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.
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