The History Of Perfume

Of course, everything that exists today has an origin and perfumes are not an exception to this. In this modern world, perfumes and scents have played an integral role in keeping people together and making us look amazing. But, what is the origin of these perfumes? What was the initial purpose of perfumes? Which perfume first existed?

Perfume in Ancient Egypt

Dated back to thousands of years ago, the origin of perfumes can be traced to ancient Egypt. The first perfume that first existed was “Incense”. Incense represents the original beginning of perfume. The perfume itself is a word derived from two Latin words; ‘per’ and ‘famous’ which means ‘through’ and ‘smoke’. 

Incense perfume was discovered from the burning of resins and woods and was basically used for religious rites and ceremonies.

Ancient purpose and use of perfume

The Egyptians took perfume so serious because of their spirituality. They believed that the gods will smile at them if they smelled good. Consequently, they developed a passion for this art ad surrounded themselves with perfumes always.

Even at the point of death, the Egyptians retained the art and buried several barrels of perfumes in tombs. Perfumes were also used for mummifying; the process of preserving the flesh of a corpse. The belief was that the stronger the scent, the more the chances they’d go to heaven. Hence, perfume in ancient Egypt was not to attract the opposite sex but to attract the kindness of the gods.

For many years, perfumes were kept and used by priests and those who perform rituals until the rich and influential men divulged into the practice. The aim of these men was to appear spiritually clean to the people even though their acts and practices were unclean. The figured out that they could still please gods by covering themselves with this scent too.

Consequently, perfume took several stages of alterations and personalization until it reached the present age usage.

How perfume was commercialized

Time flies and the Egyptians developed a special way of stockpiling their precious heritage. Egyptians now started liquefying these perfumes and stockpiling them in containers. Fast forward to the 12th century when the routes are fully freed and trades were in operation, the Romans and Arabs trooped into Egypt, not only to purchase the perfumes but also to learn the tactics of making them.

As countries move down the art, several other aromatics were discovered and more polished methods were developed. Notably, an Arabian doctor urbanized a distillation process that could extract oils from flowers. Rose was the first flower in this trend. Nowadays, perfumes are now being extracted from different varieties of flowers, trees, and herbs.

The modern-day perfume

The last few years have witnessed a great progress in the perfume industry. In the 90’s, there used to be a new perfume launch almost every week. Nowadays, the different companies in perfume production are busy expanding their knowledge and discovering new scents and perfumes every hour. 

The perfume of today has taken a new shape entirely. You barely need to tell today’s kid what a perfume is meant for. We all know and use perfume for optimizing our physical appearance and to attract opposite sex.

Conclusion

Perfume has its origin in Egypt with “incense” being the first ever perfume that existed. The Egyptians used perfumes for religious rites and ceremonies but the purpose seems to have suffered a great change in this contemporary world. Are you really using perfume for the major purpose it was meant for? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.

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