SET OF 2 HONEYCOMBS GREEK SEA SPONGE for COSMETIC USE

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FEW WORDS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF GREEK SEA SPONGES

The history of the Greek sea sponges is going many many centuries back in time because we find descriptions and references of uses in the writings of Aristotle, Plato and even Homer's works of Iliad and Odyssey!!. Since ancient times the Greeks knew and used the sea sponges as the best natural products for personal hygiene and body skin care. The Romans also well known for their famous baths appreciated immensely the soft quality and the hygienic properties of the natural sea sponges and made extensive use of them in their everyday personal hygiene and bathroom habits. The most famous and active places for the sea sponges 'fishing' in Greece are the Greek islands with Kalymnos leading the tradition! It seems that in Kalymnos the sponge 'fishing' (called 'spogaleeia') started some 300 years ago and the first Kalymnian divers used to dive with no special equipment to protect them. At that time the divers would 'plunge' into the sea from a small boat with few crew. The diver would carry with him a cylinder shaped glass lenses to help him view the sea bed and spot the sponges. To help him go down fast the diver would hold in his arms a heavy stone (15 Kgr) which was they call 'skandalopetra'! The diver would cut clean the sponge from the sea floor, put it in a net-carrier (called 'dihty') and then lift it up to the boat. In each diving (called 'voutia') the diver would remain 3-5 minutes underwater and he would dive up to 30 meters deep. At the beginning of the 19th century Kalymnos and other islands saw a boom of the sponge industry thanks to the new then diving standard diving suit called 'skafandron', With the 'skafandro' divers could dive deeper, up to 70 meters and stay much longer underwater. Soon then the divers discovered the better quality and bigger sponges that lived at deeper and hotter waters. Larger ships with more crew (called 'spogoalieftika') started sailing the Aegean sea (Pelagos) and sailed across the Mediterranean sea as far as Libya and Egypt, Lebanon and Syria. These sails could last long time and crew and divers could miss their families for up to 6 months. This is the reason that each island developed their customs to celebrate the time all the ships would leave the little ports full of dreams and aspirations for good 'catch' and receive them back, few months later full of sponges and desires to meet with their beloved people parents, wives, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, lovers, friends, etc. Along with the business boom and the good money the standard diving suit bought to the islands the divers had to pay deathly tolls by the name of 'divers' disease' which was caused by the 'quick decompression' when the divers blood gasses. This 'disease' often caused serious paralysis and very often through a confined life ended in early death. It is estimated that the first year the standard diving suit was used almost half of the divers were affected either paralyzed or died. The numbers recorded show that in total10.000 divers died and 20.000 were paralyzed permanently. At the beginning of the 20th century the use of the standard diving suit was already abandoned and many Greek divers moved to other countries and as far as Florida to look for new opportunities for sponge diving. At that time safer diving equipment was appearing in the market produced by Nicolas Toth in Florida. In the fifties diving sponge 'fishing' went down and for reason not well known the sponges were affected and disappeared almost to extinction. Today there are only few islanders who 'sponge fish' around the Greek seas and this is the reason that the top quality, natural and famous Greek sponges are scared and difficult to find.