A Whiff of Perfume History
Summary: For when you want to sniff around the origins and
evolution of perfume and how its powers were perceived along the
way.
Long, long, lonnng before the existence of soaps and clean
personal hygiene, perfume was invented, no doubt to mask any
number of unpleasant odors. This has been credited to the Medes,
ancestors of the Kurds, in about the 10th Century B.C.
The Egyptians pioneered perfumery as an industry in about 1580
B.C. Perfume became a daily staple in both religious and boudoir
rituals, the latter occurring most frequently in the chambers of
Queen Cleopatra.
Drawing on their experience with plants for medicinal remedies,
the Egyptians developed new methods of extracting and processing
scents from plant and animal sources. China, Persia, Arabia and
India sold raw materials to Egyptian perfumers, and Alexandria
flourished as the most important trade center in that part of
the world.
By 350 B.C. the Greeks had developed such faith in the powers of
perfume that they sprinkled it into the air at their feasts so
that it could be dispersed by the wings of flying doves to
elevate the appetite for food and lovemaking. At one point the
obsession with perfume got so out of hand that it was actually
pronounced illegal. But perfume proved unstoppable. It was
thought to make people smarter, cure illness, and secure the
favor of the gods. Rich people even went to their graves holding
a bottle of perfume. And not to be excluded, poor people were
placed in caskets bearing a painting of a bottle of perfume.
Fast forward to Italy, 500 A.D. Now perfume was the rage for
both religious ceremonies and personal use. Soon the use of
perfume spread to the Islamic world. But alas, the fall of the
Roman Empire brought the perfume industry down with it.
Now fast waaay forward to France, 1656. The French established a
"guild of glove and perfume makers" and the perfume industry
came alive again. Perfumed gloves became the rage. The kings had
"perfumed courts." New blends continued to elevate consumer
demand and finally came Eau de Cologne: a fragrance for internal
consumption! Yes, they drizzled cologne onto sugar lumps and
stirred it into wines. They rinsed their mouths with it, poured
it into bath water, and even used it for enemas.
The 1800s found France flooding the world with perfumes and
colognes born of new chemical discoveries and manufacturing
processes. This spawned the designer bottling industry, and its
lavish works of glass raised the art of merchandising to new
heights.
The 1900s brought the advent of synthetic fragrance materials,
making it possible to formulate many thousands of scents. So
today we can select perfumes and colognes from an endless
universe of designer scents to delight the senses, inspire
ooohhs and ahhs, and complement every personality.