scents of rome

GRAHAM WAY

Scents of Rome

The use and importance of aromatics in late Republican and EarlyImperial Rome

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Rome

Introduction

Scents new and old What we like (Cargoes – Masefield) Why we like it What it does Perfume for her, for him, for the home Perfume all around us

Where did it all start? Will we ever know how it all began? Early archaeology Mesopotamia and Rovesti The exotic east The biblical east Greek writers(Theophrastus and Dioscorides) Where did this all lead – development of the Roman Empire

Economic Growth How did the late republic grow economically Etruscan predecessors Trade routes-The Spice Route (reflections of Alexander) What came from where How was this allowed and who promoted this trade Who did the carrying The shift from Greece to Rome

Arrival in Rome Politics (Egypt and Cleopatra) What arrived in Rome and where did it go? The growth of the ‘retail’ perfumer Links with the growing empire Prominent republican Romans and what they thought (Cicero)

Uses in Rome Female consumption Who did what and where (bathing) Domestic consumption Religion as a dominant force in consumption Roman Empire and state consumption

Scents of Rome What was used by whom and where Which ingredients were common and which were rare Glass bottles and their importance Pricing and consumption

Writers in Rome What did the ancient writers think and why The contribution of the ancient writers The historians Pliny, Suetonius, Tacitus – what did they say? What was their

reason? The social commentators Petronius, Athenaeus – what did they say and why? The religious angle – how was this reported?

Conclusion

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So what made perfume fascinating? Why did the Classical world consume aromatics as they did? Does this make them as avid users as we are in the twenty first century Similarity and difference Would a Vestal Virgin have used Chanel No. 5?

Why is it that societies have been concerned with, perhaps even

obsessed by, something so esoteric and ephemeral as a substance

whose very nature is to vanish utterly leaving nothing but an

impression of itself. What makes mankind so interested in

something that, other than in its original state is intangible,

something that has however had a direct impact on our senses over

many thousands of years. Olfaction and the sense of smell is

perhaps the most direct of the five senses and the one that is the

most evocative. We remember those things that meant so much to us

during childhood often by an evocation of the smell of the time,

perhaps an event, perhaps a person, perhaps a time and a place.

Whatever we wish to remember, or of which we are reminded, we can

often recall clear detail simply through something we have smelt.

Writers through the ages have lauded the power of perfume, the

evocation of the olfactory sense in poetry and prose, indeed

through the history of poetry and prose we find references to

scent and beautiful perfumes. The legendary poem Cargoes by John

Masefield hints at the poet’s desire for beautiful odours:

‘Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir,

Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,

With a cargo of ivory,

And apes and peacocks,

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Sandalwood, cedarwood and sweet white wine1 .’

The sentiment in these few lines of a very familiar poem reflects

the warmth and luxury of a variety of different products from warm

eastern climes, products that are familiar to us but even more so

the inhabitants of the Roman Empire. A bridge for us to understand

how the economic life of the modern world bears many similarities

with that of the Roman Empire, not necessarily in the way it was

conducted financially but in the type of product desired by both

societies.

1 Masefield – Selected Poems3


So in beginning to think about what might have been enjoyed in the

past let me briefly consider the present and what influences us

now. In our world we are surrounded by a plethora of different

smells, some natural, others synthetic. Even those scents which we

might consider to be natural are, in fact, manmade; we might we

plant a fragrant rose in our garden and assume it to be completely

natural. As a plant is indeed natural but it might be a genus

created by man as a blend of different plants, to produce the

desired effect. Nonetheless very few people dislike roses and

especially their delicate and unmistakeable scent, often put to

use in different applications. What I am trying to assert here is

the fact that we often do not judge perfume by its origins but by

the immediate impact it has on our life and senses. We might also

judge it on its effect and its success or otherwise as an

application.

All very well but just why would we like, enjoy or benefit from an

aromatic? Again we must return to its original use and

application, as diffuse and diverse as the number of perfumes

available. A personal application of perfume might be for reasons

of enhancement, possibly even of attraction; many perfumes are

marketed on the basis and assumption that they can enhance the

wearers chances of personal encounters and sexual success. A less

obvious use of perfume today is the many and varied commercial

application of perfume; many cleaning and domestic products

contain an element of fragrance. Products as prosaic as petrol and

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coal have been scented to make the product more appealing to

certain consumers; bleaches and polishes, washing powders and

carpet cleaners are all scented. Interestingly aromatic usage can

extend to different environments in which we might find ourselves,

some larger food retailers have used food smells to attract

shoppers to extend their stay and, hopefully, purchase more

products. The idea of using ambient perfumes I will return to,

this is important to us but was also important to the classical

world albeit in a very different way.

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So what does this actually do? As I have already suggested the use

of smell can indeed remind us of our past, it can also act as a

means of our mind authenticating the past. Opening a very old book

brings with it a certain smell, one which cannot easily be defined

but there it is, inviting us to join with those earlier readers of

the book experiencing the delights contained within. Similarly the

dry, dusty smell of chalk might bring back memories of the

classroom, the smell of baking bread might bring back memories of

a delightful old bakery close to a childhood home, a romantic

notion perhaps but one which is rooted in personal experience

and .testimony

The modern experience of perfume is that of beautifully presented

bottles, elegantly packaged on the shelves of smart shops,

department stores and chemists. This is very much a product of the

development of the era of ‘couture’ perfume begun most notably

with the early designer perfumes of Worth, Schiaparelli and most

famously, the creation of Ernest Beau for Chanel, a happy accident

that has passed into legend. Prior to this explosion of designer

branded perfume most scent was handmade and packaged individually,

a trend which can be traced back three thousand years and which

will become evident later in this paper.

There was a perception, certainly in the mid twentieth century

that perfume was the domain of the female gender and that

marketing of fragrance to a male market was limited. A strange

reversal of what had previously been the case: from the classical

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world right up until the late Victorian era these products were

directed principally at the male market. The reason for this being

that finances were controlled by men and only when women were

enfranchised to the extent that they were able to become

independent cold they purchase products for their own use. The

well known society hairdressers of Victorian London would, on

occasion, receive commissions from their clients to produce

perfumes for their female companions but this would have been on a

limited scale. As for perfumes for the home, these would probably

have been provided from the most natural sources, bowls of pot

pourri, and vases of fragrant roses, lavender bags and pure

beeswax polishes.

The commercial production of household perfumes being a later

invention, or were they? We know that the Roman household would

have been scented – how we will explore later in this paper.

So we are all used to living in conditions in which we are

surrounded by fragrance and beautiful smells. Indeed, we react to

unpleasant smells today far more readily than a society living

even fifty years ago when personal hygiene was becoming big

business and awareness of personal fragrance was at the height it

is today, a height that I would argue we have not known since the

days of Imperial Rome when personal hygiene was so important to

its citizens noted especially from the archaeological discoveries

of Roman bathing.

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Where then did all this come from? How did the human experience

first encounter fragrance? How did man first capture that most

elusive of commodities and put it to use? The simple answer is

that, at present, we cannot be sure. Evidence suggests that plants

were used for medicinal purposes for many thousands of years.

Early sources such as the Code of Hammurabi written in the 7th

century BC suggest the use of plants for this purpose, some of

these plants having aromatic qualities. This does not however

suggest that plants might have been used for aromatic purposes

alone. It may have been that these plants were used for a variety

of differing reasons and for differing properties. The practice we

now call aromatherapy might well have had its roots at this time,

again we cannot be sure. In thinking about the purer uses of

perfumed plant oils in the form of unguents some work has been

done in the world of the ancient East. A discovery in 1975 by

Rovesti suggests that an ancient terracotta vessel found in the

Indus valley, accompanied by a number by a number of smaller

containers, may well have been employed in the use and manufacture

of personal aromatics. The discovery of cuneiform tablets also

demonstrates a vessel that bears similarity with distillation

devices used much later by the Arabs. Doubt might well serve to

temper enthusiasm here, as it is likely that the technique we now

know as distillation was a much later invention, possibly

attributed to Avicenna in the 12th century AD.

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This context I have avoided the use of the word ’perfume’ as we

are uncertain as to the application of such aromatics. Where we

might more correctly use the word would be legendary usage of

aromatics by the Egyptians; inscriptions on the base of the Sphinx

at Giza show incense being used as perfume that is per fumum that

is, being burnt for devotional purposes.

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The Egyptians famously used aromatics, especially in their

treatment of the dead. It was said that a faint odour of incense

rose from the tomb of Tutankhamen when it was opened, three

thousand years after it had been sealed, giving us some idea of the

properties of this aromatic gum, still being used today. Thirty-

five alabaster containers all of which had been broken accompanied

his body, interestingly, however, in the bottom of the largest of

the jars found, under a three thousand year old crust was a viscid

substance identified to be an aromatic resin2. That such a resin

could last in such a state for such a long period of time gives us

some indication of the purity and quality of the aromatics used. It

seems likely that the first products to be looted from the tombs of

the pharaohs were firstly the gold but secondly, the aromatics,

giving us some idea of the value appended to these items. Mention

is made of the substance called ‘Kyphi’, an aromatic used widely in

the ancient world made from various aromatics including

frankincense and cypress but also utilising cinnamon, cassia and

juniper berry. This aromatic was considered sacred to the gods and

which when burnt induced a hypnotic state in its users.

Interestingly Faure, in discussing the merits of incense and its

manufacture states that:

‘Son odeur provoque effets tantots euphorique, tantots excitants,

jusqu’a l’extasse et a la transe chez les intoxiques3’

2 Steele in V. Toller and Dodd p.2883 Faure p. 80

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I will return to the religious uses of aromatics later in this

paper however I would not wish to diminish its importance. Steele

quoting Kennet, a perfume historian to whom I shall make reference

cites evidence of the belief that the birth of Queen Hatshepsut

came about by divine intervention noting that ‘it was as if, with

the perfume itself immortality passed into her mother’s womb4’ He

goes onto quote Kennet saying

‘...fragrance is a two way medium between the realm of humans and

gods; scents and incense were offerings to the divine beings and in

turn the gods could manifest themselves through these means to

humans5’

4 Steele in V. Toller and Dodd p. 2885 ibid

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In looking at the Egyptian civilisation and the sophistication it

brings to our thinking of the classical world the most important

thing that we might consider is the geographical importance of

Egypt to our thinking of aromatics. It seems that evident that any

aromatic substances, certainly those considered rare and, in

consequence, costly came from the East and from oriental climes.

This must therefore colour our thinking about the emerging

economies of Greece and Rome. Before we begin to consider these I

would like to continue our geographical and chronological thinking

about the development of thinking and usage of aromatics and look

briefly at the biblical Near East.

In thinking about this area I am principally thinking about the

Jewish Near East and in consequence a very theology and theistic

approach. Unlike the Egyptians and the later civilisations of

Greece and Rome we are not considering a people with an

anthropomorphic approach to belief but a monotheistic system of

belief, culturally based, depending on a conquering God who would

return to restore the people to a place of pre eminence. Such a

deity would not be propitiated with sprinklings of rose petals or

delicate floral offerings although these were very much a part of

God’s creation. This God would need a far more robust offering, a

more heavily spiced and pungent offering to attract and ameliorate

a God of purpose. Indeed the people of God are told by direct

instruction how they are to approach their God and how aromatics

are to be used in the presence of God.

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‘And the Lord said to Moses,

“Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices

with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part) and

make an incense as blended by the perfumer, seasoned with salt and

pure holy6” ‘

6 Exodus 30.3413


Knowing that this book was probably written about the 5th century

BC we can be reasonably sure that reliable trading routes were in

operation at this time bringing these ingredients through the

ancient near east and especially Palestine in order that they could

fulfil this biblical command. It is interesting that the term

perfumer should be used then, implying that the trade of perfumer

was not only established but also well respected at this time.

Evidence exists of the transport of perfumes and spices by the

Nabataean people and their routes would pass close by, if not

through Palestine at this time; a route that was to gain

significance although the Nabataeans would lose their pre eminent

rights to transport these products. I will touch on that and other

changes to the trading patterns in these products in due course.

Faure devotes much time in his discussion of the production of

frankincense to the technicalities required in irrigation and

planting of the source, he seems to suggest that the production of

incense was limited to three thousand families and they had a

commercial hold on the sale and distribution of the commodity. They

may also have been able to keep the price of frankincense

artificially high, a practice that can be seen in certain goods

today, indeed this view is proposed by Pliny who also feels that

the price of incense is maintained at an artificially high level7.

Returning to biblical allusions, later on, in the New Testament, we

are given an indication of the costliness of perfumed products in

7 Pliny NH XII14

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Romethe story of the woman who anoints the head of Jesus8. It is not the

act of the woman anointing Jesus’ head that frustrates and annoys

the disciples but the indication that the ointment based on Nard, a

very valuable aromatic, was worth 300 denarii and the proceeds

might have been distributed to the poor. A footnote in the Revised

Standard Version of the bible indicates to us that a labourer might

expect to earn one denarius for a day’s work making this act one of

great financial consequence; in the eyes of the onlookers,

profligate but one which indicated Jesus’ forthcoming fate. This

paper is not the place to examine the theology however we have

here, laid bare, one of the few places where exact monetary value

is placed on aromatic goods in the ancient world.

8 Mark 14.3-915


I have thus far concentrated my survey of the world of aromatic

usage and production to the world of the east and the culmination

of the first part of this survey must lie in the Greek east. It is

the Greeks we have to credit for our first insights into the

importance and relevance that aromatics and odours had in everyday

life. Popularly the Greeks are credited with being the progenitors

of many aspects of life which we now take for granted, for

instance, modern political rhetoric can be traced back to the

Greeks, many modern philosophical views of human existence, and

ethical considerations such as building and architectural design.

One work however, often overlooked, as it is relatively short and

appears only as an appendix to his ‘Enquiry into Plants’; is the piece

entitled in Latin rendered ‘De Odoribus’ or ‘Concerning Odours’.

Although a piece of remarkable brevity it has become a seminal work

and one whose instructions are followed as industry standards in

the perfumery world to the present day, although many using those

standards might not realise their source. Theophrastus, who wrote

this remarkable short piece, had an interest in nature and all

things natural. As well as his ‘Enquiry into Plants’, there is also ‘De

Causis Plantarum’ and a short treatise on the weather; all of these

works having connections, one with another. It is his work

‘Concerning Odours’, which give us an insight into the depth that the

ancient, especially the Greek mind, was prepared to explore the

human condition.

He speaks of odours natural and artificial and the effect these

might have on the observer, he observes that natural fragrance

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Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Romealthough less strong than man-made scents might be perceived at

greater distances. He talks also of the different ingredients used

in perfumery; especially spices and their makeup, how different raw

materials might blend in different ways to obtain a different

effect. He talks of how perfumes react differently with different

skin types and how certain scents might be altered to compensate

for these differing variations but the most important advice that

he sets down is in the storage and keeping of perfumes and of

aromatic materials.

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Today we are well aware that these natural substances must be kept

in a dry, dark cool place, away from direct sunlight and in a

container which will impart any qualities of itself to the material

stored within, that a philosopher living four hundred years before

the birth of Christ should be aware of this is truly remarkable but

indeed fortunate9. At that time perfumers and carriers of precious

aromatics did not have aluminium containers that is the industry

standard medium for contained raw materials and in some cases

finished aromatic products today. The most common material for

storage of aromatic products was alabaster; this we know as a

number of extant examples exist for us to examine. I mentioned

earlier examples found in Egypt, further examples have been

discovered over the Greek east, and indeed the common name for a

scent container was an ‘albastrum’10. Other materials were in use

and came into use as time progressed; terracotta had been used

widely and in terms of keeping light away from aromatic substances

it was ideal, where a problem arose with regard to terracotta was

in regard to liquid products in a vessel which required an

effective glaze to render it non-porous. The use of glass was a

later but nonetheless important step and one I will look at in more

detail when I examine perfumery in Rome. In exploring different

vessels suitable to the transport of perfumed products Theophrastus

also looks at the use of lead as a suitable vessel. It was known to

contain the perfume in conditions which would be suitable for its

preservation although today we might have concerns over the safety

9 Theoph. Odours 4010 Peck. See Unguentum

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Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Romeof lad as a material for storing of perfume which is for personal

use.

The short section that Theophrastus writes on the subject of

aromatics is only a few lines in length and yet has become hugely

influential in what is today a multi million pound business

involving the movement of large quantities of aromatics around the

world.

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Another Greek, writing somewhat later during the 1st century AD,

gave us another view of the use of aromatics, one that has become

very fashionable in the 21st century. Dioscorides, writing about

medical matters in his ‘De Materia Medica’ espouses the virtues of

aromatics in the medical domain. The rise of aromatherapy as a

recognised form of medical care can trace its roots back to the

ancient world and much of this is due to the writing of Dioscorides

and his contemporaries. It seems likely that that as the writer

would have been familiar with the medical writings of Hippocrates

and his view of the uses of herbs and plants in medicine he would

also have been familiar with the writing of Theophrastus and his

interest in the treatment of the sources of odours and of the

liquids and solids which made the perfumed products which he might

have used in his medical work.

In this preamble therefore I hope to lay foundations for an enquiry

into the ways in which perfumes and perfumed products might have

been introduced into the Roman world and how, in time, they became

an important commodity in the trading greatness of that empire.

Interestingly the earliest record, citing the knowledge of the use

of perfumed products dates back to 188 BC when an edict was passed

expressly forbidding the uses of perfumed products. This edict

being passed after the subjugation of King Antiochus and his

kingdoms in Asia, known to be a rich source of aromatic substances

20

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Romeat that time11. Only with hindsight can we detect an irony here,

knowing as we do that during the days of high empire one symbol of

power and wealth was the use of perfume, here being denied12.

As time progresses we can see the expansion of Roman influence,

firstly within Italy and, more importantly to our survey of

aromatic imports to trading routes to the East, many of these

routes having been established by the Greeks who were increasingly

coming under Roman influence.

11 Poucher II p. 1012 Groom p. 288

21


Another influence somewhat closer to home was that of the

civilisation of the Etruscans about whom we know relatively little

other than the extant inscriptions and artefacts, of these Faure

states his observations regarding the Etruscan usage of perfume

which he divides into three ideas. In the first of these he talks

of the use of floral garlands and crowns made of flowers, referred

to by Pliny the Elder he mentions the attitude of the Greeks and

Romans to the perceived excesses of the Etruscans as a people given

over to a life of luxury and debauchery13. Whether it was true or

simply a biased interpretation of the writer is difficult to know.

A problem sometimes recognised with discussions centring on

products perceived to be in the nature of luxury can be that they

contribute to a perception of excess. What we are unable to

perceive here are the uses of such perfumed floral adornments. Can

they be purely for decoration or do they serve a religious purpose?

Perhaps the Etruscans saw in these garlands healing properties, we

do not know however I would not wish to judge a civilisation purely

upon scant conjecture. Faure goes on in the second part of his

survey of Etruscan perfumery to address the matter of feminine

adornment; he describes a tomb painting that depicts the various

aspects of an Etruscan ladies’ toilet. In this he mentions methods

of adornment and dress, accessories to aid that adornment and he

gives his personal opinion that it seems that such a toilet would

have been pleasing to the gods of the Etruscans. Faure’s third

point cites a funerary inscription in which the use of aromatics

was designed to promote involvement in what was to become Bacchic

13 Faure p. 21022

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Romeritual. He summarises his thinking in saying that Etruscans

attributed aromatics to three distinct functions being religious,

funerary and erotic calling the whole a form of ‘aromatomancy’14.

A slightly less romantic and more practical view of the Etruscan

use of perfumery products is posited by Kennet saying that in using

perfumes these were for personal adornment and that, together with

standard and more usual uses for jewellery, Etruscan women would

wear a perfume locket15.

14 ibid15 Kennet p. 76

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So how did the spices and fragrant resins come to Italy and who was

responsible for carrying them? The names of many raw materials and

finished products derived from these raw materials give us an

insight into to the sources from which these things came. Trading

routes which had been established by the Greeks were expanded by

the Romans however we should not discount the business acumen of

the peoples of the southern Arabian nations who were prepared to

travel great distances to trade. Pliny in Book 6 of his Natural

History talks of two groups of Arabs, both very wealthy, one half

living by thieving and by robbery but the other half being

efficient traders. The spice routes through the ancient near East,

controlled by the Nabataean people made cities such as Petra

immensely wealthy and prosperous, Petra being at the crossroads of

a number of important caravan routes. Along these routes came

cinnamon and cloves, pepper and myrrh; a wide variety of desirable

products travelled up through the ‘Spice Route’. Pliny also talks

of Gebbanitae of southern Arabia and of the nature of their cargo.

Interestingly we are here made aware of the constraints of

transporting goods; 300lbs carried through 65 stations en route

from southern Arabia to Gaza would cost in the region of 688

denarii to transport, an immense amount but surely worth it for a

precious cargo16. Although Petra was to remain the centre of the

caravan routes until the reign of the emperor Trajan there was to

be a shift in emphasis, certainly in the trade in aromatic

products.

16 CAH Vol. XI (XV.III p. 629)24

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial RomeFrom about 300 BC to 100 AD the spice and perfumed products trade

centred on Alexandria, it seems likely that much information on

these trades was housed in the library in Alexandria the

destruction of which was an irreplaceable loss to scholarship of

this period. With this trade being centred here however, it seems

likely that more information was held here than anywhere else in

the ancient world. We cannot be sure of the directness of the

routes that were taken or of what percentage went to Italy directly

or was ‘processed’ via Egypt. Egypt had however built up strong

trading links with Rome due to the success of the Egyptian grain

market.

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The Romans were certainly exposed in the later republican era to

Egyptian ideas and its contact with the rulers of Egypt would have

promoted a desire to explore Egyptian customs further. The

legendary relationships between G. Julius Caesar and Cleopatra VII

highlighted this and trade between Egypt and Rome at this time was

at its height. The Egyptians were renowned for their love of

incense and its use domestic and religious; not only incense but

also floral perfumes were in favour and as Kennet reminds us, that

when Cleopatra visited Mark Anthony in Sicily she greeted him with

a ‘series of floral festivals of royal magnificence17. We are also

told that Mark Anthony reciprocated by presenting Cleopatra with

balsam, a much prized aromatic18. Indeed when the Romans saw the

Jews attempting to cut down their balsam plantations they captured

the orchards to save them, Titus displayed balsam as a part of his

triumph indicating the value of this fragrant wood.

The financial trading interests of the Romans were also very well

served by the growing import of luxury goods. As we are today very

familiar with the various duties which have to be paid on the

import of certain goods, so the same was true 2000 years ago when

trading links were formally recognised. The Romans levied all goods

coming from the Red Sea at the rate of25%, a high rate of tax

indeed. Furthermore the manufacturers of unguents made in the Roman

provinces had to pay for a licence to operate which amounted to 60

drachmae per month. Interestingly frankincense was exempt from this

17 Kennet p.7718 Josephus. War 1.361 (Perseus)

26

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Rometax being considered, not a luxury but a necessity for use in

temple worship19

So there can be seen here a seminal shift in emphasis from

medicinal and religious usage of aromatics in Greece and, to some

degree in Egypt, to more familiar consumer led approach to product

in the days of late Republican Rome. The Romans, imbued with a

sense of commercial reality but with a desire to involve itself

with the sophistication that these products of the East offered

capitalised on an already flourishing trade and one, which was to

continue and expand into the days of high empire.

19 Ibid.27


Now we have explored the convoluted route by which aromatics

arrived in Rome, exactly where did they go and how were they used?

Today we are aware that large, multinational companies develop the

raw materials of perfumery into different perfumes and commercial

fragrances. Often especially in the world of fine perfumery,

fashion houses retain these companies and high profile names,

wishing both to immortalise their name and capitalise on a highly

profitable product, commission different types of perfumed product

to be made and packaged, which they then sell directly or through

distribution channels. The perfumes can be used in a variety of

different ways, from the finest toilet waters and perfumes to those

used to scent commercial household products; however they are

employed, the method stays essentially the same. Was this true in

Rome? The answer is probably yes although the ways in which

perfumed products were made and applied differed from that which we

might understand today, excepting certain bathing and cosmetic

products. The processes we now use for many perfumed products are

in some way linked to distillation; this technique was probably not

founded until the 12th century AD when Avicenna refined the process

we now call steam distillation, important to the production of

liquid perfumery, and created his most renowned perfume Rosa

Centifolia.

Some products however bear a remarkable resemblance to cosmetics

and toilet articles we are familiar with today. Perhaps a clue to

this is a common title for a producer of perfumed products, the

unguentarii, although some were also called murepsoi or muropolai.

28

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial RomeThe city that became the centre of the classical perfumery industry

was Capua, called by some; the most effeminate place in Italy

although the perfumery industry in that city was concentrated in

one quarter called the Seplasia.

Cities were considerably smaller then than they are today and were

known by the industry that dominated them and that certainly seems

true of Capua20; however the governing factor in this was the

proximity to these towns of the raw materials.

20 Peck. See Unguentum29


Although I have, so far, looked at imported products, Campania was

also a region known for its rose growers giving it the ability to

produce product whatever the variation of supply of any imported

product, this is somewhat mirrored in the success as a centre for

fine perfumery in the 19th and 20th century of Montpellier and Grasse

in the south of France with their proximity to lavender and jasmine

fields. Although I wish to concentrate on what was happening in

Rome and in Italy it should be mentioned that, with their aptitude

for trade and the development of trading links, spices and perfumed

products were also exported from Rome. Very much as we would expect

today the products, were refined, produced and packaged and left

Roman ports for all parts of the Republic and later empire.

Evidence of this exists in the archaeological sites that have been

uncovered in the more distant parts of the Roman world. Only in

July 2003 a small vessel containing ointment has been discovered in

an archaeological dig in London21. This ointment is analysed and is

said to be Crema Infrigidens, we now know as Cold Cream and has a

faint aroma, and this cream would have constituted part of the

toilet accessories of a Roman citizen that had been exported from

Italy.

These products were also used for trade with parts of the empire in

exchange for goods that were becoming fashionable in Italian

circles; Kennet tells us that one of these imported items, a minor

delicacy that the Romans took to, was the British oyster22.

21 This object has been discovered as a part of an archaeological dig that took place in Tabard Square in Southwark by a team from the Museum of London.22 Kennet p. 79

30


As in Athens at the height of its economic supremacy in the 5th

century BC it is very likely that perfume shops and independent

vendors sprang up throughout the city of Rome and other major

Italian cities. Although by the 1st century BC the percentage of the

population that would have been had the disposable income to

consume fine perfumed products would have been relatively small,

but consume they did and in vast quantities. Again Kennet states

that the consumption of perfumes and spices ‘went beyond the bounds

of reason and comfort’23, we can only guess at the quantities then

being consumed.

23 ibid31


So what did late republican Rome really think about all of this? It

seems that there was little agreement among writers of this period;

what commentary that existed, either favourable or unfavourable,

was mild and generally non inflammatory. Plautus, in his comedies

makes occasional reference to old ladies and prostitutes using

perfumes to mask smells and of the use of certain perfumes masking

the mal odeurs of rotting vegetables24.

Another writer, more usually known for his forthright political

commentary, Cicero seems to be quite in favour of the development

of new and improved scents:

‘for it is clear to all how far we have advanced in our blending of

perfumes, seasoning of foodstuffs and the embellishment of our

bodies’25.

Although it is inadvisable to take such quotations out of context,

that within which it is written contains Cicero’s writing on the

ideals and improvements of the mind and body. Therefore we can take

it that he did not disapprove of perfume, its production and use.

In writing this in 44 BC Cicero was writing at a time when then use

of aromatic products was still quite modest and was still to see

its meteoric rise.

Although necessary to survey the ancient views on the uses and

applications of perfumes it is also important to examine what the

Romans actually used and how, and for what uses various aromatics24 Faure p. 21825 Cic. Nat. Deorum II.146

32

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Romewere employed. As I have mentioned the Romans were used to

importing various spices and precious gums and resins for use in

perfumery. In Capua the home grown rose crop was also used to

supply the domestic market. So how exactly did ordinary people in

Roman Italy use scent? I would suggest that indeed the variety that

we are accustomed to was possibly as relevant to Roman experience

as it is to us today; the nature of the product was quite different

but usage was remarkably similar. As I stated in my preamble, it

was only in the early 20th century did the shift to female

consumption really take place.

33


The rise in designer perfumes, as I have mentioned, fuelled female

desire to purchase and possess these products; with the attendant

rise in female suffrage and emancipation women were empowered

financially and had access to products as never before. As I

alluded to earlier, men commissioned the majority of perfumes for

their wives and attendant women rarely were perfumes made

specifically for women. The arrangement of the Roman household

however, might well be familiar to our present condition. Women ran

the household and most of the products brought into the household

were ordered by women, certainly in upper class households. I am

not suggesting however, that women had access to money, that was

controlled by the men of the household however systems of credit

were in place and orders may have been made for both necessities

and luxuries for the home. Depending on the standing of the house,

perfumed products were used in many parts of daily life.

Perhaps the most obvious and that which we can identify most

readily with was the use of aromatic oils in the baths, men meeting

at the baths would be massaged with aromatic oils as a daily part

of their bathing regime. The baths were seen as a social centre of

the community, the most famous being the Thermae of Caracalla in

Rome. These edifices were lavish and extensive as can be observed

in the extant baths, for instance those in the ancient Roman town

of Aquae Sulis, now called Bath. Each of these places was divided

into different rooms including warm and cold baths, steam rooms,

relaxing rooms and an unctuarium, the room in which bathers were

massaged and anointed with fragrant oils. Evidence of containers

with aromatics being found near public baths exist as part of

34

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Romearchaeological discoveries near to these sites, women would have

also undergone these treatments although this is less well

documented.

Perhaps it might be well to consider how aromatics might have been

used in the home. An extreme example appears in Suetonius when he

describes a dinner party during which sprinklers distributed rose

water over Nero’s guests in between each course:

‘All the dining rooms had ceilings of ivory, the panels of which

could slide back and let a rain of flowers. Or of perfume from

hidden sprinklers shower upon his guests’26

On one occasion a guest was said to have been asphyxiated by the

shower of petals. Never one to swerve from excess Nero is said to

have mounted an entertainment on Lake Lucina in which he strewed

the entire surface of the lake with rose petals27, further the walls

of his house might have been sprayed with aromatic perfume and

Nero’s bed was covered in roses to aid his sleep. I am not

suggesting that the ordinary Roman household would ever reach such

excess however among aristocratic and senatorial families there

26 Suet. Nero 3127 Kennet p.81

35

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Romewould have been considerable use of household perfumes. Why then is

Nero always written off as using rose as his favourite scent,

thinking, as we do today, of its feminine associations? Supply is

the obvious answer knowing that the area around Capua was excellent

for rose cultivation and that the quantities required by Nero were

great. It might be suggested that the odour that roses exude is

more potent than that of saffron, which has a gentler scent. It is

interesting to note that the practice of aromatherapy today

recommends rose, together with camomile, ylang-ylang and lavender

as aiding sleep. Using rose in the quantity that Nero was said to

have seems to suggest that the perfume would have been very

overpowering.

Although masters of good plumbing and sewage systems, Rome was

still a city full of unpleasant odours and, away from the lofty

heights of the Palatine and other hills, the smells of decay and

putrefaction would pervade. One way to counter this would have been

to apply strong, appealing smells from seemingly natural sources.

36


Roses were highly favoured as a source of fine perfume as were

saffron and frankincense. Kennet talks of the scent of saffron

being used to scent small fountains in courtyards, in small

gutters, down stairways and in public gathering places such as

theatres28. The use of these particular aromatics would seem to make

economic sense; both saffron and rose were grown in Italy. Given

the aforementioned duty and import charges that were levied these

would be reflected in any subsequent retail price charged to the

consumer. By using a home-grown flower these duties could be

avoided and the product could be offered at a reduced price.

Bearing in mind the lack of knowledge of distillation all these

products would be offered as a concentrate for home use, or the

case of aromatics for personal use, these floral absolutes often

being suspended in oils.

Further consumption of aromatics was in the temples and places of

religion from where we gain the term ‘perfume’ or per fumum. This

usage was likely to have been the dominant arena of consumption for

spices and resins, which could be burned. Few references to the use

of incense appear in religious sources but we have one inscription

that confirms the usage of incense:

‘Accept, O Holy Father, accept the incense-burning Lions, through

whom we offer the incense, through whom we other are consumed’29

28 ibid29 CIMIRM 498 Vermaseren and van Essen (1965) p. 224

37

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial RomeReligious usage of burning aromatics serves a main purpose, that of

transporting the supplicants’ wishes, desires and prayers to the

deity. This use id evident in temples and places of religion but,

of course, in the Roman household the domestic gods would have

their own shrine. It seems likely that a small incense burner lit

and containing incense might have accompanied this shrine to carry

the desires and wishes to the lares, the gods of the household. By

burning incense in the home this would add to the varying household

fragrances and enrich the domestic ambience. In less wealthy

households this might have been the only or more dominant perfume.

The importance of this usage cannot be over emphasised due to the

reliance of the Roman on the gods for the health of their daily

life.

38


Indications of the importance of the usage may be deduced form the

edict of Licinius Crassus who restricted the usage of perfumery as

it might create a shortage of fragrant materials for use in the

temples.30

From this then we can see that the aromatic usage in Rome was very

widespread ranging from the humblest household in the form of

votive incense burning to the Imperial household where, under some

emperors, usage was taken to extremes never seen before. The wife

of Nero, Poppaea, was renowned for her use of scents both in life

and in death; Pliny tells us that she was renowned for bathing in

asses’ milk to which perfumes were added31. Pliny talks of the

funeral of Poppaea at which Nero is said to have burned enough

incense to account for the output of Saba for one year32, however

this is contradicted by Tacitus where he states that the funeral of

Poppaea who was not cremated as was usual in the Roman funerary

custom but had her body ‘stuffed with spices and embalmed in the

manner of foreign potentates’33. Whichever of these two accounts we

might choose it is clear that an amount of aromatic substances were

used at this event.

A group I have not yet looked at is the Roman army. How could the

military have been involved in the use of aromatics? Something at

which we could wonder today with our perception of military

sophistication and our, perhaps, misplaced, ideals of military30 Thompson p.8731 Pliny Bk XI (cited in Croom p. 25)32 Pliny Bk XII (XII-XLI.80)33 Tac. Annales XVI.5

39

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Romemasculinity; women did not fight in the Roman army in the way that

women play and active role in twenty first century army life.

However, as I have indicated, the use of aromatics was very

widespread and men in Roman society and seemingly no less so in the

army; Pliny tells us of a man whose hiding place is betrayed

because of the potency of his perfume, how difficult that could

have been for this soldier however there are also complaints of the

amount of perfumed oil used in the hair. The excuse is given that

as standards are routinely perfumed for ceremonial occasions why

should they not be similarly perfumed, not an argument that

seemingly convinces Pliny34.

We have looked so far at who used perfumes, how they came to Rome

and what uses they were put to, let us now look at precisely what

was used and how. I have previously stated that that Capua became

the centre of the perfume trade partly because of its proximity to

the rose growing fields. I have also cited the desire for saffron

as a perfume, especially for household use. We also have evidence

that cosmetics became very much more widespread during the Roman

period, however they were not new; the Egyptians used various

cosmetic devices to enhance their appearance most notably the use

of kohl to highlight the eyes in both men and women. The trend for

making the face appear pale was another cosmetic procedure that

alerts us to the use of these products only among the higher

classes. Interestingly one of the legacies of this period that we

still have today the Crema or Unguentum Infrigidens otherwise known as

cold cream, created in the second century AD, possibly by Galen

34 Pliny NH XIII (cited in Croom)40

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Romethis was produced using white wax, olive oil and macerated rose

buds. Today the products is obviously more refined but made to the

same principles two thousand years later.35

During the Roman period however, it seems likely that that the use

of cosmetics became much more widespread both geographically among

different social classes. I do not intend to dwell here on

cosmetics unless they bear a direct relation to perfumed products.

We know, as I have already stated, that steam distillation had not

yet been discovered and the age of alcoholic perfumery was many

hundreds of years away. Most aromatics therefore had to have a

different carrier medium, the most obvious of these being oil

although some perfumes were suspended in wax and other, nameless

fatty substances, often derived animal fats. The oils most likely

to have been used were olive oil from Palestine or possibly

domestically produced sesame oil from Mesopotamia and linseed oil

from Anatolia. Needless to say these oils would have had to have

been of a very refined nature to facilitate easy application. Pliny

suggests that perfume became more stable the fattier the oil and he

proposed almond oil to this end36.

35? Matthews P. 536 Pliny NH XIII.19

41


Among those floral notes I have already cited rose, jasmine,

saffron, perhaps lavender (certainly by the reign of Vespasian37)

also more specialised variations on these single floral noted, for

instance Rhodinum made form roses of Paestum said to sell for its

own weight in gold.38

This is all very well however but what of the methods of extraction

how do we know of the production methods of the time; we are well

acquainted today with various techniques both physical and

scientific that are employed to perform this extraction. Even

though we have moved onto new ideas such as head space technology

in which the opening blossom of a flower and its emerging scent is

analysed and replicated by a computer this can only be carried out

by the largest and most commercially sophisticated companies. Thos

companies and smaller independent perfume flower growers use

methods that we know now, thanks in part to a wall painting in a

house in Pompeii, which existed at the time of the Roman Empire.

The painting n the House of the Vetii depicts cherubs using a

press, which might have been used for the pressing of olives,

grapes for wine, or for pressing flowers for the extraction of

perfumed oil. Although it seems likely that this type of press was

used for all of these purposes, there is a depiction in one of the

three paintings, of a perfume shop, a link, tenuous possibly but

the evidence suggests otherwise. A very comprehensive paper written

by Mattingly explores in detail the workings of the press and its

use. He also analyses the scene in the perfume shop and discusses37 Faure p. 240 (Aromates de tempes de Vespasian)38 Matthews p. 6

42

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Romethe archaeological evidence for olive presses in the area. I do not

intend to recount his findings here other than to say that the

techniques expressed in the article reflect modern perfumery

techniques remarkably closely39.

The technique of pressing is however only useful top certain

carriers of perfume. Other, more sophisticated techniques need to

be used in certain cases. The two most common techniques, other

than pressing, employed then, as they are today are maceration (hot

steeping) and enfleurage (cold steeping). For instance jasmine

blooms are more satisfactorily treated using enfleurage, today the

blooms are placed on a glass plate that has been coated with a

fatty substance, further plates are treated in the same way and

these are sandwiched together. When the blooms are spent they are

removed and replaced until the fat is completely impregnated with

the scent, the fat is then ‘washed’ and the perfume concentrates

collected. Evidence of the degree of sophistication that the Romans

employed is not yet available but could exist if further

archaeological evidence is discovered, especially in the region

around Capua. Quite when these techniques were first used seems

unknown, it seems quite feasible that these techniques were also

imported into Rome as a part of the their economic expansion, they

39 Mattingly in the OJA p. 71-9143

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Romewere, after all importing new basic raw materials and it would

therefore be likely that civilisations existed as the Egyptians

would already have techniques in place to treat these products.

With the advancing mechanical knowledge of the Romans these

techniques could be refined to the degree that we recognise today.

We are able to identify three distinct types of perfumed product

that were made at this time, solid perfume, oils and dry perfumes.

The first of these was called Hedysmata and were solid unguents. We

are used to the idea of solid colognes and I would suggest that

these were very much the same type of product. These would be used

to apply perfume directly to the body; they might be quite

concentrated therefore requiring only a small amount of the solid

to be applied. They might also be used in a container, left to

scent a room or an environment both indoors and outdoors. The

second type of product produced called Stymmata was possibly the

more common form of perfumed product, likely to be in evidence both

in the home and at the baths. This type of product was a mixture of

spices and floral extracts fixed on a perfumed base of oil or

resin, the oil likely to have been balanos, sesame or olive, all

oils commonly used in Roman society.

44


The third category of product identifiable was a dried form of

perfume, ideal for household use, sprinkling among clothes, use in

drawers and on floors, this product was called Diapasmata These

powders were made from such herbs and spices as orris, marjoram,

costus, storax, labdanum and spikenard.

All of this has tended to suggest that the Romans did not blend

fragrance in the way that we understand today. Alcoholic perfumery,

which we employ, has the capacity to change or ‘dry down’ on

application. This would not have been true of scents suspended in

oils however it is not true to say that the Romans did not blend

perfumes. One example of blended perfume is that of the royal

unguent made for the king of Parthia, called the climax of luxury,

although I have no wish to produce lists here I feel it is

interesting to include some of the ingredients available. These

include; balanos oil, costus, amomum, Syrian cinnamon, spikenard,

thyme, myrrh, cassia, storax, labdanum, opobalsam, Syrian calamus

and sweetrush, cinnamon leaf, serichatum Cyrus (cyprinum) camel’s

thorn, saffron, gladiolus, marjoram, lotus, honey and wine40; quite

a list and one which contains both raw materials known to us and

some which are lost. Another, less complex blend, was known as

Susinon comprising lily, oil of ben, calamus, honey, saffron, myrrh

and balm41, perhaps a blend for more general distribution.

How then can we know what exactly went into roman perfumes? The

answer is that we have very little evidence available to us. One40 Groom p. 29541 Thompson p. 81

45

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Romesource, however, that does give us a more accurate insight into the

contents of perfume then, is found in a short section of a work by

Paulus Aegenita, or Paul of Aegina. This is primarily a work

preserving the medical knowledge of the ancient world however a

short section exists devoted to perfume and of some detailed

recipes which can be reproduced, at least in part, today. They are

however, even as perfume, imbued with medicinal qualities as all

the recipes contained in this work are perfumes designed for

burning. Suffimenta based on rose and lily are accompanied by two

kyphi recipes of a more complex nature giving us an insight into how

a Roman home might have smelt.

But what price the smell of a beautiful home? Today we are used to

buying products that are scented, although we might not realise it

and the price is contained within the overall price of the product.

When we purchase perfumed products knowing them to be what they are

we have a preconception that, because of their extravagant and

beautiful presentation they will have a value., which will place

them in a bracket of luxury, although, that can mean different

things to different people. How might this apply to the perfumed

world of the Roman household? One thing we can be sure of is that

packaging was becoming more complex and this added to the

desirability of certain scents; the use of the glass bottle, so

beautiful and yet so unsuitable to the preservation of fine

fragrance42. The art of glass blowing had been discovered around 50

BC and very quickly moved from the east to the centre of the new

empire of Rome. A plethora of glass containers have been discovered

42 See notes on Theophrastus above.46

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Romegiving rise to the assumption that aromatics might well have been

sold in glass bottles by the height of Imperial Rome. Designs

varied, one particularly favoured design being a bottle with two

faces depicting Janus, however the majority of bottles discovered

from Roman sites seem plainer than the highly decorated formed

glass of the Syrians and Egyptians. Whether or not the glass

container affected the price of the product as a whole, as it does

today is unsure but it would seem to me unlikely as the rise in

commercial packaging as we now know it is a twentieth century

phenomenon other than in a few notable exceptions, for instance the

famous bee bottle housing Eau de Cologne favoured by Napoleon, a

design adopted by Guerlain for its Eau Imperiale. Much of this

commercial awareness also stems from the label of the manufacturer

or perfumer having a bearing on the product; this is not true of

first century Rome, as we are not told of notable perfumers of the

time.

47


It would appear from this then that perfumers pursuing their trade

would become wealthy. A sound understanding of commercial process

and of a profitable business created this wealth, so what was the

cost to the consumer of this commodity? As we are aware today,

although the raw materials of perfumery are relatively expensive, I

have already cited rose from Paestum being worth its weight in

gold43, the actual quantity used in the concentrate is very little,

when further reduced in oil or, as is the case today, alcohol and

water becomes less still. The initial investment is great but the

return on investment by careful manufacture and packaging is even

greater. We can be reasonably sure that the majority of consumers

of these products derived from the upper classes and seemed to

become ever more extravagant in their usage of perfume guided, no

doubt, by the Imperial family. Unfortunately we have little in the

way of domestic accounts which point to actual sums of money spent

on perfumes other than tantalizing snatches from the lives of the

emperors when we are given an idea that many thousand denarii were

expended on lavish entertainment which included aromatic

enhancement.

Without the personal recognition that modern day perfumers attract,

the possibility of great wealth and a place in history seems

unlikely. Unlike the present day business of the manufacture of

perfumes, this would be a relatively small-scale business relying

on personal commissions and the requirement of patrons and

customers gained by personal recommendation; indeed this style of

43 Above p. 2248

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Romeperfume sale was prevalent until the beginning of the twentieth

century. The major names in perfumery design and manufacture up

until this date were very few and included such luminaries as Jean

Maria Farina, the creator of Eau de Cologne; other were involved in

a primary business, often hairdressing to which the perfumery

business was an adjunct such as Juan Famenias Floris in London. No

such fame was given to the creators of perfumed products in the

ancient world and a part of this is the lack of labelling on

perfume containers again an important part of the perfume trade

today. Many labels today attract interest and can, in some cases be

seen as works of art in themselves. We have yet to discover bottles

or containers through archaeological research that re labelled in

such a way.

49


The final group of people and arguably the most important to our

knowledge of this subject are the ancient writers who addressed

this subject. They fall into two categories, firstly those writers

who were producing histories and factual information and secondly,

those writers who were interested in the social aspects of life. I

have already mentioned the importance of the contribution of

Theophrastus whose short treatise has become seminal in this field,

I have also drawn on the observations of Pliny who took an interest

in the natural work and gives us some very interesting insights

into the sources of perfumes and their uses. Contributory to the

growing spice trade were, as I have mentioned, the Arabs who traded

widely. Kennet reminds us that Strabo writes somewhat

unflatteringly of the Arabs as traders who ‘receive in continuous

succession the aromatics and deliver them to their next

neighbours’44. The quotation goes on to say that the ‘sweet odours

make them drowsy’, this may well be true however these people were

extremely influential in bringing new and more exotic aromatics to

the Romans. It is perhaps not the histories that provide us with

the most interesting view of the use of perfume but instead, the

writing of the social commentators. There are frequent overlaps in

the works of the both groups of writers however one insight into

the extravagant use of perfume is cited by Athenaeus in his account

of the dinner party of the sophists. Te book is not only a

narrative of the event but also a comprehensive library of writers

on a number of subjects surrounding everyday life. Well everyday

life as perceived by this writer, perhaps a life of excess as

44 Kennet on Strabo p.7850

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Romeviewed with hindsight. I do not propose to argue the verisimilitude

of the contents of the Deipnosophistae but rather to quote just one

example of Athenaeus’ writing directly relevant to our think on

perfumes. We have seen how, in ‘polite’ society (I use the term

reservedly) perfume was used to complement and enhance the

enjoyment of the guests. What we find here is as use similar to

that of Nero but used by a private diner. He states that to use

perfume direct from an alabaster bottle is rather ordinary, perhaps

even a little prosaic and a new, more interesting method of

distributing perfume should be used:

‘...he had four pigeons dipped in perfume, not, I swear all in the

same perfume, but each in her own, then he let them loose. They,

flying all around, sprinkled our cloaks and couch spreads. ‘Grudge

it not to men exalted of Greece’, when I anointed myself it was in

a shower of orris-perfume’45

Writing of Greeks but in the same time of the high empire of Rome

we can see the reflection of Roman ideas here. Such excess was not

evident in Greek writing, indeed in the dinner party of Xenophon,

Socrates warns against the use of perfumes saying:

45 Athen. Deipnosophistae XV. 69151

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Rome‘a daub of scent automatically makes everyone, slave or free, smell

alike.’46

A sentiment seemingly turned on its head in Roman society. The foil

to this however, coming again from Athenaeus who, as Kennet reminds

us, recounts the Greeks use of fragrant garlands to counter the

effects of wine.

‘From him [Athenaeus] we learn that the Greeks believed that the

herbs helped to steady a giddy head, when too much wine has been

taken, which accounts for the tight-binding of aromatic leaves

about the inflamed temples...47

So although this writer, a Greek writing in the Roman world can

reflect both the Greek ideal of medicinal probity and the

entertaining excess of the Romans. Confusion seems to be evident in

the snippets gleaned from these writers, what is true is that no

single ancient writer dedicated himself to this subject, so

ephemeral and yet as important to Roman society as it might be

considered today.

To conclude then it would be useful to consider a number of

questions, many of which reflect our interest in this most human of

desires today, to surround ourselves, our lives and the places in

which we live and exist with beautiful aromas.

46 Xen. Sym. II.547 Kennet p. 71

52

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial RomeFirstly we might like to consider the question, what made, indeed

makes perfume so fascinating? Rome in the first century AD was an

expanding empire that was exploring new lands and colonising them.

These were lands, which had been investigated in earlier times but

the Roman seem determined to establish themselves as the dominant

power and to create and maintain trading routes.

In doing this they established what we might now recognise as a

free market economy in which a free passage of goods passed between

lands using Rome as its hub. This exposed the Italians and citizens

of Rome to new and evermore exotic products. In the context of

perfumery this would have given to those who had a mind t

experiment to offer new, more exciting blends to their patrons thus

allowing Romans to demonstrate their fashion consciousness. Ever a

society to involve themselves in social activities, to be able to

produce a newly perfumed oil at the baths or to use a newly

perfumed hair dressing at a dinner party would have been sure to

excite interest and conversation, a process which still carries on

today.

Why did the classical world consume aromatics as they did? This

question might be answered very much as the previous one. Not a

society to be modest in its display of the new and of the unusual

this was a way to display. Kennet reminds us that ‘perfume shops

were to the Romans what coffee shops were the eighteenth century

gentlemen’48. The perfume shops and baths were places that the Roman

gentleman could display his attainments and his wealth, the toga

being a relatively plain garment the wearer could demonstrate such

48 Kennet p. 8253

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial Romewealth by the rarity of the oils he used and rarity of the spices

and aromatics he commissioned his unguentarium to produce for him.

Does this then make the Romans as avid users as we are in the

twenty first century? Of course, one aspect of life in the west

today is very different to that of classical Rome. As I mentioned

earlier, although the Romans were masters of civil engineering, not

every part of the city was included in the excellent and efficient

sewage system.

In Rome and other provincial cities, especially in high summer

there would have been areas which harboured particularly unpleasant

smells, and even to those high born living on the hills around Rome

these smells would have risen to greet them. The use of saffron to

scent the drains would have helped, as would fragrant fountains.

Personal scents might have helped too together with pomanders,

which, in a primitive form had been discovered at this time. I

would suggest that we could not consider the type of consumption as

a measure of the economic importance of aromatics, but the type and

application of the product as such.

We are surrounded by commercial perfumes, often unconsciously as I

mentioned in my introduction; the introduction of alcoholic

perfumery made the business much more accessible to all and widened

the scope of product available.

54

Scents of Rome – an insight into the use and importance of aromaticsin late Republican and Early Imperial RomeFinally, perhaps a slightly flippant question, would a Vestal

Virgin have used Chanel No. 5? I ask the question in the knowledge

that this perfume is based on modern technique; not only is it

based on alcoholic perfumery but also has an aldehydic top note

with a gradual dry down, something completely unknown to ancient

society. The point of the question rather is simply to posit the

idea that to wear perfume was as essential to a well dressed woman

then as it is today. I would suggest that, just as the Vestals

dressed properly, and from the day of their investiture into the

office, as a matron, they would have used perfumes proper to their

rank and status; possibly discreet, floral perfumed oils, which

exuded an air of power and responsibility. The passing of the chair

carried through the city would have surely left in its wake and

evanescent idea of the power and status of the concealed occupants;

women of wealth and power.

55


BibliographyPrimary Sources

Holy Bible – Revised Standard VersionCollins (1971)

Pliny – Natural History – Trans. P HollandCentaur (1962)

Theophrastus – Enquiry into Plants IILoeb Classical Library (1926 – Reprint 1980)

Cicero – The Nature of the GodsOxford World Classics (1998)

Suetonius – The Twelve CaesarsPenguin (1996)

The Seven Books of Paulus Aegenita (Trans F.Adams)Sydenham Society (1947)

Athenaeus – The Deipnosophistae Vol VIILoeb Classical Library (1941 – Reprint 1971)

Xenophon – Conversations of SocratesPenguin (1990)

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Secondary Sources

John Masefield – Selected PoemsHeinemann (1978)

Eugene Rimmel – The Book of PerfumesChapman and Hall (1865)

Paul Faure – Parfums et Aromates de l’AnitquiteFayard (1987)

Peck – Harpers Dictionary of Classical AntiquitiesHarper (1898)

Nigel Groom – The New Perfume HandbookBlackie Chapman and Hall (1997)

Poucher’s Perfumes, Cosmetics and Soaps Vol II (Ninth Edition)Chapman and Hall (1993)

Frances Kennet – History of PerfumeHarrap (1975)

Beard, North and Price – Religions of Rome Vol 2Cambridge (1998)

C.J.S. THOMPSON – The Mystery and Lure of PerfumeBodley Head (1927)

Leslie G. Matthews – The Antiques of PerfumeG. Bell (1973)

D.J. Mattingly – Paintings, Presses and Perfume Production at PompeiiOxford Journal of Archaeology (1990)

A.T. Croom – Roman Clothing and FashionTempus (1988)

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The Bible Readers Encyclopedia and Concordance Ed. W. M. ClowCollins (1962)

Websites

www.healthy.netKelville and Green – A History of Fragrance(1995)

www.perseus.tufts.eduJosephus – The Jewish Wars

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