The History of Perfume
The word perfume that we use today comes from the Latin phrase per fummum, which means through smoke. Perfumery, which the art of making perfumes started in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia although it was created and developed further by the Arabs and Romans. Although perfumery and perfume did exist in Eastern Asia, most of its fragrances are derived from incense.
A man called Tapputi is stated to be the World’s first chemist and was a perfume maker, reference was made about Tapputi in a cuneiform tablet that dates back to the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamia.
Lately, archaeologists have discovered what is thought to be the World’s most ancient perfumes in Pyrgos, Cyprus. The perfumes date back over 4,000 years. The perfumes were uncovered ancient perfumery manufacturing works. Sixty or more distilling stills, funnels, mixing bowls and perfume bottles were discovered in the 43,000 sq ft factory. In years gone by, people would use spices and herbs, like coriander, almond, conifer resin, almond, bergamot, but they did not use flowers.
The chemist Avicenna and Persian doctor brought in the procedure of extracting oils from flowers by using distillation, this is the process most commonly in use today. The initial experiment was with roses. Until he discovered liquid perfume was a mix of crushed herbs and oil, or petals, which made for a stronger mixture.