Cinnabar is a type of red mercury ore that was mixed with an equal amount of burning sulphur to create an expensive red paint that was highly popular with the Romans, where it was used for cosmetic and decorative purposes. Cinnabar was painted on the Pompeiian baths of Titus, as well as on statues of the gods. Prisoners were forced to extract cinnabar from mercury mines without proper ventilation or protection, so they would die after a few years of constant exposure to the heavy metal. Starting with the Song Dynasty, cinnabar was used to color Chinese carved laqcuerware. Today, a safer, resin-based polymer is used instead of the toxic cinnabar pigment.