Queen Hatshepsut (1473-1458 BC) was the first to perfume herself when she was alive, for reasons of vanity. In love with perfumes, the sovereign organized
an expedition of ships bound for the land of Punt (probably a territory that today would include Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan), in search of perfumed essences. They returned loaded with aromas and fragrant plants that the sovereign had transplanted to Egypt to always have them available. There is trace of this journey in a bas-relief in a temple in Thebes, the Egyptian city located right along the Nile.
It was no less the people of Israel, who already 1400 years before Christ told how God ordered Moses to get Frankincense, Myrrh, Cinnamon, Cassia, Fragrant rush and olive oil, to compose a perfumed ointment for the ceremony. This perfume - the Eternal Father warned - should have been used only for the sacred rite and man should never have used it to perfume himself. In short, at the time, the art of perfume was really reserved for a few. We were at the dawn of the Profumo di Nicchia.
2 answers
Intriguing that the perfume was also born to "communicate" with the divinity. As if man wanted to offer what is good on earth to make him rise up to heaven thanks to the air, together with the sounds of his own words of prayer. Nice reflections, thank you!
Carla, your words of appreciation move me. With love, Paolo.