The Role Of Perfume In Ancient Egypt
Fragrance fabrication has been an old workmanship for a considerable length of time. It’s been all around proclaimed in writings that lay right back to the Egyptian Old Kingdom as well as the second millennium in Mesopotamia and Palestine.
The word perfume was derived from the Latin routes of per- which is equivalent to “through” + fumum which is “smoke” meaning - `through the smoke´. While in Ancient Greece the word meant `a scent, offering to the gods´. This shows that humans already learned from the earliest of stages, that heat transformed anything that laid upon it, into odour. To inhale a perfume was to take into their body the spirit force of the cosmos.
From betimes, individuals have enjoyed scouring fragrant substances into their skins as formal purposes for divine sensations, as well as ritualistic purposes for the gods, the rulers, the clergymen and last but not least the utilization for medicinal purposes. Amid the Geometric and Orientalizing period primarily in the Orient, Egypt, and Eastern Greece, the aroma was initially a refined thing; it was not until the seventh to sixth century B.C., that all the more widespread exchange started, from Corinth. Not long after, the privileged and the commoners were distinguished by the use of a unique scent of the fragrance, they had on them. The ancients valued perfumes so expressively that they were willing to pay extreme prices just to have their own specific template. A perfume was like an individuality a uniqueness to a person, somewhat an identification.
In both Western Eastern cultures the societies, perfumes, and fragrances have been marked as societal values and customs of everyday life as well as rituals for gods and guiding the sick to the afterlife. In these civilizations, it was also believed to cleanse the body and make it more god-like. In fact, in ancient Egypt, the perfume was used as a vigorous symbol of authority and divine sanction. Hence, it played a considerable role in magic, religion, and medicine. Lise Manniche is a specialist in ancient Egyptian aromatics and she said, “scents were believed to originate from the gods in the first place, to have sprung from their eyes or their bones, in particular, the eye of the sun-god Re”. So, it was believed that the perfumes originated as a part of the essence of gods and not only derived from the natural organism.
Aromas in antiquity diverged immensely from the contemporary aromas of now by the way they’ve been composed: in spite of the antiquated experimental distillation standards, they had not yet contrived refined liquor which leads them to utilize glyceride to make the perfumes. Amid the second millennium B.C., the most ordinarily used oils in Mesopotamia and Egypt were acquired from ben, sesame, horseradish, and almonds. As olive oil was a lot easier to manufacture, it turned into the most widely recognized excipient. These fats were then made astringent by being primarily brought to heat with plants such as sedge, then blended with aromatic substances, many blossoms such as irises, lilies and roses, but in addition fragrant woods, gums, and musk. The activity of imparting the aromas onto the fats is called enfleurage; once in a while requires the essence of heat in a cauldron in order for the oil to be saturated with scents. Another method that the ancient Egyptians developed was the torsion press which was set with a wood framework and a cloth sack which was twisted above a container filled up with the substances such as oils, herbs, seeds or fluids from plants; then it would flow out of the weave like a sieve.
The ancient Egyptians profoundly prized their botanic fortunes and the absence they had of consistent rainfall was neutralized by the water from the Nile. The Egyptians made various types of perfumes from fragrant plants, oils, and fats, employing various methods. Egypt was famous for its exotic and lavishing perfumes throughout the ancient world, their perfumes were traditionally named after their town of origin such as ‘The Mendesian’ which come from Mendes an ancient city in Egypt that specialized in the production of perfumes during the Ptolemaic Period, or another way was from the main ingredient in the perfumes such as lotuses or lilies. Egypt had a central part in the international trade of perfume since it was a world leader of perfume creation. As stated earlier, perfume has been a means to show authority. Julius Caesar demonstrated this when he took control of Egypt. He did it by throwing bottles of precious perfume at the Roman people as he was gloriously returning to Rome. Even though perfumes only affect one out of the six senses, it’s much more powerful than most people think. The smell is the sense that is still not fully understood, and the mechanism remains a mystery. However, what we already know is that it is connected to our emotions and memory. One can argue that it works as a way of communicating.
One perfume was simply called ‘The Egyptian’, which was highly cherished by women because it was a long-lasting perfume that did not evaporate quite easy, due to its substantial disposition and intensity. In an article of Theophrastus was told that `the Egyptian’ was one of the most difficult perfumes to produce because it involved a mixture of expensive ingredients that were usually brought from the `land of Punt´. The ancient Egyptians could not produce a lot of materials which was because of the extreme climate situation, because of that they established trades with neighbours in the Ancient Near East.
Amid the Ptolemaic Time period, the most thorough recipes of fragrances were recorded in Ancient Egypt. Kyphi, which was one of the richest, most complex fragrances in ancient Egypt was a compound incense which was used as a ritualistic purpose as well as a healing one. The Kyphi was burned at sundown in the temple of the sun-god Ra. The formula was found written in hieroglyphs in the tomb of Tutankhamen along with small vessels containing the scent, which astonishingly still upholds the scent after thousands of years.
Egyptians felt that perfumes were so to say the `the mucus of life´. The absence of scent would have automatically indicated death. They felt that is was fundamental to use the fragrances in their ritualistic practices of embalmment with the dead before mummification. It was essential to ensure the rebirth of the deceased and a successful afterlife with the ‘seven sacred oils’. Each oil was known for a different shape or jar.
The lotus flower was also used in depictions of the deceased upon their entry into the underworld, rebirth and the afterlife. It was told that oil of the lotus was utilized amid the long procedure of setting up the body for preservation “to unite the limbs, join the bones and assemble the flesh,” as well as decreasing the scent of the rotting being. The god Nefertem was said to have to preside in this procedure. Nefertem was the god of both healing, perfumes, and aromatherapy. Nefertem was believed to have risen from a lotus blossom. For told in Ancient Egyptian mythology, he brought a lotus to God Ra to ease the pain as he aged. Simply the aroma of the lotus was considered restorative.
Egyptians believed that perfumes were associated with immortality. They were wrapped in linen bandages impregnated with aromatic oils such as Myrrh, Pine and Caderwood. They believed in transmigration which meant that your body itself was reborn. The surviving personality retained all the sensations of its earthly existence, as long as it passed the judgment of the gods, the weighing of the soul, a process which is called psychostasia. That’s why it was vital that their body remained in the same place for their soul to return to their rightful place and reclaim its body. “A stairway to the sky is set for me that I may ascend on it” unknown author. In the iconography of ancient Egyptians, the scent of flowers indicated the presence of a deity. From the Ritual of Amon, The Evolution of the Dragon there was a text from the temple translated coming from the pores of Amun:
The god comes with body adorned which he has fumigated with the eye of his body, the incense of the god which has issued from his flesh, the sweat of the god which has fallen to the ground, which he has given to all the gods ... It is the Horus eye. If it lives, the people live, thy flesh lives, they members are vigorous.
