History of the Perfume Industry in Greco-Roman Egypt

Abstract

There's no doubt that in civilizations from Egypt to Greece, fragrance was spread as a vital element in life and death. Egypt was famous for its perfume throughout the ancient civilizations. In ancient Egypt, Alexandria was famous for the manufacture of perfumes and as the marketplace of several Egyptian products, such as myrrh. Mendes too was famous for its perfume.
Indeed, perfumes were required for use in temples, rituals, ceremonies and festivals. There were various words in ancient Egypt used to refer to perfume, such as “ndm.st“(pleasant) and “rdw” (jar). In the temples, large quantities of incense, perfume and scented flowers were offered to the gods. Some gods were linked with specific scents, such as Anubis god, who anointed the mummy with sacred oils to prevent the body from decaying.
Besides, the ancient Egyptians used perfumes in many different forms to give an agreeable odor to the body. In particular, flowers and spices such as cinnamon and myrrh added fragrant scents to perfumes and oils used in everyday life.
In other words, recipes for and depictions of perfume preparation can be found in numerous ancient temples, while the recipes for perfumes were inscribed on the walls of the laboratories of the Ptolemaic temples. Theophrastus, the Greek philosopher, talked about the ways used to color perfumes and scents, such as the pigmentation used for red perfumes, which was alkanet from the plant Anchusa. Two Greek Kyphi “burnt substance” recipes mentioned lists of ingredients for perfumes.
Further, the perfumes were made from mixtures of several ingredients and three techniques seem to have been used; the substances were pounded, mixed together, and then put on the fire. Also the ancient Egyptians used several kinds of herbs and plants to produce perfumes, such as iris. Iris root or balsam was used as a base for the ancient perfumes. While the most fragrant oils in ancient Egypt were myrrh, frankincense and lily, which were mixed with essences of flowers, fruits and herbs.