Tracing The History Of Perfume
In ancient Egypt arounfd3500 and 3000 B.C. fragrance was a huge part of people’s lives. During those times the sources of these fragrances were either the incense or burning sweet herbs by the priests. During the Roman reign people used to worship God ‘per fumum’ which means ‘through smoke’. This is how the current word ‘perfume’ came into being.
Later on priests told the common people to use these perfumes once every week so that they could hide the smell of grubby skin. Scented oils were used for these purposes which were extensively used in the Roman and Greek baths. The Egyptians had a strong belief that when ever a person died these perfumes should accompany the spirit to heaven. This is the reason why a slight trace of fragrance could be smelled in Tutankhamen’s tomb even after 3300 years after his burial.
Perfumes are also mentioned in the Bible in part where the three wise men who were carrying gifts to Jesus which were of Frankincense and Myrrh. You can even recall a line “Myrrh is mine, a bitter perfume “in the famous Christmas carol called “We Three Kings”. It is said that the Greeks were the first to make liquid perfumes. But they were very different from the perfume brands we use now. These perfumes were a mixture of fragrant powders and very heavy oils. As manuscripts in those times were written on papyrus, they used to often fall prey to insect attacks damaging the scripts. Hence perfumes were used to coat them for protection.
Romans used to give perfumes a lot of importance in their day to day lives. They used to strictly apply perfumes three times a day. Not only human beings, but also non living house hold objects and their pets were perfumed. On the special days of feasts many birds were released so that perfume could be dispensed from the fluttering of their wings. When the Egyptian beauty Cleopatra went to meet Mark Anthony, people came know about her arrival from her pungent perfumes long before her raft could be seen. Till this time perfumes were made by crushing various herbs with oils. Later an Arabian doctor discovered the procedure to extract perfumes from different flowers. His first experiment itself turned out to be a huge success when made rose water from rose petals.
Now we have a range of perfumes available in online perfume shop from which we can choose. The criteria for selecting your perfume is now not just restricted to its smell. People look for different perfumes in the same family like Woody, Flowery, and Fresh. You can choose your perfume according to the time of the day you are going to wear it. The cost of the perfume also plays an important role while choosing one.
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