Heidi Norton
The history of perfume is a fascinating one, with its use mainly associated with mystery, fantasy, and imagination. The word 'perfume' comes from the Latin phrase 'per fumum', meaning 'through smoke'. The first form of perfume was incense, which was made by the Mesopotamians about 4,000 years ago. Ancient cultures burned a variety of resins and wood during their religious ceremonies. The ancient Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Indians, and possibly the Chinese also played a significant role in the development of perfumery.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| First form of perfume | Incense |
| First perfume maker on record | Tapputi |
| First liquid perfume | By ancient Greeks |
| First recorded chemist | Tapputi |
| Place of origin | Mesopotamia |
| Year of origin | Second millennium BC |
| Other places of origin | Egypt, Indus Valley civilization, possibly Ancient China |
| Other ancient perfumes | Kyphi incense, Megalion, Theriaque |
| Raw materials | Flowers, resins, woods, fir, myrtle, frankincense, cinnamon, balsam, sweet rush, serpent skin |
| Modern perfumery | Began in the late 19th century |
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Mesopotamia and Egypt
The use of perfume dates back millennia, with the oldest perfumery discovered on the island of Cyprus. Evidence suggests that a factory existed 4,000 years ago during the Bronze Age, indicating that perfume manufacturing was already on an industrial scale. However, the use of perfume can be traced even further back to ancient civilisations in Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Mesopotamia
The earliest known record of a perfumer is that of a Mesopotamian woman named Tapputi, who lived in the second millennium BC. Tapputi was a chemist and the first female perfume maker in the world. She worked with a range of ingredients, including flowers, oils, calamus, myrrh, horseradish, spices, and balsam, which she distilled and filtered to create her fragrances. Archaeologists have discovered tablets with her perfume formulas and the steps she used to produce her scents, allowing modern-day perfume specialists to recreate her fragrances.
Egypt
Ancient Egyptians were also making perfume around 3,000 BC. Egyptian priests, believed to be the first perfumers, used aromatic resins such as frankincense, myrrh, and benzoin to sweeten the smell of sacrificial offerings. They also burned incense, which was considered the "Fragrance of the Gods," to communicate with the deities. Important figures in Egyptian history, including priests and pharaohs, were often buried with fragrances and scented oils. Many of these ingredients, such as jasmine and frankincense resin, are still used in perfumery today.
The use of perfume in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt demonstrates the long history and cultural significance of fragrance in human society. These early perfumers laid the foundation for the development of perfumery as we know it today.
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Indus Valley Civilisation
The Indus Valley Civilisation, which dates back to 3300 BCE, is known for its advancements in the field of perfumery. The art of making perfumes, or "Gandhayukti" as it was called in ancient India, was an integral part of the Indus Valley culture, with evidence of its use in scriptures, literature, and daily life.
Excavations at Harappa, an ancient city of the Indus Valley Civilisation, have yielded significant insights into their perfume-making expertise. Archaeologists have discovered a terracotta distillation apparatus and vessels with plugged orifices dating back to 3000 BCE. These findings suggest that the people of the Indus Valley Civilisation had a sophisticated understanding of steam distillation, a process still used today to isolate fragrant essential oils.
The Atharvaveda, a sacred text from the Vedic period, mentions perfumed ointments and fragrant plants like vetiver and costus root. The importance of fragrance in the spiritual realm is further emphasised by references to deities as "sugandhim," meaning "the fragrant one." The Hindu Ayurvedic texts, Charaka Samhita and Sushruta Samhita, also provide early mentions of distillation, specifically of "Ittar," a traditional Indian perfume.
The Mughal rulers, who entered India in the 16th century, played a significant role in the development of perfumery in the region. They celebrated the connection between fragrance and spiritual and sensual pleasure, and their patronage greatly influenced the perfume culture in the Mughal courts. The first Mughal ruler, Barbur, and his son Akbar, are known for their love of fragrances. Akbar even established a department dedicated solely to creating scents for corporeal and culinary purposes.
The city of Kannauj in northeast India, often referred to as the ""perfume capital of India," has been crafting oil-based botanical perfumes called "attar" for centuries. The Mughal royalty highly sought after these attars, and they were used to scent everything from wrists to food and even fountains. Kannauj continues to be a centre for traditional perfume production, with the Government of India establishing the Fragrance & Flavour Development Centre (FFDC) there in 1991 to preserve ancient perfume-making techniques.
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Ancient China
The use of perfume in Ancient China dates back thousands of years and has played a significant role in the country's culture and history. While the art of perfumery is believed to have originated in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley civilisation, and possibly Ancient China, the ancient Chinese made significant contributions to the world of fragrances.
Incense, in particular, holds a long history in China, with a culture spanning nearly 2,000 years. The burning of incense was a common practice in various social contexts, from sacred to profane, public to private. The ancient Chinese believed that incense and perfumes could purify spaces and ward off diseases. This belief led to the widespread use of incense and perfumes in places of worship and homes, with noble families often placing incense burners in their residences.
In terms of specific fragrances, agarwood, or Chen Xiang, was an important ingredient in ancient Chinese perfumery. It was commonly used in religious rituals and meditation practices, and its natural aroma was highly valued. The emergence of Buddhism further influenced China's incense culture, with the introduction of meditative practices in temples and monasteries.
Ancient Chinese perfumery also included a variety of spices and herbs. During the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) and before the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, fragrances heavily featured spices. These spices were used by royalty, literati, and officials to purify rooms, incense clothes, and prevent diseases.
The Sui and Song dynasties saw the increased use of perfumes for personal grooming, with noble and wealthy individuals trading ingredients via the Silk Road. The popularity of fragrances reached its peak during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, with the ancient Chinese incorporating perfumes into their daily grooming rituals.
Overall, the ancient Chinese viewed perfume as more than just a scent; they believed it had medicinal and spiritual properties. This belief system, along with their innovative use of ingredients, contributed to the development of perfumery in Ancient China and influenced fragrance cultures worldwide.
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Persia
The Persians, or the people of ancient Persia, now Iran, were one of the earliest civilisations to use perfume. They were fond of fragrant products and incense, and this love for fragrance inevitably led them to embrace perfumes. The Persians had access to perfume-making equipment and fragrance-making workshops, and they experimented with different scents and
The Persians had access to a wide range of spices, resins, herbs, precious woods, and animal fragrance materials such as ambergris and musk. They also cultivated many of the flowers and herbs used in perfumery, including rose and jasmine, which were native to the region. They also imported plants from China and Southeast Asia, such as bitter orange and other citrus trees, which could be successfully cultivated in the Middle East.
The Persian Muslim chemist and physician, Abu Ali Ibn Sina, also known as Avicenna in the West, was the first to invent the method of extracting oils from natural sources such as flowers through distillation. This process is still the most commonly used method of extraction today. He first experimented with the rose, creating rose water, which immediately became popular.
The Persians used many perfume oils, but the most popular ones were rose, narcissus, and jasmine. The perfume would be kept in special bottles made of crystal or glass. Perfume held a high place in Persian noble society, and Persian kings often had their own "signature scents" that their companions and relatives were not allowed to use.
The Persians ruled the perfume trade for hundreds of years and are credited as the inventors of non-oil-based perfumes.
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Ancient Rome
The use of perfume was an important part of life in ancient Rome. However, rather than using the word "perfume", ancient Romans preferred to refer to their scented products as "ointments" or "unguent", which were made from flower petals, spices, and other natural ingredients. These ointments were used for a variety of purposes, including curing diseases, warding off epidemics, and conducting religious ceremonies. For example, during religious ceremonies, priests would throw ointments onto braziers to create a scented smoke that would rise up to the gods.
Perfumes in ancient Rome came in liquid, solid, and sticky forms and were often created through a maceration process using flowers, herbs, and oils. The most common raw materials used were roses, pomegranates, lavender, quinces, grapes, rosemary, and basil. More expensive perfumes might include cinnamon, myrrh, opobalsam (classic incense), resins, and roots. The most expensive perfume in ancient Rome was probably "Regale Unguentum", which was so costly that Emperor Tiberius complained about the expenses incurred to purchase aromatic and exotic substances for it.
The production of ointments was heavily influenced by raw materials, which mainly came from abroad, especially from Mediterranean countries such as Alexandria in Egypt, the most important commercial port in the East at the time. The type of oil used, its refinement, and its purity varied according to social class, with the purest oils being reserved for the upper classes.
While perfume was popular among both men and women in ancient Rome, its use was not without controversy. Some Roman writers, such as Cicero, Juvenal, and Seneca, associated the use of perfume with immorality and deception, believing that it was used to mask the smell of sex and alcohol. Despite this, perfumes were also used for more mundane purposes, such as deodorants made from alum, iris, and rose petals, and to freshen the aroma of households.
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Frequently asked questions
The first form of perfume, incense, was made in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) about 4,000 years ago.
The first liquid perfume was created by the ancient Greeks. However, it was the development of distillation by the Arabs that made perfume manufacture viable.
The first recorded perfume maker was a woman called Tapputi from Mesopotamia. She is mentioned on a clay tablet from the second millennium BC.
