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Perfumes of Ancient Egypt
Stakte, Susinum, Cyprinum, the Mendesian. Once upon a
time, those names resonated with the impact of Opium or Chanel
Number Five. And for good reason: up until and during the first
few centuries of the Common Era, Egypt was the prestigious
center of an international perfume industry. Although perfumes
were created and mass-marketed elsewhere in the ancient world,
it was Egypt that was most renowned and identified with the
international perfume trade. Egypt was so identified with
perfume that during Julius Caesar's Roman triumphs, perfume
bottles were tossed to the crowd to demonstrate his mastery over
Egypt.
Fragrance was common and accessible throughout Egypt; perfume
was not. Beautifully scented flowers were readily accessible in
the Nile River valley to even the humblest individuals. We know
from artifacts and art that the Egyptians were fond of floral
garlands, much in the manner of today's Hawaiian lei. However,
perfume was an expensive luxury item created in Egypt for the
elite and for export.
As befitting a luxury item, the Egyptians taste in perfume
ran towards the exotic. Perfume formulae remain to us; although
we have countless images of lotuses being worn and sniffed,
nowhere does this indigenous and, at that time, common flower
appear in perfumery recipes. Instead, imports like myrrh,
frankincense, cinnamon and cassia were favored. With the sole
exception of timber, fragrant materials were ancient Egypt's top
import. With these materials, precious, lavish fragrances were
created and then exported throughout the ancient world. Because
these materials had to be transported over great distances, the
most popular perfumes were created from hardy components: resins
and roots.
At least as far as packaging goes, what the Egyptians would
have called perfume would be recognizable to us, meaning that
specific and reasonably consistent formulas were created and
marketed. In other words, if you were to go perfume shopping
today, let's say to purchase a bottle of "Miss Dior,"
you would possess certain expectations of what that product
should look and smell like. In much the same way, back in
ancient days, were you to purchase a bottle of Susinum,
the famed and very popular fragrance based upon the aroma of
lilies, you would also have expectations of fragrance and
appearance.
Beyond expectations, there was also a standard of excellence
to meet. Thus international debate of the time centered on
exactly who made the finest Cyprinum, a fragrance based
upon the scent of henna (Lawsonia inermis): the perfumers
of Egypt (specifically those from Canopus) versus their
competition from Ashkelon, Cyprus or Sidon? (Both Pliny and
Dioscorides believed the Egyptian product to be superior over
all others.)
Ancient perfumes were marketed in elaborate luxurious
containers. Just as today, attractive and eye-catching packaging
was an integral aspect of the luxury perfume experience.
Alabaster, according to Pliny, was the finest material for
storing scent. Large quantities of varied perfume bottles have
been excavated. Among the cargo excavated from the Ulu Barun
shipwreck (named after the Turkish town near where the ship was
discovered), were bars of blue glass. This glass is so similar
to the cobalt-blue glass beloved by modern aromatherapists that
it's quite tempting to speculate that they would have been
turned into blue perfume bottles. (The ship, laden with fragrant
materials, apparently sank on its way to Egypt, bearing
botanical cargo for further processing. The date of the voyage
has been approximated based upon the discovery on the ship of a
golden signet ring bearing Nefertiti's cartouche.)
Just as the ancient customer held reasonable expectations of
a product, so the ancient perfumer held clear goals:
· The finished product had to be
reasonably consistent: one bottle of Susinum was expected
to be reasonably identical with any other.
· The finished product could not
turn rancid.
· The finished product had to
maintain a lengthy shelf life.
It was the consistent fulfillment of these three goals that
created the fame and reputation of ancient Egyptian perfumers.
Bottles of Susinum or the Mendesian were renowned
for retaining their scent for as long as twenty years. Modern
consumers take those goals for granted. Think about it: if you
were to buy a bottle of Chanel, Joy or Guerlain today,
and if you care it for it reasonably properly, keeping it
tightly capped and out of direct sunlight, wouldn't you
automatically assume that the fragrance would last and linger
for years? The ancient customer held the same expectations. The
finest Egyptian perfumes filled the same luxury niche that fine
French fragrances hold today. Purchasers knew that they could
depend upon them not only for their beautiful fragrance but also
because they were consistent and enduring. The ancient perfumer
was more than a craftsperson: he (or she) was an artist. The key
to long lasting, consistent fragrance came in knowing which
ingredients to blend together, in what order and in precisely
what quantity.
The Egyptians used three methods of releasing fragrance.
Perhaps the oldest method was via burning. This technique is
evoked and recalled in the modern word perfume, literally
"through smoke." Fragrant materials could also be
added to oils or to animal fats (goose, ox or pork) or fruit
pastes, like the legendary kyphi, a temple fragrance, which was
based upon raisins. As you can imagine, these fragrances would
have felt different from what we call perfume today.
Unguents, fragrant ointments or pastes, are similar to what
we know today as solid perfume or perfumed cream. Because they
are liquid, perfumed oils are perhaps closest to the texture
associated with modern perfume.
Oil alone was considered a necessity of life in Egypt's arid
climate. Even the common working man typically received a daily
allocation of oil, amongst his wages, The addition of scent,
however, transformed a daily necessity into a luxury.
Although the Egyptians had access to some twenty-one
different types of vegetable oil, two were favored above all
others by the ancient perfumers: balanos and ben.
An oil would be favored for two reasons. First, the oil itself
would have to possess a bland, pleasing aroma so as to cause
minimal interference with the anticipated final fragrance. In
addition, oils that retained fragrance longest, helping to
sustain the fragrance over an extended period of time, would be
preferred. Balanos oil was derived from the fruit of the Balanites
aegyptiaca tree. Although the tree can still be found in
Egypt, it is rare and as far as I can tell, no modern oil is
derived on any kind of commercial scale.
The ancient perfumer's other favored choice was ben oil, also
variously known as moringa, behen, baq or horseradish tree oil (Moringa
pterygosperma or M. aptera.) Ben oil was a popular
choice, used not only for perfumery but also for various
therapeutic purposes. (It was favored in facial skin care.)
Unlike balanos, ben oil is once again a component of the perfume
trade, grown and extracted in India, from whence it is shipped
to Parisian perfume manufacturers. Ben oil is indeed light,
pleasantly fragrant and highly absorbent. The scent of the
essential oils added to it were vivid and long lasting while the
oil itself seemed to disappear quickly, leaving no greasy heavy
feeling behind on the skin.
Ancient perfumes were traditionally named for their town of
origin or their main ingredient. Thus the Mendesian is
named after the ancient city of Mendes, although eventually that
perfume would be created elsewhere, even outside Egyptian
borders. The Mendesian featured myrrh, cassia and
assorted gums and resins steeped in oil. Stakte contained
an even stronger aroma of myrrh: it consisted either of bruised
myrrh itself, or the resin added to balanos. Cyprinum, is
not named after the island of Cyprus but after a plant generally
taken to be henna, with the addition of cardamom, cinnamon,
myrrh and southernwood. Susinum was a perfume of lilies
with myrrh, cinnamon in a base of balanos oil. The eponymous "Egyptian"
consisted of cinnamon and myrrh steeped in sweet-smelling wine.
The fragrances the Egyptians loved remain to us: cinnamon,
frankincense, lemongrass, myrrh, rose. To approximate the
fragrance, if not the texture of their perfumes, add a few drops
of essential oil or absolute to a teaspoon of bland vegetable
oil: sweet almond oil or grapeseed perhaps. For greater
authenticity, mix the fragrance with ben oil.* (Cinnamon and
lemongrass can irritate even the least sensitive skin; try a
drop on your hair instead.)
* Ben oil is available through http://www.indiamart.com/kodisherbs.
Moringa tree seeds are available as well.
· For the true fragrance of
Egypt, Kyphi Aromatherapy features essential oils and flower
waters grown, harvested and distilled in Egypt: kyphi9@hotmail.com
or 416-383-1586.
· For those with greater
ambitions, Lise Manniche's beautiful book, Sacred
Luxuries: Fragrance, Aromatherapy and Cosmetics in
Ancient Egypt (Cornell University Press, 1999) contains
actual ancient perfume recipes. (And if you contact me, I
will teach you how to extract the goose fat you may need!) Even
for those lacking in ambition, the book features a collection of
extravagantly wonderful old perfume bottles and vials. |
