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Perfume is one of those products
that may influence our emotions. People`s sense of smell influences
behavior and sets different moods. It may even bring up memories
of the past. As a marketing tool, perfume is also present in
our everyday lives and it can be found in lots of consumer products.
Besides the fact that perfume is so popular, have you ever wandered
how it came into being what it is today? What`s the history of
perfume?
Some anthropologists
say that perfume was used by primitive man thru the burning of
gums and resins for incense. Eventually from 7000 to 4000 bc,
richly scented plants, animal and fatty oils of olive and sesame
are thought to have been combined with fragrant plants to create
original ointments.
Three thousand years ago in
ancient Egypt, historians believe that perfume was first used
in rituals, as part of their religious ceremonies, creating a
pleasant smell. These scents came from gums, resin trees, oil
and from a variety of plants resulting in a perfume unguent that
was rubbed into the skin. Hundreds of years later, women of Egypt
were using perfume for their cosmetic qualities. It is believed
that Egytptian queen Cleopatra had her own exclusive balms and
scents used as cosmetics and aphrodisiac, which helped her to
conquer Julius Caesar and later Mark Anthony. |
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Also from this same era, it is
believed that perfume was used in Mesopotamia for ritual ceremonies.
And farther east, in China, aromatic herbs were used for medicine
purposes.
Later
on as trade routes expanded, perfume became very popular and
demand for scent products increased trade among different civilizations.
Africa and India started to supply Middle Eastern civilization
with spikenard and ginger. Syrians sold fragrant goods to Arabia.
Mediterranean civilization began buying cymbopogon and ginger
from South Arabia. And so the trade of scent goods kept on, and
as it continued to swell, fragrance perfume was eventually introduced
thru time to several civilizations such as Hindus, Israelites,
Carthaginians, Arabs, Greeks, Romans and finally reintroduced
hundreds of years later in Italy and France.
By the 13th century Italy was doing major trades
of spices and perfumes with Eastern civilizations. Portugal and
Spain were also trying to establish important trades of spices
by having exclusive routes to the East. That`s how the new world
of America got to be discovered.
As
Italian perfume influence swept over neighboring countries, France
began expanding the use of perfume by first offering perfumed
gloves, which were most often perfumed with neroli or animal
scents such as ambergris and civet. From then on, French perfume
has become famous worldwide and today sets the standard for excellence.
Also France played a major role
in reestablishing the use of perfume for therapeutic purposes
in the western world. It has been reported that during Word War
II, therapeutic perfume had been used in the treatment of wounds
and burns, and later in the treatment of psychiatric problems.
Perfume has brought different
people together in the past thru the trade of aromatic scents.
It also played a major deal, since its trade meant economical
power for the nations. And so the history of modern man has been
greatly influenced by this special product, enabling new worlds
to be discovered. On a personal level, perfume is capable of
influencing people`s behavior and that by itself sets perfume
in class by itself. Perhaps that`s what makes it so desirable
by all of us. |
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