Fragrance Products: A Brief History
- by KissMeGoodnight.com

Fragrance products have been around almost since the beginning of civilization itself. Certain scents are the key to unlocking many of the world's memories. Perhaps that accounts for their popularity. The fragrance industry did more than ten billion dollars in sales last year alone. We are not the only culture to be fragrance obsessed, though. The word “perfume” comes from the Latin “per fume” which translates to “through smoke.” This makes perfect sense in light of the fact that the earliest fragrance products known to man were the burning of incense or aromatic herbs during religious gatherings or for religious purposes.

It is commonly agreed that the Egyptians were the first, as a culture, to wholly integrate fragrance into their cultural world. Under the reign of Queen Sheba, religious ceremonies, including things like burning incense to honor the dead, became the cultural standard in the country. All scents were essential to this culture. They were a high priced commodity. They were even more important than gold. However, the most important scent in the country was kyphi, a natural scent found throughout the country at the time. It is said that when archaeologists opened the tomb of Tutankhamen, it was this scent that overpowered them. The Egyptians did not stop their use of fragrance with religious ceremonies and their cultural customs surrounding the dead, though. Egyptians also routinely used fragrance products on their bodies. They regularly anointed themselves with scents like cinnamon and honey. They also developed a great talent for scent extraction. Many temples show drawings of citizens distilling fragrance from the white Madonna lily. Scents of this type, though, were not for all Egyptian citizens. These fragrances were only used for powerful, wealthy citizens who could afford to use them on a regular basis. Both genders, men and women, in Egyptian society, though, were welcome to wear these precious commodities. Fragrance was seen as a symbol of power and wealth, and the rich liked to flaunt their wealth through their scents and those of their family members. Interestingly enough, though, most of the Egyptian scents were not native to the country. Most of them were brought to the Egyptians by Palestine, Persia, India, and Arabia.

In Persia, as in Egypt, fragrance was also a sign of social class. Kings sitting in their palaces wore crowns decorated with scents like myrrh and labyzuz. The aromas could be smelled throughout the palace. Wealthy citizens had extensive gardens. Most grew scents like jasmine, lilac, violet, and red rose for a number of purposes, including distillation so they could wear the scents out of the house. Most wealthy citizens used perfumes after bathing. Many men put civet on their beards and musk on other places on their body to emit the aroma of wealth and power wherever they tread. Persians were one of the first cultures to master the art of preservation. They placed rose buds in sealed jars, often earthenware, and opened them on special occasions.

After Alexander the Great defeated Darius III of Persia, he too adopted the use of fragrance in Greece. He had scented water sprinkled on the floors of his homes. All of his clothes were heavily fragranced with resins and myrrh. The Greeks extensively used fragrances associated with their religion. They believed the gods invented perfume. They also believed that after a god or goddess had visited an earthly location, it was forever marked with a sweet smell as a gift from the deity. They anointed all of their dead bodies with scented oil. In wedding ceremonies, not only were the bride and groom scented, the bride's maidens bore crowns of hyacinth. Even their games were marked with scents. After an athlete was deemed the winner, he was given a necklace of golden violets to wear. The Greeks also made an extensive study of perfumes. They left extensive writings about which plants, and which parts of those plants, offered them the scents they used with different ceremonies.

Many different cultures started the various use of perfumes throughout the course of history, and we still use fragrances for so many different purposes today. They are still used frequently in various religious ceremonies, and we use them to adorn our bodies. The use of perfumes will most likely last until the end of civilization as we know it.

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KissMeGoodnight.com : 2006

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