The origins of the perfume
The word "perfume" is a derivative of the Latin word "parfumare" meaning "through smoke".
The word "perfume" is a derivative of the Latin word "parfumare" meaning "through smoke".
The old ones of Egypt were useful of fumigations to honour their gods. They sought wood aromatic, grasses, roots, etc... to create perfumes. They burnt the famous incense called Kyphi, a very odorous mixture composed of the myrrh*, Matsic tree*, bays of juniper, seeds of fenugreek, pistachio and edible shoveler duck, the whole crushed and mixed with wine and a preparation cooked containing resin and of honey.
The archaeologists discovered frescos representing of the scenes of everyday life with the use of scented substances. They also discovered mud with alabaster perfume, which go back to approximately 4000 before J.C.
The Egyptians manufactured ointments* and essential oils for their religious practices and their personal uses. They applied them to their skin to fine cosmetics or therapeutic. The ointments were preserved in cups or mud out of alabaster. There were also small stone or ceramics bottles.
One of the supreme pleasures of the Egyptian women was to place, on their head, of the small cones of greases and aromatic resins, which, while melting, scented their hair and their face.
The cones of greases melt and scent the
head of the women of ancient Egypt. |
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Ointment cup in albâtre. Egypte,
old empire, 3000 av.J.C. |
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small cup with diorite ointment dating
from average empire 2200 - 1600 av.J.C.. |
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small cup with ointment |
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The Greeks continued the Egyptian practices with new reported fragrances their voyages. They coated the body of oils and ointments during the bath.
The Greeks scented the body of their deaths and they buried them with personal objects of which a perfume bottle. The aryballes* made it possible to spread the ointment on the skin. The Greek athletes coated the body with them before each test.
The Romans, in their turn, granted a great place to the perfume. They made improvements as for the ingredients and developed the use at the time of the religious, funerary rites of it and of the daily practices. The Greeks thought that the perfumes possessed medicinal virtues. They consumed some with excess going until sprinkling some on the walls and the grounds of their house. A great innovation was the use of the container out of glass.
bottle out of glass with double heads blown in
Rome at the end of Ier, IIème century after J.C. |
bottle out of parallel gadroon glass dating
from IIème IIIème century after J.C.. |
We owe with Arabic the invention of the still, which allowed, of course, improving the distillation of the plants. They discovered new odorous substances whose musk and developed the use of the perfume.
In occident, the use of the perfumes was slowed down by the cruel wars and invasions.
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*Mastic tree : Resinous exudation of a small tree, Pistachio Lentiscus.
*Myrrh: Gum resin reaped on the shrubs of Commiphora myrrh.
*Ointments: The ointments are greasy substances, oils etc
*Aryballes: Bottle of Antiquity out of round terra cotta and on very broad board.