Past Scents: Historical Perspectives on Smell

2. Fragrant Lucre

2 fragrant lucre The Perfume Trade While historical research on the role of scent in religion is relatively limited, the history of perfume is well documented and has been central to histories of aroma since studies on the subject first began to appear. Histories of the senses frequently contain considerable commentary on perfume and fragrance, and most histories of smell contain at least a chapter on the scent industry from ancient to modern times. Histories of perfume abound and are organized similarly. The fashion for such narratives appears to have been set relatively early by London perfumer Eugene Rimmel with the appearance of his Book of Perfumes (1865), which, besides being printed on scented paper, begins with the ancient world and appropriately ends with the “modern” industry , in which he played a key role. An even earlier, lesser known history was compiled in 1822 by Strand perfumer Charles Lillie, whose firm’s premises were later occupied by Rimmel.1 Subsequent studies of fragrance to the present day have adopted a similar organization to that of Rimmel, generally charting the history of scent from Babylon to Revlon.2 Individual perfume companies, like many other businesses, also commissioned their own commemorative histories, and although these contain much information on the history of scent, they are considered here primarily as economic histories and for what little they can tell us about how the industry developed in Europe and North America over approximately two centuries. Individual scented products, including clove, camphor, frankincense, and myrrh, to name but a few, have also attracted their own histories.3 For the sake of brevity, this chapter discusses the latter three in detail, as they have been the subjects of either recent academic research or particularly influential studies. Rather than cs 54 . CHAPter 2 trace the entire prehistory of perfume, the chapter focuses on scent in early Egyptian civilization, because this has been the subject of recent research, while the role of scent in Greek and Roman civilization has been efficiently summarized elsewhere.4 The chapter then addresses the European context and the development of the scent trade into a global perfume industry, drawing on some recent scholarship in the field of business history. It concludes by returning to an age-old debate concerning the health hazards and benefits attributed to smells. Rather than discuss the dangers posed by miasmas, it considers the glowing endorsement of perfume’s health benefits as reflected in the twentieth-century consumers’ eager uptake of medical scents, most notably aromatherapy. However, the simultaneous rise of a global scent industry has also provoked considerable opposition to even clean scents by groups whose members have campaigned vigorously for restrictions on their use in public spaces. As a result, tolerance for fragrances has not increased with a decline in religiously inspired critiques of perfume. Opponents to manufactured scents continue to exist, even in the increasingly secularized societies of the present day. egyptians and Perfumery of the Ancient world According to the Roman author and naturalist Pliny the Elder (23–79), perfume was “among the most elegant and almost most honourable enjoyments in life.”5 Although not everyone could afford to employ scents equally in ancient societies (see chapter 5), encounters with fragrances were common, as perfumes figured centrally in the home, religious houses, public events, and funerals, and were, of course, employed for purposes of personal attraction . Many histories of scent note perfume’s presence at “the birth of urban life in the ancient Near East.”6 While the ancient Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484–425 b.c.) described the Babylonians as “perfum[ing] themselves all over,”7 most texts addressing scent in Mesopotamia have rooted fragrances in religious practices. The Babylonian tradition is further credited with influencing the cult for incense among other ancient populations, including the Jews.8 The fact that these aromatic traditions traveled so well is attributed to the initiative of Mesopotamian perfumers and glassmakers. Having held their professional skills in high regard, artisans preserved their craft practices in writings that were subsequently rediscovered, circulated, and adopted by other cultures.9 However, an extensive trade in scented products had yet to develop; frankincense and myrrh, for example, entered the Near East during the rise of the Persian kingdom. In contrast to later epochs, the scent trade tHe PerfUme trAde · 55 during this era was decidedly local in its organization. By concentrating on Egyptian texts and archaeological evidence, scholars have also...