The history of Perfumes and Man

It is really impossible to walk along the street wherever it is, without getting the distinct scent of various labels. Whether they are floral, musk, ever-green et. like everything the use of perfumes is an art- getting the right scent, blend and quantity, unfortunately not everyone is quite cultured. Well, that’ll be a topic for another day. Here, discussed are the origins and cultural heritage of perfumes.

Man has always been on the look-out for innovative ways on which to improve himself, environment and his outlook in general. Hence the birth of perfumery; the art of making perfumes.

The word perfume describes sorted mixtures, it’s gotten from the Latin word, “per fumus”, meaning through smoke-it’s no wonder some are so choking when misused. Perfumery refers to the art of perfume making, it was probably refined by the Romans, the Persians and the Arabs.

Perfumery is said to originate from Egypt but refined by the Persians and Romans.

The art of perfumery was first recorded when Tapputi-Belatekallim. Tapputi, also referred to as Tapputi-Butt ("Belatekallim" refers to female overseer of a palace), is considered to be the world's first chemist, a perfume-maker mentioned in a cuneiform tablet dated around 1200 BC in Babylonian Mesopotamia. She used flowers, oil, and calamus along with cyperus, myrrh, and balsam. Almost all pre-modern civilization has a history of perfumes or perfumery; the Indus civilization-a text called Brihat-Samhita written by Varahamihira one of the ‘nine jewels’ in the court of Maharaja of Malwa- had a perfume reference. In a Cyprus, an Italian archaeological team unearthed evidence of an enormous perfumery factory that existed some 4000 years ago during the Bronze Age, it was said to cover a surface area of 4000m² indicating an industrial manufacturing scale. Interestingly the Islamic cultures contributed significantly to the development of western perfumery in two areas: perfecting the extraction of fragrances through steam distillation and introducing new raw materials, these have greatly influenced western perfumery and scientific developments. Muslims improved the production and continued use of perfumes in daily life and in practising religion. It is interesting the quote attributed to Muhammad as far back as the 6th century as to the usage of perfumes in religious duty. Muhammad said:

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The taking of a bath on Friday is compulsory for every male Muslim who has attained the age of puberty and (also) the cleaning of his teeth with Miswaak (type of twig used as a toothbrush), and the using of perfume if it is available. (Recorded in Sahih Bukhari).

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In times past it was not strange to find that blended extracts with cement were used to build mosques, this probably served as incentives to Islamic scholars to search and develop a cheaper way to produce incenses and in mass quantity. Arabian chemist: Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber, born 722, Iraq), and Al-Kindi (Alkindus, born 801, Iraq) who established the perfume industry. They carried out extensive research- including distillation, evaporation and filtration, which enabled collection of plant fragrance into vapour 6that could be collected in the form of oil or water- experiments in combining various plants and other sources to produce a variety of scent products-essentially perfume products. Persian Muslim doctor and chemist ‘Avicenna’ introduce the extraction of oils from flowers by means of distillation, a process commonly used today; his first experiment was with the Rose.

  

  Ancient illustration of perfumery

Perfume finally arrived Europe through trade with the Islamic world. Records of the Pepperer Guild of London as far back as 1179, showed them trading with Muslims in spices, perfume ingredients and dyes.

Trading of perfumes in ancient times; from the Orientals to Europe

While Catharina de Medici of the powerful Italian aristocrat family initiated the perfume industry in Europe when she left Italy to marry the French crown prince in the 16th century.  France quickly became the European center of perfume and cosmetics manufacture. Grasse in Southern France is now considered the world capital of perfume. Although perfumes were generally used by Royalty and the rich it is today used by all, either through necessity or by choice.

Copper still from 19th to 20th century Grasse, France for steam distillation

It’s said that one who has not used Hausa perfume believes nothing last forever, is that their Islamic heritage- I don’t know. The key roles played by all especially Islamic scholars in the Invention of Perfume cannot be over stated, the modern world enjoys the struggle of years gone.

Modern perfumes at its Finest

Fun Facts

·       The perfume you tells people a lot about your personality

·       A man scent qualifies his success, perfumes essentially forms a part of his grooming

·       Perfume is capable of influencing people’s behavior

·       In world war 2 therapeutic perfumes were reported to have been used in the treatment of wounds and burns and psychiatric problems