HistoryofPerfume

We are doing ongoing research on the history of perfume and will add information to this page as research progresses. Our particular interest is perfume making, the use of cosmetics, and the significance they had on the concept of health and beauty during several distinct historical eras: The age of the Pharaohs in ancient Egypt, the Egyptian/Greco-Roman era around the time of Cleopatra VII 40 B.C., the scents of the lands Alexander the Great traveled in 323 B.C., the Elizabethan age of Queen Elizabeth I of England, the Venetian and Florentine scents during the Renaissance, and the royal court of King Louis XIV and the "Perfumed Court" of King Louis XV of France.

Egyptian history covers thousands of years, so we will write only on the use of cosmetics, toiletries, and the process of making perfume oils and unguents in several of the royal courts of the Pharaohs and queens. Because fragrances were always based in oils in those times, this research will be on making perfume in the period "before distillation". Later in history, perfume materials were distilled and blended into an alcohol base, as modern perfumes are today.

Queen Nefertiti

During the years of 1550-1069 B.C., three dynasties of kings (pharaohs) ruled Egypt. During the 18th Dynasty, King Amenhotep IV (who later changed his name to Akhenaten), and his wife, Queen Nefertiti, and stepson Tutankhamun ruled. Nefertiti, one of the most famous beauties of ancient Egyptian history, is usually recognized today by a sculptured bust housed in the Berlin museum, thought to be this famous queen. She is shown wearing the blue flat-top crown, and, sadly, one eye is missing from the ancient sculpture. Nefertiti was Akhenaten's queen, and the mother of his six daughters. Her name meant "The beautiful one has arrived." Tutankhamun, whose tomb was discovered in 1921, was a son by another of Akhenaten's wives.

During the reign of Amenhotep IV, the king changed his royal name to Akhenaten to show his devotion to only one god, Aten, the sun god. Queen Nefertiti became more prominent in royal life, and is depicted in drawings sharing royal duties almost equally with her husband. This represents a radical change from the beliefs and traditions at the time. She is shown in drawings smoothing perfumed oil on her husband. She is beautifully made up and wearing elaborate, jeweled wigs. It was very common at the time to shave one's head, the purpose being two-fold: it was cooler and it made it easier to prevent lice.

Beautiful Perfume Bottles

Egyptians kept their valuable perfumed oils in beautifully designed vessels of stone or glass. They believed the soul would need to use all the same possessions in the afterlife as were used in this life. Numerous jars, bottles, and oil vessels were found in the royal tombs. Oils and unguents were worn as both fragrance and protection from the dry desert climate. In a 1350 B.C. shipwreck off the coast of Turkey, bars of blue glass were found. These were most likely bound for the Egyptian royal court to be made into prized blue glass bottles for perfume oils or eyepaint. In that shipwreck, a signet ring was found bearing the name of Nefertiti on it. And when the tomb of King Akhenaten's son, King Tutankhamun, was opened by Howard Carter in the 1920's, the alabaster jars that were buried there for over 3,000 years still held the faint aroma of the perfume they once contained.

Making Perfume in ancient Egypt

Perfumemaking was a high art during this time. The aromatic materials were abundant in that region, and materials were added by traders from countries nearby. The process of distillation was not developed as we know it yet. The scents were extracted from the aromatic materials in a number of ways. They steeped the materials in oil until the scent was transferred to the oil, macerated, pounded, boiled, filtered, steeped, ground, and wrung out aromatics in cloth to squeeze every last drop of scent possible. Mixtures of various types of fragrant blends were added to an oil or fatty base. The following is a list of many of the materials used in making perfume in those days. Some of these are used in the "Queen Nefertiti" perfume that we have created, as the raw materials are all still available today.

Myrrh, frankincense (both are resinous "tears" which exude from the trees on which they grow), cassia, cinnamon, galbanum, cardamom, camel grass, sweet flag, honey, camomile, cistus, dill, lawsonia, iris, lotus, spikenard, mastic, galbanum, balsamum seed, opoponax. Many of their recipes call for the mixture of scents to be mixed in wine, raisins, honey, ox fat, goose fat, almond oil, sesame oil, castor oil, balanos oil, or moringa oil.

Vessels used to hold perfumes were usually made of stone because it was non-porous, kept cool, and would not leak. Alabaster was favored, probably because it is a soft stone, available in nearby quarries, and easily carved into beautiful shapes. But there were also marble, glass, faience, gold, steatite, ivory, rock crystal, ebony and other exotic woods.

More resources on the history of perfume in Egypt

This is only a fraction of the information available on this subject, as Egyptian history is thousands of years old. Their perfume making was an art practiced a\throughout that history. For more details, the following are some of the best books on the subject of making perfume in Egypt:

Sacred Luxuries - Fragrance, Aromatherapy and Cosmetics in Ancient Egypt. Lise Manniche, author. Published by Cornell University Press, New York, 1999.

Silent Images - Women in Pharaonic Egypt. Dr. Zahi Hawass, author and Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Egypt. Published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 2000.

An Ancient Egyptian Herbal. Lise Manniche, author. Published by University of Texas Press, Austin, 1989.

Hatshepsut - The Female Pharaoh. Joyce Tyldesley, author. Published by The Viking Press, 1996.

Nefertiti - Unlocking the Mystery Surrounding Egypt's Most Famous and Beautiful Queen. Joyce Tyldesley, author. Published Viking Press, 1998.

Women in Ancient Egypt. Gay Robins, author. Published by Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1993.

L'Egypte. Parfums D'Histoire. Published as a companion to the exhibit in the Musee International de la Parfumerie in Grasse, 2003, in conjunction with Somogy Editions d'Art, Paris and La Ville de Grasse.

Egyptians of this era put a great deal of emphasis on cleanliness and the physical appearance. They believed fragrance was consistent with religious purity. Priests made fragrances and kept detailed records of the ingredients and methods they used in the fragrances and incences they made. It was written by Greek historian, Herodotus, that the Egyptians "wear linen clothes, always freshly washed". Perfumes and cosmetics played a large part of daily grooming for both men and women in this hot, dusty climate. The daily bath, application of eyepaint (made from galena) and fragrance were part of everyday life. Egyptian perfumes were considered the best and most consistently made perfumes of the time. The fertile land of the Nile was enriched by many indigenous plants, which yielded many of the raw materials for perfumemaking. Egypt also traded with many foreign lands for woods, spices and raw materials. Queen Hatshepsut, predating Nefertiti by several generations, sent exploratory expeditions to the land of Punt (now thought to be in the region of Somalia) specifically to bring back the raw materials from that region. From Punt came great quantities of myrrh and frankincense. These two ingredients were included in an incense called kyphi, burned daily in the temples, and were key ingredients in several types of perfumes made at the time.

The newest scent, ALEXANDER "OMNI", has been created with the same aromatic ingredients as would have been available to Alexander the Great on his long journey to the end of the world he knew. He wanted to rule it as a unified kingdom. And in homage to his philosophy and persuasion, this scent is not just a men's scent, or a woman's scent. It is made for everyone, everywhere, hence the name "Omni".

Alexander of Macedon was truly deserving of the name "the Great", as it is agreed by the world that he was the greatest military genius of all time. His father was King Phillip--a king who trained a standing army for Macedon. Not only did he use one of the most powerful weapons known in their day--the sarissa (a spear approximately 14-16 feet long), but he trained the army to fight in a formation called a phalanx in order to use their forces most effectively against enemies who outnumbered them. Alexander of Macedon defeated the king Darius of Persia at the battle of Gaugemela, and went on to found many cities, many of which are called Alexandria, thus establishing Greek culture far into Asia.

His philosophies differed from the traditional Greek teachings that all men who weren't Greeks were "barbarians". But as he became the new king of the former Persian empire, he was careful to follow the court etiquette in that land. He treated the royal family honorably, it is written by historians. As he conquered nation upon nation across Asia, his intent was that all races and cultures should blend together and live in harmony. Alexander himself married women from nations in his vast empire, and adopted various aspects from the cultures he controlled. Far from insistence that Greek traditions were the only way to live, he wanted his people to thrive under his reign, with their own cultures intact. His views were not always popular with his traditional Macedonian generals, but were very forward-thinking for his time. He was a very complex man who could be both tender and extremely generous, highly intelligent and driven by a quest for a glorious life. Alexander's military life was physically austere, and he did not indulge in he luxuries he might have. However, it was said that he was concerned with his own physical cleanliness and used scents after bathing when the time and circumstances permitted. In the nations he conquered, the treasures (including perfumes, incense, dyed cloth, etc.) were all presented to him. These would have included the vast wealth of raw materials in Egypt and the Persian territories, including an abundance of florals (roses especially) and spices. See notes above for the Egyptian perfumery materials.

The life, accomplishments, and philosophies of Alexander the Great have been a true inspiration to me, and the study of Alexander's life, and way of life, have inspired the creation of this scent. Please visit the Alexander OMNI page for additional links to reading resources on Alexander the Great.