Beginning in the Creto-Mycenian period (1500 b.c.) perfumes exert a magical attraction, of both a mystical and erotic order, on the Greeks.
Held to be of divine or fabulous origin, they are essential in cult worship : after animal offerings, rare perfumed substances such as incense and myrrh are burned.
In the same way, birth, marriage, and death are accompanied by perfumed fumigations and ointments with purifying virtues. Perfumes play a major role during funerals, for they favor the journey into the beyond. The dead are burned wrapped in perfumed shrouds or buried with precious receptacles : lekuthos, aryballes, alabasters,... and sweet smelling plants such as roses, lilies, violets, undoubtedly symbols of eternal life.
In addition to these rituals, the Greeks worship bodily hygiene and physical beauty. Hippocrate thus recommends sage, mauve, or cumin, based remedies...administered in the form of fumigations, rub-downs, and baths. Following their ablutions at the public baths -places for socializing- men and women perfume their bodies with iris and marjoram oils... During banquets, the guests' feet are washed as a sign of hospitality, after which they are offered wreaths of flowers, perfumed wines, and rose-scented or clove-oil ointments.
In the stadium, athletes smear their bodies with oil which they remove afterwards with strigiles, while women adorn and embellish themselves in the Gynaeceums.
In the 4th century b.c. the Greeks adopt heavy scents like incense and myrrh, once reserved for the gods, benzoin, cinnamon , sandalwood ,... as well as animal substances such as, castoreum, musk ,civet , gray amber considered impure until then. |
