The practice can be traced back as far as 350 BCE with Aristotle and Pliny the Elder who described the use of oil being spread on the eyes of divers with the intention to "quiet the surface and permit the rays of light to reach them".
The practice can be traced back as far as 350 BCE with Aristotle and to the early 1st century with Pliny the Elder. Aristotle described the use of oil being spread on the eyes of divers with the intention to "quiet the surface and permit the rays of light to reach them".