History Of Perfume

Perfume is one of those products that mayeventually introduced thru time to several
influence our emotions. People`s sense of smellcivilizations such as Hindus, Israelites, Carthaginians,
influences behavior and sets different moods. ItArabs, Greeks, Romans and finally reintroduced
may even bring up memories of the past. As ahundreds of years later in Italy and France.
marketing tool, perfume is also present in ourBy the 13th century Italy was doing major trades
everyday lives and it can be found in lots ofof spices and perfumes with Eastern civilizations.
consumer products. Besides the fact thatPortugal and Spain were also trying to establish
perfume is so popular, have you ever wanderedimportant trades of spices by having exclusive
how it came into being what it is today? What`sroutes to the East. That`s how the new world of
the history of perfume?America got to be discovered.
Some anthropologists say that perfume was usedAs Italian perfume influence swept over
by primitive man thru the burning of gums andneighboring countries, France began expanding the
resins for incense. Eventually from 7000 to 4000use of perfume by first offering perfumed
bc, richly scented plants, animal and fatty oils ofgloves, which were most often perfumed with
olive and sesame are thought to have beenneroli or animal scents such as ambergris and
combined with fragrant plants to create originalcivet. From then on, French perfume has become
ointments.famous worldwide and today sets the standard
Three thousand years ago in ancient Egypt,for excellence.
historians believe that perfume was first used inAlso France played a major role in reestablishing
rituals, as part of their religious ceremonies,the use of perfume for therapeutic purposes in
creating a pleasant smell. These scents camethe western world. It has been reported that
from gums, resin trees, oil and from a variety ofduring Word War II, therapeutic perfume had
plants resulting in a perfume unguent that wasbeen used in the treatment of wounds and burns,
rubbed into the skin. Hundreds of years later,and later in the treatment of psychiatric problems.
women of Egypt were using perfume for theirPerfume has brought different people together in
cosmetic qualities. It is believed that Egytptianthe past thru the trade of aromatic scents. It also
queen Cleopatra had her own exclusive balms andplayed a major deal, since its trade meant
scents used as cosmetics and aphrodisiac, whicheconomical power for the nations. And so the
helped her to conquer Julius Caesar and later Markhistory of modern man has been greatly
Anthony. Also from this same era, it is believedinfluenced by this special product, enabling new
that perfume was used in Mesopotamia for ritualworlds to be discovered. On a personal level,
ceremonies. And farther east, in China, aromaticperfume is capable of influencing people`s behavior
herbs were used for medicine purposes.and that by itself sets perfume in class by itself.
Later on as trade routes expanded, perfumePerhaps that`s what makes it so desirable by all
became very popular and demand for scentof us.
products increased trade among differentRoberto Sedycias
civilizations. Africa and India started to supplyIT Consultant for PoloMercantil
Middle Eastern civilization with spikenard and ginger.This article is under GNU FDL license and can be
Syrians sold fragrant goods to Arabia.distributed without any previous authorization
Mediterranean civilization began buyingfrom the author. However the author´s
cymbopogon and ginger from South Arabia. Andname and all the URL´s (links) mentioned in
so the trade of scent goods kept on, and as itthe article and biography must be kept.
continued to swell, fragrance perfume was