A few years ago, I had a nice boxed set of seven recreated perfumes entitled "The Fragrant Past: Perfumes of Cleopatra & Julius Caesar". These were made expressly for an exhibition at the Emory University Museum of Art & Archaeology in 1989. These seven ancient perfumes were prepared by professor Giuseppe Donato, Director Emeritus of the Institute of Applied Technologies, National Research Council of Italy. The perfumes are non-alcoholic oil based and are basically skin scents, with little sillage.
It was this set of fragrances that inspired me to research the most famous perfumes in Ancient Rome and Greece, but I wanted to concentrate more on Egypt. In ancient times, perfumes were in the form of unguents and oils.
Perfumes and fragrant gums were held by the Egyptians in high esteem, and played an important part in their lives. “The consumption of perfumed unguents and aromatics,” says Ebers, “must have been enormous at the highest tide of Egyptian splendor. The people were actually enjoined to perfume themselves on Fridays. The foods, sweetmeats, and sherbets were flavored with perfumes, and their fragrance filled the air in every well-to-do house. The women bathed in perfumed water and the men used the scented unguents for their bodies. During great festivals incense was burnt in the streets, so that even the poorest participated and enjoyed the perfumed air. At their banquets the guests waded through roses, and costly perfumes floated in the air. Chaplets and wreaths of flowers were laid upon the altars and offered to the deities, whose statues were frequently crowned with them. On the occasion of festivals, the guests on their arrival were met by slaves, who anointed their heads with perfumed unguents and hung chaplets of lotus about their necks. The apartment was festooned with flowers, and the table and floor were strewn with sweet-smelling flower blossoms."
Ancient Egyptian Unguents:
The word unguent comes from the Latin unguentum, meaning "ointment." Ancient unguents were luxurious and included fragrant oils used to anoint and perfume the skin. Egypt was famous for its perfumed unguents, which commanded a very high price. One of the most noted was Psagdi, and the Egyptian oil of lily was also greatly prized and famed even outside the country. Another costly preparation was the Qam’ey ointment, a rare gift of two silver bowls of the ointment were presented to a deputy governor of Mery by the reigning Pharaoh towards the end of the XXth dynasty.
Other favorite perfumes were Mendesium, which was composed of oil of ben, myrrh, and canella; Metopium, which was perfumed with almonds, and contained honey, wine, resin, myrrh, and calamus; Aegyptium, which was strongly impregnated with cinnamon and used chiefly for the hands and feet; and Cyprinum, of a green tint, which was extracted from henna flowers.
Oil or unguents for anointing the body was almost as necessary for the Egyptians as food, as the hot climate dried out the skin. Unguents and oils were used to moisturize, scent and protect the skin from the scorching sun. Most of their unguents used a base of either rendered animal fats, or vegetable oils such as moringa (a type of tree native to Africa and Asia), sesame, olive oil or benben oil.
Unguents were often associated with eroticism and perhaps considered aphrodisiacs. Unguents were massaged into the skin and therefore ende dup transferred onto clothing. A lovesick man decries in a papyrus saying, "I wish I were her laundryman...I would wash away the unguent from her clothes and wipe my body with her dress."
Oils and unguents were so valuable they were usually transported and stored in small and often distinctive containers. Most are short, squatty shape. Others were cylindrical with narrow necks. The unguent was scooped using elaborate spoons or spatulas by the wealthy, while the poorer classes typically used their fingers. The myriads of unguent containers that have been found in the tombs show that they believed that the dead were as much in need of unguents as the living.
The most precious unguents often formed part of a large donation and were always included in the complete set of offerings to the shrines of the gods. They were kept in beautiful containers of alabaster or vases of onyx or diorite, fitted with stoppers or lids to preserve the contents from deteriorating. According to recent accounts, in some of the magnificent and exquisitely carved alabaster unguent containers discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamen, which is said to date about 1350 BCE, the fragrance of the perfume still lingered after a period of over three thousand years.
Pliny suggests that "Unguents keep best in alabaster boxes, scents when mixed with oil...Sunshine is detrimental to them; and the unguents improve with age. Therefore they are stored in the shade, in vessels made of lead. When being tested they are put on the back of the hand, to avoid their being damaged by the warmth of the fleshy part."
As we understand from the passage, alabaster was the preferred material for storage, followed closely by cold lead or stone. Among the many beautiful containers discovered at Luxor was one of great interest, which, on being opened, was found to contain some of the original perfumed unguent that it had held when the tomb was sealed thousands of years ago. The vase or jar was of calcite, which had become naturally sealed, the changes in temperature and moisture caused certain salts to crystallize around the lid and formed a hard protective encrustation.
The contents are described as a rather a sticky substance presenting the appearance of a heterogeneous mixture, consisting of yellow nodules, together with a chocolate-colored body.” It melted partially at the heat of the hand, emitting a faint yet distinctive odor which at first suggested coconut, but afterwards was thought to resemble the flowers of the broom or as being rather valerianaceous in character. Although it had a fatty smell, it was not that associated with advanced rancidity.
The result of an analysis of the substance was given by Chapman and Plenderleith, in a paper communicated to the British Association at the meeting in Oxford in 1926. They stated that “ a careful microscopical examination failed to reveal any traces of vegetable fiber or other organized structures, and that the chemical evidence supported the view that the fat was of animal character. It also seemed to exclude the presence of coconut or palm-kernel oils.
Having regard to all the results, it appeared probable that the cosmetic consisted of about 90 percent, of a neutral animal fat with about 10 percent, of some resin or balsam, and that the smell of the material was probably due to odorous substances formed in process of time from the resins or balsams employed.”
It is quite likely that the faint perfume described as being of “a valerianaceous character” is due to
Indian nard or spikenard that was frequently employed by the Egyptians in making their unguents, as it is now known to have been obtained from a species of valerian and had a very powerful and persistent odor. There seems little doubt that the preservation of the substance is due to the use of olibanum or other gum-resins having antiseptic properties that were known and used by the Egyptians at that period. In any case, this jar contains the most ancient unguent at present known which has retained its perfume for over three thousand years.
Ancient Egyptian perfume bottles. Left: A faience vessel in the shape of a monkey. This dates to the New Kingdom, circa 1550–1295 BCE | Right: A travertine perfume vessel with the figure of a princess inlaid. The vessel dates to the New Kingdom, Amarna Period, circa 1353–1336 BCE (Photos: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Public domain)
While the ancient Egyptians used many local and imported plants and materials to produce their perfumes and unguents, it has proved difficult to identify all the specific ingredients, some ingredients may even be extinct today. Fragrances were prepared with the greatest skill in Egypt and historians know it was a major center for perfume manufacture, but to date, no workshops have been found by archaeologists. All we have to go on are representations of how Egyptians made perfumes on walls of tombs and in special temple chambers that housed perfumes and unguents.
The ancient Egyptians did not record the formulas for their fragrances, but lucky for us, the writings of Dioscorides, Pliny and Theophrastus survive to tell their secrets. Some perfume materials are named in the earliest offering lists in the pyramid texts, as well as in tomb and coffin inscriptions and funeral papyri of much later periods. However, it is not always possible to know what ingredient is meant by some ancient word. Still, it is possible to obtain a general idea of ingredients, oils, fats and perfumes used.
We know that the Egyptians had an extensive knowledge of the properties of aromatic gums and resinous substances over three thousand years ago, and employed them, not only for making their perfumes, but also in embalming their dead. Already in 3500 BCE, at Abydos in Upper Egypt, jars of scented oils and unguents appear in a predynastic tomb.
Myrrh, cinnamon, galbanum, and many similar substances are mentioned in the Papyrus Ebers, which was written about 2000 b.c., and a recipe is also given for making pastilles for perfuming the breath.
Recipes for the preparation of perfumes used in the temples are inscribed in stone at Edfu, and a poem has been discovered incised on one of the walls of Karnak, in which Rameses II exhorts the god Ammon to give him victory in battle, with the words: “ I have enriched thy domain, and I have sacrificed thirty thousand oxen to thee, with all the sweet-smelling herbs and the finest perfumes.”
How were the perfumes made?
The ancient Egyptians did not practice the art of distillation as it was not invented until the 11th century by the Arabs, instead, they used three common techniques: enfleurage, maceration, and pressing. They used the essences and oils of fruits, spices, herbs, barks, roots, seeds, leaves, grasses, and flower petals to create perfumes.
Enfleurage involves steeping flowers in fat to make pomades and creams. One example of a pomade was the aforementioned unguent cone.
Maceration was the method for removing the essential oils found in certain types of flowers, fruits, herbs and plants. This process happens by soaking mashed plant materials in warm fats, stirring and removing the oil. The mixture was poured through a sieve and cooled. Once cooled, it could be formed into various shapes, or if left in its liquid state, poured into containers or cosmetic spoons.
Another method of maceration was to macerate the raw materials in water, cover the pot with a cloth saturated with fat, place the pot on a fire, and let the scent evaporate into the cloth. The resulting unguent could then be scraped off the cloth and stored.
In the extraction method called enfleurage, the Egyptians placed petals between layers of animal fat, which become saturated with flower oils.
Another common method of extraction used in Egypt was pressing as seen on tomb walls. This technique was already being used to manufacture oils and wine. The raw materials are placed inside of a bag, sticks are tied to each end of the bag and twisted in opposite directions until the essences are expressed from the contents. This is probably the most simplest and cost effective way the ancients obtained essences.
Pliny gave a useful summary of the manufacture of perfumes and unguents: "the recipe for making unguents contains two ingredients, the juice and the solid part (succus and sorpus), the former of which usually consists of various sorts of oils and the latter of scented substances, the oils being called "astringents" (stymmata) and the scents "sweetenings" (hedysmata)." Together with these there is a third factor that many people neglect, that of color, for the sake of which usually dragon's blood plant or alkanet. A sprinkle of salt served to preserve the properties of the oil, but to scents containing an admixture of alkanet salt is not added. Resin or gum are added to retain the scent in the solid part as it evaporates and disappears very quickly if these are not added....What are called sprinkling powders (diapasmata) are made of dried scents, the dregs of unguents being termed magma. Among all scents employed the one added last is the most powerful."
Theophrastus describes the raw materials from which the perfumes are prepared: "Perfumes are compounded from various parts of the plants: flowers, leaves, twigs, root, wood, fruit and gum; and in most cases the perfume is made from the mixture of several parts. Rose and gilliflower perfumes are made from the flowers; so also is the perfume called Susinon made from lilies; also the perfume from bergamot, mint and thyme, named Kyrpos; an dthe saffron perfume. The crocus that produces this is best from Aegina and Cilicia. Instances of those made from the leaves are the perfumed culled from myrtle and dropwort. This grows in Cyprus on the hills and is very fragrant; that which grows in Hellas yields no perfume being scentless. From roots are made the perfumes name from iris, spikenard and sweet marjoram, and ingredient in which is koston; for it is the root to which this perfume is applied. The Eretrian unguent is made from the root of kyperion, which is obtained from Cyclades as well as from Enboea. From wood is made what is called "palm perfume"; for they put in what is called the "spathe," having first dried it. From fruits are made the quince perfume, the myrtle and the bay. The Egyptian is made from several ingredients including cinnamon and myrrh."
Pliny also describes the details on the making of perfume powders and compound perfumes:"As to the mixing of solid substances to make powders and compound perfumes we do not find it here necessary to mix certain specified ingredients; the more numerous and the more various the perfumes are mixed the more distinguished and the more grateful the scent will be....again in perfumes of this class the aim and object is not to make the mixture smell of some one particular thing, but to produce a general scent derived from them all. This is why everyday they open the vessel and remove each time that perfume whose scent is overpowering the other, adding at the same time smaller quantities of the less powerful scents, while some perfumes are added. When they make compound perfumes, they moisten spices with fragrant wine; and this certainly seems to be useful to produce a fragrance seeing that perfumers use it also. These compound perfumes last a long time. They are used to impart a pleasant odor to clothes, while the powders are used for bedding, so that they may come in contact with the skin; for this kind of preparation gets a better hold and is more lasting so that men use it this instead of scenting their bodies directly. Some, before putting the powder in the bedding, soak it with fragrant wine, so that it may acquire its scent and some powders they moisten by mixing them with mead and wine or again simply with mead..."
Theophrastus discusses the spices used in making perfumes: "Almost all spices and sweet scents except flowers are dry, hot, astringent and mordant. Some also possess a certain bitterness, as we have said above, such as iris, myrrh, frankincense and perfumes in general...All spices are given their astringent quality by exposure to fire, but some of them assume their special odors even when cold and not exposed to fire; and it also appears that, just as with vegetable dyes some are applied hot and some cold, so it is with odors. But in all cases, the cooking, whether to produce the astringent quality or to impart the odor proper, is done in vessels standing in water and not in actual contact with the fire; the reason being that the heating must be gentle, and there would be considerable waste if these were in actual contact with the flames; and further the perfume would smell of burning. However there is less waste if the perfume obtains its proper odor by exposure to fire than when it does so in a cold state, since those perfumes which are subjected to fire are first steeped in either fragrant wine or in water; for they absorb less while those which are treated in cold state being dry, absorb more.."
Theophrastus on the properties on various spices we learn that "It is thought that not only the smells of the perfumes contribute to a pleasant taste (of the wine) but also the qualities of pungency and heat which are found in some of them...Now some spices when fresh have at first heavy and pungent qualities but in the course of time become sweet till they have reached their prime and then they loose their properties again. Some perfumes are made uo colorless, some are given a color. The dye used for coloring red perfumes is alkanet; the sweet marjoram perfume is dyed with the substance called khroma which is a root imported from Syria."
Theophrastus said that "they use spices in the making of all perfumes; some to thicken the oil (that is render it less volatile), some in order to impart their odor. For in all cases they thicken the oil to some extent to make it take the odor better, just as they treat wool for dyeing (that is he compares the action of the spice with that of a mordant.} The less powerful spices are used for the thickening and then at a later stage they put in the one whose odor they wish to secure. For that which is put in last always dominates."
Theophrastus states that much depends on the season of collection, the time and the "aging" process. "All those made from flowers have little vigor, they are usually at their best after two months and deteriorate quickly after. Perfumes are ruined by a hot season or place or by being put in the sun. That is why perfumers seek upper rooms which do not face the sun but which are shaded as much as possible...This is why men put them into vessels of lead and try to secure phials of alabaster, a stone which has the required effect; for lead is cold and of close texture and stone has that same character, that being the best for keeping perfumes, which has it in the highest degree."
Alexandria, the center for Egyptian perfume manufacture:
Since Alexandria was an important hub in the trading world, many of the ingredients used in the perfumes came through the harbor from foreign vessels. The perfumes were compounded in various perfume workshops in the city.
Together with the local products and imports from Palestine, Syria and Asia Minor they were used for the blending and compounding of perfumes and unguents. This large scale manufacture is described of Pliny: "At Alexandria where frankincense is worked up for sale, good heavens!, no vigilance is sufficient to safeguard the factories (offincae). A seal is put upon the workmen's aprons, they have to wear a mask of net with a close mesh on their heads, and before they are allowed to leave their premises they have to take off all their clothes; so much less honesty is displayed with regard to the produce with them as to the forests with the growers (where no such vigilance is kept)."
The majority of the perfume compounding and bottling was concentrated in the Canopus district of Alexandria. Many fancy little bottle and jars such as lekythoi, bombyli, alabastra, aryballoi gave rise to a flourishing industry of stone and glass containers in Alexandria and other centers for the manufacture of perfumes. The Phoenician merchants exported Egyptian unguents, scented oils, creams, and aromatic wines all over the Mediterranean world and the Arabic peninsula, thereby enhaning the fame and wealth of Egypt, causing the Alexandrian merchants to reap a huge profit. There were several local centers for the manufacture of unguents and perfumes like Corinth, Capua, Chaeroneia, Antiochia and Laodicea but none could compete with Alexandria. Campania would have been the best competitor to Alexandria.
In Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, there was a "street of the ointment makers" and during the late third century AD, a tax of 60 drachmae per month was paid by an "aromatopyles" (dealer in perfumes) and a "myropyles" (dealer in unguents) of Arsinoe.
Where did the ingredients originate?
Scented oils were in use from very early on in Egypt. As early as 2000 BCE fragrant resins and unguents were transported on merchant ships from other countries in the Mediterranean, India and other distant places.
Herodotus gives an account: "Arabia is the last of inhabited land and it is the only country which produced frankincense, myrrh, cassia, cinnamon and labdanum. The Arabians do not get any of these, except the myrrh, with trouble. The frankincense they produce by means of the gum storax, which the Greeks obtain from the Phoenicians; this they burn and thereby obtain the spice." Theophrastus states that frankincense is produced in the country of the Sabians occupying the southern shores of Arabia. They sold it to the Arabs, through whose hands it passed to the Phoenicians, who acted as distributors to the temples throughout their possessions, as well as to the countries with which they traded.
Pliny says that “the Sabians alone knew the tree which produced frankincense, and of these only three thousand families, by virtue of hereditary succession. The trees were regarded as sacred, and while pruning them or gathering the gum, men must be kept from pollution.”
A far-reaching civilizing influence emanated also from Babylonia to the neighboring countries where the caravan routes from India, Arabia, and Syria met. The trade in aromatic gums and fragrant oils with Egypt must have begun at a very early period, as a Babylonian clay tablet, still extant, records an order for “oil of cedar, myrrh, and cypress to be obtained from abroad.”
These early records prove the great antiquity of aromatic perfumes, and show how extensively they were used in past ages. It is evident that they were regarded of the greatest value and equaled that of gold and silver.
The rose attar was imported from Persia and Asia Minor. Calamus, also known as sweet flag was imported from northern Arabia and Syria. Styrax was also imported from Syria. Ships sailing up the Red Sea brought precious opoponax from Yemen. Hammoniac gum was a type of elate-gum or spathe from the Oases of Ammon in Egypt.
Traders from India brought forth the aromatic gum resin myrrh, (from the Balsamodendron myrrha). Myrrh is probably the earliest aromatic gum of which we have record. It is mentioned in several Egyptian papyri of great antiquity. In a papyrus written about 2,000 BCE, in the Hermitage Museum, there is an account of the writer’s journey into Nubia, in which he says: “ I will cause to be brought unto thee fine oils and choice perfumes, and the incense of the temples, whereby every god is gladdened. Of myrrh hast thou not much; all that thou hast is but common incense. Ashipu came and delivered me, and he gave me a shipload of myrrh, fine oil, divers perfumes, eyepaint and the tails of giraffes.”
Other Indian traders exported cinnamon bark, cassia, (the aromatic bark of the Laurus Cassia of southern India, hardly distinguishable from the brown powdered form of cinnamon). Hadramaut and its brown variety came from India. Labdanum (derived from a cistus or rock rose), malabrathum (the leaves of the Cinnamon Tamela), opobalsamum (a second quality stacte), nardus or spikenard (Nardostychas Jatamansi Himalyan) and its Celtic variety (lavender or Saliunca Virg.), costus (root of Saussurea Lappa from Kashmir), cardamom from northern India and galbanum (the gum resin from Ferula galbaniflua of Persia) were imported.
Costly orris root was imported from Elis and Cyzicus (Kuzikos), roses from Phaselis also from Naples and Capua, saffron from the crocus of Cilician Soloi and Rhodes, spikenard from Tanius and Tarsus, dropwort and the extract of vine leaves from Cyprus and Adramythium, marjoram and quince from Cos, and henna and the fruit of a palm called adipsos were locally grown in Egypt. Ships brought precious opoponax from Yemen.
The Egyptians obtained their incense from Punt, now generally accepted to be Ethiopia (in some cases Southern Arabia), from the coastal range of Lebanon and Asia Minor in general, and from Palestine, Syria and Nubia. It was imported in the form of heaps of small grains (called "dry myrrh") or in the form of semi-liquid, plastic resins such as the "fragrant liquid myrrh." The fragrant liquid components seem to have been expressed from the semi-liquid gums or oleo resins in certain cases. Thus a fragrant liquid was produced from myrrh by compressing it. This liquid, called "stacte" by the Greeks, was added to certain perfumes and cosmetics. A Ptolemaic text illustrates this technique: "the red myrrh is weak because of its liquid content, its fragrance is very sweet, if expressed in the bag (bag-press) its content of liquid myrrh is one-fourth."
Queen Hatsepsut, who reigned Egypt in about 1600 b.c., sent an expedition to Punt to bring myrrh and other precious cargo from the fabled land. Her fleet consisted of five ships, which safely reached their destination; and when the captain, Nehsi, had given to Parahu, the Prince of Punt, the gifts which the Queen had sent, the natives loaded her ships with gold, myrrh, ebony, ivory, boomerangs, precious woods, and incense.
Hatshepsut built the beautiful temple of Dier-el-Bahari, and decorated the walls with bas-reliefs illustrating her expedition to Punt, which was regarded as one of the most important events of her reign. The temple's walls illustrate the attempt to import "incense trees" from Punt to grow them in their own country and thus grow independent f the supply by long and dangerous expeditions down the Red Sea. The experiment seems to have failed. One of the inscriptions in the temple, referring to the pictures, records that there were “ thirty-one verdant incense trees brought among the precious things from the land of Punt for the majesty of this god Ammon, the lord of the terrestrial thrones.”
Ingredients used in ancient Egyptian perfumes:
- All-heal (Valerian) - Syria
- Alkanet - Southeast Europe, Turkey
- Apalathos
- Balm of Gilead (Opobalsamum, Carpobalsamum, xylobalsamum, wood balsam) - Arabia
- Bay (Laurel) - Greece, Rome
- Balanos Oil
- Bay
- Bdellium
- Bergamot - Italy
- Bitter almonds - Sicily, North Africa, Southern Gaul
- Bitumen
- Calamus (Sweet Flag) - Europe
- Camel Grass (Lemon Balm) - Middle East
- Cardamom - Northern India
- Cassia (Serichatum) - India
- Cinnabar - Spain
- Cinnamon - India
- Cinnamon Leaf (Malobathrum or Malabrathum) - India
- Cistus - Troas, Attica (Plain of Marathon), Gulf of Glaucus
- Clove - India
- Crocus - Cilicia Soli (Soloi), Asia Minor, Mediterranean
- Costus - Kashmir India, Arabia
- Cyperus - Italy, Siciliy, Europe
- Dropwort - Cyprus, Andramythium, Northern Europe, Asia Minor
- Fenugreek - Rhodes, Cos
- Frankincense - Punt (Somalia), Dhofar, Hadramaut
- Galbanum - Persia
- Germander - Holy Land, Greece (Thermopyle), Lower Egypt, Cyprus
- Gladiolus - Syria
- Helenium (Elecampane) -
- Ginger Grass (Amomum) - western Asia, India
- Glykos wine (sweet wine)
- Hammoniac (Ammoniac) gum - Oases of Ammon, Persia, Libya, Morocco
- Helenium - Egypt
- Henna - Egypt, Syria, India
- Honey - Egypt
- Jasmine - Arabia
- Juniper - Europe
- Labdanum - India, Crete, Gulf of Glaucus
- Lavender - Gulf of Glaucus
- Lentisk (Mastic) - Scio, Egypt
- Lily
- Marjoram (Sampsuchm) - Cos, Troas
- Maro
- Melilot (Sweet Clover) - Europe, Asia
- Mimosa (Acacia) - Egypt, Arabia
- Mint - Europe, North Africa
- Moringa Oil (ben) - North India
- Myrrh - Lebanon, Palestine
- Myrtle - Europe, North Africa
- Narcissus - Europe, North Africa
- Oenanthe (vine leaves perfume)
- Omphacium - Rome
- Opoponax - Yemen
- Orange Blossom
- Orris - Elis, Cyzicus
- Panace (Ginseng) -
- Pine - Arabia, Europe
- Pomegranate - Cyprus, Holy Land
- Quinces - Cos, Greece, Rome
- Roses - Paestum, Phaselis, Naples, Capua, Asia Minor
- Raisins - Egypt, Greece, Rome
- Rosewood
- Saffron - Cilican Soli, Attica (Plain of Marathon), Troas
- Salt
- Sesame Oil - Holy Land
- Sorrel - Egypt
- Spikenard - India, Arabia
- Storax - Gulf of Glaucus, Asia Minor
- Styrax - Syria
- Thyme - Egypt
- Turpentine- Mediterranean
- Wine - Egypt, Rome, Greece
- Wormwood - Cyprus
Carrier Oils:
Theophrastus seems to propose a theory in which the viscosity and "porosity" of the oil is important for its application in perfumes": "Now the composition and preparation of perfumes aim entirely, one may say, at making the odors last. That is why men make the oil the vehicle of them since it keeps a long time and also it is most convenient for sur. By nature indeed oil is not at well suited to take an odor, because of its close and greasy character, and of particular oils this is especially true to the most viscous such as almond oil, while sesame oil and olive oil are the least receptive of all. The oil most used is that derived from the Egyptian or Syrian balanos, since this is the least viscous; the olive oil which is most used is that pressed from coarse olives in the raw state (omphacium) since this is thought to be the least greasy. Some say that for unguent the oil derived from bitter almonds is best; these are abundant in Cilicia where an unguent is made from them. It is said that this is suitable for choice perfumes like the oil of the Egyptian balanos; this is suitable in itself, however the shells of the fruit are thrown into the oil to give it a good odor: indeed they are also thrown into that which is made from bitter almonds."
The Cretans also exported large quantities of oil to Egypt, where it was used to make unguents and cosmetics, as well as to embalm mummies. The olive oil which is often used instead of the more expensive balanos-oil (often called "benben-oil" in the texts) came from Achaia and Syconia Sinope, Samos and later from Spanish Baetica too. The best olive oil was imported from Capua, which produced the Licinian oil.
Omphacium is an oil or juice pressed from unripe olives, dates or the seeds of grapes harvested in mid-summer. Pliny explains that "oil is made from aspalathus, reed, balsam, iris, cardamom, melilot, Gallic nard (lavender?), all-heal, marjoram, helenium and cinnamon root by steeping all these plants in (olive-) oil and then pressing out the juice. In the same way rush-oil, rose oil, henbane, lupine and narcissus oil are made."
Bitter almond oil was imported from Sicily and North Africa, some of it may have come from as far away as southern Gaul.
The Major Perfumes of Cleopatra & Julius Caesar:
Cyprinium: (oil of cypress reed):
Cyprinum (also called kypros) was first made in Cyprus, later made in Egypt, had a sort of sweet scent and was made up of cyperus, rush, alkanet, honey, salt, crushed henna flowers and seeds, calamus, wormwood, rosewood, cardamom, aspalathos, cinnamon, myrrh, sesame oil, all-heal, olive oil, rainwater and old wine. Theophrastus tells us that "to make kyrpros they put in cardamom and aspalathos having first steeped them into sweet wine. The manufacture of kypros resembles that of rose-perfume, except that unless one takes out the flowers and squeezes them out, decay sets in and ruins the perfume by giving it a disagreeable smell, since they cause decay as they get soaked."
The perfume oil included in the Cleopatra & Julius Caesar set was made up of the following ingredients: Cyperus, cardamon, calamus, rose wood oil, wormwood oil, onphamcium (oil of unripe olive).
"The grass-like cyperus yields a pleasant violet scent. Cyprinium was first made on the island of Cyprus, the legendary birthplace of Venus (Aphrodite), but subsequently was manufactured in Egypt (Pliny, N.H. XIII.5). According to the 3rd century A.D. writer Athenaeus, the Egyptians made the best variety, followed by that produced by Cypriots, Phoenicians, and Sidonians (XV.38)."
Metopium: (oil of bitter almonds & galbanum):
Metopium (Metopion) was made up of oil of bitter almonds, mixed with honey, galbanum, wine, turpentine resin, myrrh, resin, cardamom, camel grass, balsamum seed (balm of gilead), omphacium and calamus (sweet flag).
"Bitter almond oil produces a fragrance reminiscent of marzipan. Metopium was one of the most popular unguents during the first half of the first century A.D. Again, the Egyptians and the Phoenicians made the best varieties (Pliny, N.H. XIII. 6, 8-9, Ath. XV.3)."The perfume oil included in the Cleopatra & Julius Caesar set was made up of the following ingredients: Bitter almonds, cardamom, rush, calamus, honey, wine, myrrh, balsam, galbanum, turpentine resin, onpahacium."
Myrtum Laurum: (oil of myrtle and laurel):
Myrtinum (oil of Persia) was composed of green olive oil, water, black myrtle leaves, marjoram, lily, fenugreek, myrrh, cassia, spikenard, rush, cinnamon, bay, omphacium, pomegranate rind, cypress, cyperus grass, camel grass, sweet flag, and mastic.
"Myrtle has a fresh, herbal scent while laurel has a slightly spicier fragrance. This was among the least costly of fragrant unguents and therefore among the most popular (Pliny, N.H. XIII. 10-11)."The perfume oil included in the Cleopatra & Julius Caesar set was made up of the following ingredients: Myrtle, laurel, marjoram, lily, fenugreek, myrrh, cassia, spikenard, rush, cinnamon.
Regale Unguentum: (royal unguent):
Royal Unguent was composed of twenty ingredients. Pliny says that 'Royal' perfume is so-called because it is produced for the kings of Parthia; it is a blend of behen-nut juice, costus, Syrian cinnamon, cardamom, spikenard, cat-thyme, myrrh, cinnamon bark, styrax tree gum, labdanum, balsam, Syrian reed and rush, wild grape, cinnamon leaf, cypress, rosewood, panace, gladiolus, marjoram, lotus, honey and wine. Nine of the ingredients of Royal perfume are grown in Italy, the conqueror of the world and indeed none in the whole of Europe excepting the iris in Illyria and the nard (lavender?) in Gaul. For wine, roses, myrtle leaves and olive oil may all be accepted as the common property of almost all countries." It closely resembles the "oil of holy ointment" mentioned in the Old Testament.
Other ingredients were lavender, germander, calamus, Malabar or Indian bay, saffron, henna, Indian almond, and omphacium.
Athenaeus reports that King Darius III Codomannos had 40 unguent-cookers in his retinue and the recipe of the Royal Ointment so popular in the classical world came from Persia.
"This exotic fragrance blended from a myriad of rare ingredients was originally created for the Asian kings of Parthia (Pliny, N.H., XIII.18). The ancient Parthian empire reached from the Euphrates River in the west to the Indus River in the east, and from the Indian Ocean north to the Oxus River."The perfume oil included in the Cleopatra & Julius Caesar set was made up of the following ingredients: Balanus oil, costus, amomum, cinnamon, cardamon, spikenard, maro, myrrh, cassia, styrax, laudanum, balsam, calamus, rush, lavender, clover, rosa pimpinellifolia, oenanthe, malobathrum, serichatum, cyperus, rose wood oil, panace, crocus blossoms, henna, marjoram, lotus, honey, wine, laurel, saffron.
Rhodinum: (oil of rose):
Rhodinon was composed of green olive oil, roses, camel grass, aspalathos, sweet flag, salt, cinnamon, calamus, omphacium, crocus blossoms, honey, wine, alkanet, rose leaves. Theophrastus mentioned that "to make rose-perfume they put in ginger-grass, aspalathos and sweet flag: and these are steeped as in the case of kypros. So too into each of the others they put the spices that suit them. Into rose-perfume moreover is put a quantity of salt: this treatment is peculiar to this perfume and involves a great deal of waste, 23 gallons of salt being put into eight gallons and a half of perfume."
Pliny records that he "was inclined to believe that the perfumes most widely used are derived from the rose, which grows everywhere in profusion. So the simplest compound was for a long time, attar of roses mixed severally with unripe olive or grape juice, rose and saffron blossoms, cinnabar, reed, honey, rush, flower of salt, anchusa or wine."
"Rhodinum was originally made in Phaselis in Lycia (not far from Antalya, Turkey), but later the best was made in Italy at Naples, Capua and Palestrina. Pliny wrote that roses were the most widely used ingredient in fragrant unguents, because the flower grew in great abundance everywhere (N.H. XIII. 5,9-10)."The perfume oil included in the Cleopatra & Julius Caesar set was made up of the following ingredients: Rose blossoms, crocus blossoms, cinnabar, calamus, honey, rush, alkanet, wine, sublimated salt, onphacium.
Susinum: (oil of lilies):
Susinum, stated by Dioscorides, was specifically a perfume primarily made up of water lilies but also had other ingredients of balanos oil, myrrh, calamus, omphacium, orris root, cardamom, moringa oil, sweet flag, cinnamon, honey, saffron, fragrant wine, crocus, salt, and balsam.
"The oil of lily blossoms has a honey-like floral scent with rich, fruity undertones reminiscent of figs and plums. Considered the most refined and delicate of fragrant unguents, susinum was made both in Sidon and in Egypt (Pliny, N.H. XIII. 11-12)."The perfume oil included in the Cleopatra & Julius Caesar set was made up of the following ingredients: lily blossoms, balsam, crocus blossoms, balanus, cinnamon, saffron, calamus, honey, myrrh.
Telinum: (oil of fenugreek):
Telinum used to be manufactured on the island of Telos, which is one of the Cyclades. Its manufacture was also found in Egypt. Telinum was at once bitter and sweet, its base was of honey, sweet marjoram, rose hips, fenugreek, cypress, calamus, melilot, onphacium, and balm, prepared with wine. This was reportedly a favorite of Julius Caesar.
"The crushed seeds of the herb fenugreek yield an intensely sweet fragrance with notes of a celery like spiciness. It was the most celebrated unguent in the time of the Greek comic playwright Menander (342-291 B.C.), but had lost its popularity by Pliny's day (1st century A.D.). Julius Caesar is said to have made use of this fragrance by Isadorus (Etymologies 4.12). Syria was known for making excellent telinum (Ath. XV.38)."
The perfume oil included in the Cleopatra & Julius Caesar set was made up of the following ingredients: fenugreek, cyperus, calamus, melilot, honey, maro, marjoram, onphacium.
Other Ancient Egyptian Perfumes:
- Aegyptium (The Egyptian) was an Egyptian perfume of the highest regard, made up of henna, cinnamon, honey, orange blossoms and myrrh first steeped in sweet glykos wine and then suspended in almond oil. It was used chiefly on the hands and feet
- Mendesium (Mendesian) was a Egypto-Roman perfume compounded in Egypt made up of galbanum, pine resin, lentisk, myrtle oil, cypress, myrrh, cassia, cinnamon, cardamom in balanos (ben) oil. The Mendesian perfume was known throughout the world as "the Egyptian perfume" and was considered by many to be the very best. Cleopatra was reported to have used the oil on her feet. Mendesian perfume was initially made from balanos oil, but beginning in Ptolemaic times, bitter almond oil became the norm along with the addition of omphacium, sweet rush, honey, wine and turpentine resin.
- Psagdi unguent of Egypt, also the name for an Egyptian incense that was made from pulverized spices — especially cinnamon and henna leaves, mixed with the perfume cyprinum- into pastilles called psagdi. Psagdi was greatly prized and known outside the country.
- Qam'ey ointment
- Irinum - balanos oil, palm tops, wine and orris root. Theophrastus describes it as "the superior iris-perfume, made by using the root dry and not subjecting it to fire: for then the virtue asserts itself more completely than when it is steeped in a liquid or subjected to fire. It also comes to pass that, if the perfumes have been first steeped their virtues are, as it were, squeezed out of the, to a great extent, because they take in and absorb less: and so, when they are making them astringent, they do not leave the spices in the oil for long, but take them out, so that they should not absorb an excessive amount." Dioscorides writes that the root of the iris was known as a perfume by the Egyptians. The final product apparently took 20 years to mature.
- Sampsuchinum (Amaracinum) - sweet marjoram, green olive oil, balm of gilead, camel grass, sweet flag, costus, cardamom, spikenard, myrrh, cinnamon, ginger, cassia, thyme, all-heal, bergamot, mint flowers, myrtle leaves, honey, salt.
- Cinnamominum - balanos oil, cinnamon, balsam of gilead seeds, myrrh, sweet flag, camel grass, fragrant honey
- Megalium (Megalion, Megallus) named after its inventor, the Athenian perfumer Megallos. The perfume was originally created in Ephesos in earlier times but was famous for being made in Alexandria. It was composed of balm of gilead, rush, reed, cassia, resin, balanos oil, calamus, spikenard, burnt resin (probably pine), cinnamon, myrrh, sweet flag, camel grass, costus, spikenard, cardamom and tinted pink with alkanet. This perfume had the reputation of being incredibly difficult to manufacture. Its base, balanos oil, had to be boiled for ten days and nights to remove impurities from it. After this was done, burnt resin and cinnamon mixed with myrrh, which had to be pressed for a few days, were added.
- Iasmelaion: jasmine, cardamom, cinnamon, saffron, myrrh, honey in sesame oil.
- Melinum - Is made similar to that of the rose perfume. Theophrastus mentions that "the oil is first made astringent, and is cold when the quinces are put into it: then they take them out before they turn black removing each batch before the next is put in: for as they turn black, decay ensues because they get soaked through - just as in the case of kypros." It is made with quinces, green olive oil, wine and salt.
- The Phoenician
- The Sidonian
- Panathenaicum made at Athens
Simple oils:
- Metopium: bitter almonds
- Narcissimum: narcissus
- Crocinum: saffron
- Rhodium: roses
- Melinum: quinces
- Regium
- Thurarium
- Malobathrum from Sidon
- Nardum
- Opobalsamum from Persia
- Amaracinum - sweet marjoram
- erpyllos - thyme
- Sisymbrion - mint
- Phoenician - bbitter almonds and balsam
Pliny the Elder wrote, “Perfumes serve the purpose of the most superfluous of all forms of luxury; for pearls and jewels do nevertheless pass to the wearer’s heir, and clothes last for some time, but ingredients lose their scent at once, and die in the very hour when they are used… All that money is paid for a pleasure enjoyed by someone else, for a person carrying scent about himself does not smell it himself.”
Incense:
In Egypt the use of incense goes back to the Pyramid Age, incense-burners of the period have been found. Incense performed the function of "pleasing the nostrils of the gods" by burning, many have no natural fragrance but give off sweet smelling fumes when burnt. The remains of incense date back to about 1500 BCE in Egypt.
Kyphi:
No list could be complete without the mention of Ancient Egypt's most famous scent: kyphi. The most celebrated perfume used by the Egyptians was Kyphi, for which several recipes have been discovered. Its fame was so great that it was adopted and used by the Greeks and the Romans. It is mentioned by Dioscorides, Plutarch, Damocrates, and Galen. Loret, who made a special study of it, states that the earliest recipe consists of the following substances, and it had to be prepared with great care: Acorus calamus, Andropogon, Schoenanthus, Pistacia lentiscus, Laurus cassia, Cinnamomum, Peppermint, Convolvulus scoparius, of each equal parts. These were dried, powdered, and well mixed. The same
quantities of Juniperus phoenicea, Acacia farnesiana, Henna, and Cyperus longus were to be macerated in wine for a day. Raisins were then to be steeped in wine for five days and a mixture made of resin terebinth and honey. The ingredients were then to be incorporated and myrrh added, and finally the whole mixed together.
The recipe given by Plutarch contains sixteen ingredients, and includes honey, wine, cypress, raisins, myrrh, aspalathus, seselis, sthcenanthus, saffron, dock, juniper (greater and lesser), cardamoms, and aromatic reed. He remarks: “ Its aromatic substances lull to sleep, allay anxieties, and brighten the dreams. It is made of things that delight most in the night and exhibits its virtues
by night.”
Damocrates in his recipe includes bdellium, spikenard, crocus, and cassia.
As a whole, kyphi had often included the following ingredients: juniper, sweet flag, cardamom, myrrh, cassia, cinnamon, mastic, mint, henna, mimosa, saffron, bdellium, spikenard, bitumen, sorrel, honey, wine, raisins, cyperus, turpentine, aspalathus, calamus, rush. In a papyrus found in a pyramid at Cheops, mention is made of myrrh, calamus, juniper, and coriander. It was one of the many ingredients for Kyphi which was used for fumigations, and also in the process of embalming. Kyphi was not only used to give an agreeable perfume to the body and clothes, but was also burnt in the house to make it smell sweet, and employed as a medicine.
It is frequently mentioned in the Babylonian and Assyrian cuneiform tablets, and was employed, together with other aromatic substances, for fumigations and incense to exorcise the demons of disease from the body of a sick man.
This complex fragrance was sometimes combined with oils to make a perfume, and it was also drunk as a medicine for liver and lung ailments. Plutarch, the great Greek historian, said of Kyphi: "Its aromatic substances lull to sleep, allay anxieties, and brighten dreams."