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On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. This article is about the color. Al-Haram mosque – Flickr – Al Jazeera English. It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. In ancient Egypt and ancient Rome, priestesses wore white as a symbol of purity, and Romans wore white togas as symbols of citizenship.

In the Middle Ages and Renaissance a white unicorn symbolized chastity, and a white lamb sacrifice and purity. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, white is the color most often associated with perfection, the good, honesty, cleanliness, the beginning, the new, neutrality, and exactitude. White is an important color for almost all world religions. Catalan, Occitan and French blanc, Spanish blanco, Italian bianco, Galician-Portuguese branco, etc. The antonym of white is black.

Some non-European languages have a wide variety of terms for white. The Inuit language has seven different words for seven different nuances of white. White was one of the first colors used in art. The Lascaux Cave in France contains drawings of bulls and other animals drawn by paleolithic artists between 18,000 and 17,000 years ago. In ancient Egypt, white was connected with the goddess Isis.

The priests and priestesses of Isis dressed only in white linen, and it was used to wrap mummies. In Greece and other ancient civilizations, white was often associated with mother’s milk. In Greek mythology, the chief god Zeus was nourished at the breast of the nymph Amalthea. In the Talmud, milk was one of four sacred substances, along with wine, honey, and the rose. The ancient Greeks saw the world in terms of darkness and light, so white was a fundamental color.

Magistrates and certain priests wore a toga praetexta, with a broad purple stripe. In the time of the Emperor Augustus, no Roman man was allowed to appear in the Roman forum without a toga. A man who wanted public office in Rome wore a white toga brightened with chalk, called a toga candida, the origin of the word candidate. The Latin word candere meant to shine, to be bright. It was the origin of the words candle and candid. In ancient Rome, the priestesses of the goddess Vesta dressed in white linen robes, a white palla or shawl, and a white veil. They protected the sacred fire and the penates of Rome.

White symbolized their purity, loyalty, and chastity. The priests of her cult wore white linen. Statue of the chief Vestal Virgin, wearing a white palla and a white veil. The early Christian church adopted the Roman symbolism of white as the color of purity, sacrifice and virtue. Postclassical history art, the white lamb became the symbol of the sacrifice of Christ on behalf of mankind. John the Baptist described Christ as the lamb of God, who took the sins of the world upon himself.