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If you've ever wondered about the origins of perfume, you need look no further than the word itself for clues. The word "perfume" comes from the Latin phrase, per fumare, meaning "through smoke." So for all you Latin buffs out there, it should come as no surprise that the first form of perfume was incense. Incense was first discovered by the Mesopotamians (living in what is now modern Iraq) about 4,000 years ago, and later made its way to Asia...

...Incense made its way to Egypt around 2800 B.C., but it was not until Queen Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt from 1498 B.C. to 1483 B.C., did it really gain popularity. She led expeditions in search of incense and other valuable commodities, the results of which were later recorded in bas-relief on the walls of a temple created in her honor near Thebes (modern Luxor, Egypt; note: there was also a city called Thebes in ancient Greece). In the temple was a botanical garden filled with incense trees recovered from these expeditions.

Until the beginning of Egypt's Golden Age (about 1500 B.C.), perfumes and cosmetics were used only in ritual for gods or pharaohs; but in the Golden Age (which lasted until about 900 B.C.), they began to take a prominent place in daily lives (and afterlives!) of Egypt's citizens. Egyptians took pride in the beautiful containers that held their perfumes and unguents, and the containers and garnitures de toilette (toilet sets) that held them were also things of great beauty. The containers were made from materials such as alabaster (a white, translucent mineral), glass, ebony (a dark wood), earthenware and faïence (a type of porcelain). Some garnitures de toilette were made from gold and obsidian, a stone (made from volcanic glass) not native to Egypt, that was probably imported from Afghanistan. When glass first appeared in Egypt in the 18th dynasty (about 1558 BC), it was considered more precious than jewels. (The art of glass-making, like incense, also originated in Mesopotamia. Glass was the perfect inert and nonabsorbent substance for containing incense and perfume.)

Above: Commercialism in Cairo: a luxurious hotel in front of the pyramids (author's photo).

In fact, so important was the care of their skin that many Egyptians even put them in their tombs to keep their skin silky smooth in the afterlife. Speaking of the afterlife, the embalming process was no minor matter. First the body was, uh, eviscerated, then washed with salts and stuffed with fragrant myrrh and oakmoss and then treated with pine oil. Oakmoss has a lovely, sweet and tenacious smell and pine oil enhanced preservation. The entire embalming process took 40 to 70 days to complete!

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