about the utihza-tion of minium for adornment in his Natural History, XXXIII, Chapters 36 and 40  

minium is a production of Carmania, and Timagenes says that it is found in Ethiopia. But from neither of these regions it is imported to Rome, nor indeed, from hardly any other quarter but Spain that of most note coming from Sisapo. 

Sisapo is identical with the present district of Almaden, the chief source even nowadays for the mineral cinnabar. Thus minium was drmabar [35.1]. 

Pliny also was aware of the toxicity of mercury. He looked upon all recipes, recommending its use for medicinal purposes, as highly dangerous. He had also observed that people employed in the factories for preparing minium protected their faces with masks or loose bladder skin in order to avoid inhaling the dust, which is highly pernicious. This outfit obviously was a forerunner of modern dust and gas masks. 

The appearance and special properties of the metal very much influenced the chemical thinking from its very beginning. The element fascinated people of antiquity and played a big role in the development of alchemy. Yet, the earliest descriptions of mercury are older than alchemy. Even Aristotle (384-322 bc) wrote about the liquid silver. Theophrastos (ca. 370-285 bc), Aristotle s successor, who published works within zoology and mineralogy, wrote that mercury, which has certain use, is obtained from cinnabar when it is rubbed with vinegar in mortars of brass. 

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