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Ancient Egypt Scents: Incense and Perfumes The most highly prized perfumes of the ancient world How Ancient Egypt was the leading manufacturer in the world

Tomb of Menna Thebes Mid X-VIIIth Dynasty http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=2609

“Priestesses richly adorned, Anointed with myrrh, perfumed with lotus, Their heads garlanded with wreaths, All together drunk with wine, Fragrant with the plants of Punt, They danced in beauty, doing my heart's wish, Their rewards were on their limbs.”

Tomb of Wennefer M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol. 3. p.56

Ancient Egyptians loved beautiful fragrances. They fully recognized and very well documented their positive effects on health and well-being and associated them with their numerous gods. Perfumes were of the utmost of importance to Ancient Egyptian women and even men, yet they did not use them in liquid-form as we do today. The treatment of raw materials at that time depended on their intended use. So in particular, Perfumes were applied as oil-based salves or sometimes liquids. Incense was given the form of little pellets that could be burned. When the tomb of the young pharaoh Tutankhamen was opened, there were various beautifully crafted jars and containers among the luxurious contents found. To the enthusiasm of the excavators, a unique jar was found to contain a perfumed unguent, still intensely fragrant after so many centuries. (John Steele 2011)

Perfumes were generally applied as oil based salves and there has been countless recipes depicted on the walls of temples all over Egypt. Egypt was the world leader in perfume manufacturing and dove deep into international perfume trading. When Julius Caesar took control of Egypt, he demonstrated this fact to the Roman people by throwing bottles of treasured, Egyptian perfume to the people during his triumphant return to Rome, after many years of war. (john Hill,2010)

The god of perfume, Nefertum, was also a god of healing who was said to have soothed the suffering of the aging god Re, the sun God, with a bouquet of sacred lotus. He is considered to be the world's first known aroma therapist. (John Hill 2010)

One of the most popular scents was Susinum a perfume based on ingredients including cinnamon, myrrh, lily Cyprinum in relation was based upon cinnamon, cardamom, myrrh, henna, and southernwood Finally Mendesian which was based on myrrh and cassia with assorted gums and resins. Surprisingly Mendesian was named after the ancient city of Mendes, although the perfume was produced in other locations at a later date, the most excellent variety was believed to be that from Mendes. Ancient Egyptians also loved Stakte, a perfume with a fairly strong aroma of myrrh, rhondinium, based on the highly popular scent of rose. Perfumes were generally stored in beautiful alabaster bottles, but there is also some evidence that blue glass bottles may also have been used. (John Hill, 2010)

Table of Contents: Introduction

Ingredients Major Ingredients Greek and Roman Findings: (i)	Dioscorides’ findings (ii)	Pliny’s Findings

Manufacture

Recipes Margret A. Murray’s Findings

Application (i) Egyptian perfumes for gods (ii) Perfumes for mummies (iii) Egyptian scented Cones

Tutankhamen’s Amazing discoveries

In Relation to Pop Culture

Ingredients

The ingredients were both homegrown and imported. Punt was the main source of aromatic woods, myrrh and incense. Myrrh is a resin produced from shrubs of the orders balsamodendron and commiphora native to southern Arabia and eastern Africa. The frankincense itself is a fragrant gum resin harvested from the tree.

“You are not rich in myrrh and all kinds of incense. But I am the lord of Punt, and myrrh is my very own. That Hknw-oil you spoke of sending, it abounds on this island.”

M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol. 1. p.214

This is how the lord of the island of Ka summed up the situation in the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor. (Reshafim 2005) This tale is the oldest known instance of a story of a castaway on a fabulous island, who returns home laden with riches. The Sinbad, the Sailor stories from One Thousand and One Nights belong to the same tradition and share many of its characteristics. (University College of London 2003)

Incense was apparently also made from locally grown plants: Ramses III supplied his august father Atem, lord of the Two Lands of Heliopolis with 34,000 measures of papyrus rind which were worked into incense. There were several kinds of incense many of which including ihmut, sonter, and green incense (possibly galbanum), mentioned in papers from the reign of Thutmose III, and white incense (seemingly frankincense), and inflammable incense which were documented as donations by Ramses III. (John Hill, 2010)

Flowers were also used to supply the beautiful aromas that the Ancient Egyptians used. The flowers they used were indigenous to the area like the white lily and the Lotus and for the imported ones there was evidence of the use of Jasmine from India. Most of the ingredients used were from plant origin yet the use of animal fats was also present. (EOL contributers,2009)

A salve or perfume mentioned on the Stela of Sekerkhabau at Saqqara was written with the sign for kid (little he-goat), which has led to speculations that the inscription was referring to musk. Numerous problems have aroused with many ingredients mentioned or depicted in Egyptian sources: they have never been identified in more than the most speculative way. Thus has the on Greek and Roman findings appeared. (Information is sometimes either unclear or unreliable)

Pedanius Dioscorides’ Findings:

A physician, pharmacologist and botanist, the author of De Materia Medica—a 5-volume encyclopedia about herbal medicine and related medicinal substances (a pharmacopeia), that was widely read for more than 1,500 years. (John Steele 2011)

Root of iris Bitter almond oil and ointment (metopion) Cardamoms Balsamon (Mecca Balsam) Oil of lilies Balanos oil Myrrh Cassia

Gaius Plinius Secundus’s findings:

A Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian.

Unguent made from cyprinumthe Ladanum, an import from Arabia The Syrian storax or styrax, Turpentine resin The malobathrum oil Galbanum, (Gum-resin made from Peucedanum galbaniflorum native to Persia)

All these ingredients were listed and studied by these Roman men in connection with their studies about Egyptian Herbal and floral use in the manufacturing of Perfumes. (John Steele 2011)

Manufacture Ancient Egyptians perfume manufacturing techniques where that similar of wine extraction and manufacturing, with the squeezing the last drops of grape juice out of the pulp, to create different wines. In perfume manufacturing, a bag was twisted as après to extract the essences. Scent essences were extracted in two ways: mechanical and chemical, usually a mixture of both. Flowers, roots, berries, chunks of resin were first mixed and mashed up and then either pressed to squeeze the scents out or steeped in grape or palm wine so that they could dissolve the fragrant alcohols. In some cases the ingredients were heated. As a base for scented oils they used Ben oil made from seeds of the moringa, horseradish, colocynth, a tropical climbing plant, sesame and after its introduction from the east, olive oil. The Libyan oil, often known by the Kiki, the malodorous castor oil, was perhaps less preferential in the production of perfume, although it was very helpful for lighting lamps.

Recipes Margaret A. Murray in Saqqara Mastabas describes recipes of a few ancient perfumes: At Edfu there is a text which gives detailed instructions for manufacturing the heknu perfume, giving the exact weight and amount of every ingredient. Pert nezemui Anti-resin (i.e. frankincense) of two qualities Ab-resin Ket-plant Tesheps plant Wood charcoal Sheben-plant Best wine of the oasis Water Nenib-resin

All the dry materials were to be pounded and sifted before being mixed with the wine. The pert nezemui had to be pressed and boiled over a rapid fire, then it would be added to the other ingredients, and the whole mixture was boiled again, and inserted into a khebeb-vessel. It took around eleven days to complete this process. (Margret A. Murray, 20th century)

Application

The gods favored sweet smells just as much as humans did. Moreover, the burning of incense roofed the scent, which came from the animal offerings. Temples received many allocations of raw materials like oils, myrrh, incense and blooms and organized their final goods in their own workshops: fragrant salves for medical use, oils for the process of mummification, ointments for the unction of statues and incense to be blazed as offering. “The unguent of divine mineral for instance, a mixture of incense, bitumen and minerals, was used to anoint divine statues.” (Egypt Center Canoflan Eifftaidd 2010) Mummies were anointed with the beautiful aromas to give life upon them and make them acceptable to the gods. This was also a bonus of taking part in the process of mummification, which could take up to several months. Propitiating the gods was very important in the healing of disease. Good fragrances attracted them, while simultaneously they repelled the demons that caused the illness.Private persons, both women and men seemed to have used perfumes on daily. In New Kingdom pictures, revelers at occasions and parties are depicted sniffing lotus flowers. Sometimes the flowers are shown hovering over their heads. (Egypt Center Canoflan Eifftaidd 2010) Banquet scene Tomb of Nakht Jon Bodsworth

Vegetable or animal oils and fats were scented and rubbed on the skin. Many of the jars on display could have contained the scented oils used for these reasons. Perfumed oils were taken out of jars using certain spoons, normally in the shape of swimming girls. It is thought that at special occasions women wore perfume cones of fat on their heads. As the occasion developed the fat melted and dribbled over their hair and clothes. Others believed that the cones shown on tomb walls are just a hieroglyphic symbol to illustrate that wigs were scented. (Egypt Center Canoflan Eifftaidd 2010)

Amazing Discoveries in Tutankhamen’s Tomb

During the opening of the tomb of the young pharaoh Tutankhamen, among the deluxe contents found in the tomb were various beautifully crafted jars and containers. To the surprise of the excavators, one precise jar was found to contain a perfumed unguent, still intensely fragrant after a very long time. In 1926 the perfume was analyzed and was found to consist of a "neutral animal fat" and a resin or balsam. (John Steele 2011) At the time there was no room to be more specific. However, the most important fragrant component is now believed to be valerian's close cousin, the ancient and precious spikenard (Nardostachys jatamansi). (tourleegypt contributers,2007)

Spikenard is not native to Egypt, Punt or the Middle East. It is found in the Himalayas and grows at very high altitudes on mountains. It was used in the ancient world as a demonstration of their sophisticated trade routes and of the importance placed on aromatic material: they went through a lot of hassle to obtain this little root. Spikenard was contained in alabaster boxes, which were carved, cautiously brought down by caravans and exported over the world. In recent times, as recently as one hundred years ago, spikenard was imported from Nepal to Egypt for use as a folk medicine. Other than various medicinal uses, like valerian, it has relaxing, tranquilizer properties; spikenard was also anciently believed to have mystical and romantic powers. (John Steele 2011)

Spikenard Flower

Relation to Pop Culture

Hatshepsut's perfume is also most probably an expression of her power. "We think it probable that one constituent was frankincense – the scent of the gods," Michael Höveler-Müller declares. This idea is not so wide of the mark, as it is a known fact that in the course of her regency Haptshepsut undertook an expedition to Punt – the modern Eritrea, and the Egyptians had been importing precious goods such as ebony, ivory, gold, and just this frankincense, from there since the third millennium B.C. Apparently the expedition brought back whole frankincense plants, which Hatshepsut then had planted in the vicinity of her funerary temple.( History.com authors,2007)

Fantasy is a women's fragrance and fragrance line by Britney Spears and Elizabeth Arden. Fantasy, the perfume, is the second perfume to be endorsed by Britney Spears. It was released in the US on September 15, 2005, following the successful previous perfume from Spears, "Curious", which made over $30 million in sales in the first three months of its launch. This also is somewhat a demonstration power to modern day celebrities who endorse bottled fragrances and according to the amount of sales of these fragrances thus mirrors their power in the Market, Similar to what Hatshepsut did. (Wikipedia Contributors,2009) References "Ancient Egyptian TextsThe Shipwrecked Sailorc. 2200 BCE." The Shipwrecked Sailor. Reshafim, 2005. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.

Hill, John. "Perfume in Ancient Egypt." Ancient Egypt Society: Ancient Egyptian Perfume. N.p., 2010. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.

"Cosmetics." Cosmetics. Egypt Center Canolfan Eifftaidd, 2010. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.

Steele, John. "Tour Egypt :: Egypt: Ancient Egyptian Beauty - Tutankhamun." Egypt: Ancient Egyptian Beauty. N.p., 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.

Manniche, Lise. An Ancient Egyptian Herbal. Austin: U of Texas, 1989. Print.

Manniche, Lise. The Tombs of the Nobles at Luxor. Cairo, Egypt: American U in Cairo, 1988. Print.

"Ancient Egyptian Images - THE NIGHTMARE NETWORK." THE NIGHTMARE NETWORK RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.

"What Perfumes Did Ancient Egyptians Use? Researchers Aim To Recreate 3,500-year-old Scent." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.

Egyptian Literary Compositions of the Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period." Egyptian Literary Compositions of the Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period. University College of London, 2003. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.

History Authors. "Hatshepsut." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2014. .

EOL Contributers. "Egyptian White Water-lily (Nymphaea Lotus) - Information on Egyptian White Water-lily - Encyclopedia of Life." Encyclopedia of Life. 2009, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. .