… that it is the Romans who gave us the word perfume? Per is Latin for “through” and fumum means “smoke” – the release of scent through burning. The ancient Romans were very inventive in their diffusion techniques, sometimes also sweetening the air by releasing birds with perfumed wings from their cages. The Romans applied perfume as much as three times a day and scented almost everything in sight: draperies, cushions, even pets and horses. Nor were servants excluded from the fragrant fest. They wore musk and marjoram among other aromatics so as not to offend the delicate nostrils of their masters. By 1 AD, Rome was consuming approximately 2,800 tons of imported frankincense and 550 tons of myrrh per year. Half a century later, Emperor Nero spent the equivalent of $100,000 today on the scent for just one feast. His dining room had carved ivory ceilings that were fitted with concealed pipes which sprayed perfumed mists on the guests below. He had sliding panels which when opened, showered guests with fresh rose petals. These clouds of rose petals were so dense that one unfortunate reveler was actually asphyxiated by them.
The ancient Greeks and Egyptians were no less assiduous than the Romans in their use of scent. After bathing, Egyptians liked to rub fragrant oils into their skin to soften it and to mask body odor. Body odor was also cloaked by small balls of incense placed where limbs meet. At parties, servants sometimes fastened a cone of perfumed grease on the head of each of the guests. As it melted down the face and body of its wearer, the grease not only released a pleasant scent, but also had a cooling effect. Egyptian aromas were potent. Pots filled with spices such as myrrh and frankincense preserved in fat still gave off a faint odor when opened in King Tutankhamen’s tomb more than 3,000 years later. The fact that fragrant unguents were placed in tombs shows the significant role that perfume played in the lives of Egyptians. It was deemed important enough to be brought into the afterlife. Sufficient body oil for daily use was one of the basic supplies issued in the form of wages paid to even the lowliest of workers.
In ancient Greece, precious oils and perfumes were also universally used. The Greeks liked to use multiple ointments simultaneously, each for a different part of the body. By the 7th century BC, hundreds of perfumers had set up shop in Athens, becoming popular meeting places as they were so often frequented by the city’s inhabitants. Commerce in fragrances became an important part of the economy, actually forming a substantial part of trade around the Mediterranean.
So, what happened in the Middle Ages? Christianity frowned upon bathing, dismissing the importance of good hygiene in general and so, I think it is safe to say that for about 1000 years, body odor was rampant throughout Europe.
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