Being abundantly available in native form, sulfur was known in ancient times and is referred to in the Torah (Genesis).
English translations of the Bible commonly referred to burning sulfur as "brimstone", giving rise to the term "fire-and-brimstone" sermons, in which listeners are reminded of the fate of eternal damnation that await the unbelieving and unrepentant.
It is from this part of the Bible that Hell is implied to "smell of sulfur" (likely due to its association with volcanic activity).
According to the Ebers Papyrus, a sulfur ointment was used in ancient Egypt to treat granular eyelids.
Sulfur was used for fumigation in preclassical Greece; this is mentioned in the Odyssey.
Pliny the Elder discusses sulfur in book 35 of his Natural History, saying that its best-known source is the island of Melos.
He mentions its use for fumigation, medicine, and bleaching cloth.

A natural form of sulfur known as shiliuhuang (石硫黄) was known in China since the 6th century BC and found in Hanzhong.
By the 3rd century, the Chinese discovered that sulfur could be extracted from pyrite.
Chinese Daoists were interested in sulfur's flammability and its reactivity with certain metals, yet its earliest practical uses were found in traditional Chinese medicine.
A Song dynasty military treatise of 1044 AD described various formulas for Chinese black powder, which is a mixture of potassium nitrate (KNO
₃), charcoal, and sulfur.
It remains an ingredient of black gunpowder.

Indian alchemists, practitioners of "the science of chemicals" (sanskrit rasaśāstra, रसशास्त्र), wrote extensively about the use of sulfur in alchemical operations with mercury, from the eighth century AD onwards.
In the rasaśāstra tradition, sulfur is called "the smelly" (sanskrit gandhaka, गन्धक).

Early European alchemists gave sulfur a unique alchemical symbol, a triangle at the top of a cross.
In traditional skin treatment, elemental sulfur was used (mainly in creams) to alleviate such conditions as scabies, ringworm, psoriasis, eczema, and acne.
The mechanism of action is unknown—though elemental sulfur does oxidize slowly to sulfurous acid, which is (through the action of sulfite) a mild reducing and antibacterial agent.
Being abundantly available in native form, sulfur was known in ancient times and is referred to in the Torah (Genesis). English translations of the Bible commonly referred to burning sulfur as "brimstone", giving rise to the term "fire-and-brimstone" sermons, in which listeners are reminded of the fate of eternal damnation that await the unbelieving and unrepentant. It is from this part of the Bible that Hell is implied to "smell of sulfur" (likely due to its association with volcanic activity). According to the Ebers Papyrus, a sulfur ointment was used in ancient Egypt to treat granular eyelids. Sulfur was used for fumigation in preclassical Greece; this is mentioned in the Odyssey. Pliny the Elder discusses sulfur in book 35 of his Natural History, saying that its best-known source is the island of Melos. He mentions its use for fumigation, medicine, and bleaching cloth.
A natural form of sulfur known as shiliuhuang (石硫黄) was known in China since the 6th century BC and found in Hanzhong. By the 3rd century, the Chinese discovered that sulfur could be extracted from pyrite. Chinese Daoists were interested in sulfur's flammability and its reactivity with certain metals, yet its earliest practical uses were found in traditional Chinese medicine. A Song dynasty military treatise of 1044 AD described various formulas for Chinese black powder, which is a mixture of potassium nitrate (KNO
₃), charcoal, and sulfur. It remains an ingredient of black gunpowder.
Indian alchemists, practitioners of "the science of chemicals" (sanskrit rasaśāstra, रसशास्त्र), wrote extensively about the use of sulfur in alchemical operations with mercury, from the eighth century AD onwards. In the rasaśāstra tradition, sulfur is called "the smelly" (sanskrit gandhaka, गन्धक).
Early European alchemists gave sulfur a unique alchemical symbol, a triangle at the top of a cross. In traditional skin treatment, elemental sulfur was used (mainly in creams) to alleviate such conditions as scabies, ringworm, psoriasis, eczema, and acne. The mechanism of action is unknown—though elemental sulfur does oxidize slowly to sulfurous acid, which is (through the action of sulfite) a mild reducing and antibacterial agent.
Sulfur