The Salt and the Sumerians

Have you ever knocked a salt shaker over and the salt spilled. Has anyone told you to toss some of the salt over your shoulder to avoid bad luck caused by knocking the salt over in the first place? This method to counteract the bad luck associated with spilling salt was started around 3,500 B.C. by the Ancient Sumerians.

Roman soldiers were, in a way, paid in salt rations. The Roman writer Petronius, in the Satyricon, originated "not worth his salt" as an insult for Roman soldiers.

The belief that throwing a pinch of salt would counteract the bad luck caused by spilling salt originated with the Sumerians and worked its way to the Egyptians, Assyrians, and the Greeks.