Ancient Fragrant Lore: the Embrace of the Aegean (Part 2)

by: Elena Vosnaki

"He takes his bath in a large golden bathtub first,
then he applies an Egyptian unguent to his feet,
and oil of fragrant palm on his chest;
his two arms and his back are scented with an essence of mint,
marjoram is used on hair and brow
and thyme invigorates his weakened knees."

—Antiphanes, 4th century BC.

Knossos palace with charging bull fresco, near Heraklion, Crete

Detail of the frescoes of the Palace of Knossos

If in ancient Egypt fragrant preparations knew their apotheosis, as we have seen in PART 1 of our historical exploration, we have to make another stop at the very important production centers and trade routes of the Aegean Sea, where the Greek civilization from times almost lost in the Neolithic settlements were inquisitive about the fragrant opportunities the countryside around them provided. If Egypt championed the use of fragrant resins from the cool-blooded trees growing on the arid extremities of its South and the aquatic flowers of its fertile river banks, Greece naturally cast an eye into the aromatics of its own soil—herbal, tangy, austere and sensual in equal measure, providing a rustic elegance that would descend the centuries undiminished, but it also embraced the imported luxuries and ameliorated them.

Boswellia tree (Frankincense tree)

Our information on the production of fragrant preparations on Greek soil starts with tidbits from the archeological remnants of the Minoan (flourishing on the island of Crete and the Aegean archipelago) and Mycenaean civilization (flourishing on the Greek southern mainland and imposing itself on the Minoan cities some decades after the eruption of the Thera volcano on Santorini island). The peak of these two contrasting but oddly complementing civilizations roughly spans the period between 16th century BC to 12th century BC and the main information sources are comprised of tablets and artistic depictions of pottery and  mural paintings.

Tablets of Linear B (the language of the Mycenaeans which is a precursor to Homeric Greek and Europe's oldest readable writing) specify certain spices, some counted by size and some weighted by the metric system of the times.

Linear B tablet about two women land owners, one of an orchard

The smaller seeds and solid homogenous stuff were categorized according to volume, while the ones which showed some disproportionate appearance were categorized according to weight. Although the Linear A (the language of the Minoans and a precursor to Linear B) hasn't yet been deciphered, historical texts from other periods recounting the past and cross-checking with hieroglyphics (which have been deciphered) talk about imports of cinnamon, balsam, myrrh, henna, nard, balanus and other aromatics from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and other regions of the Near East into Crete and the islands of the Aegean, while the Minoans themselves were exporting olive oil, almond oil, cypress wood, labdanum (cistus) as well as many fragrant preparations locally made to Egypt.

A clay tablet from Mycenae, with writing in Linear B (below), from wikipedia:

In fact the Minoan unguents and liquids were especially popular during the 18th and 19th Dynasties of Pharaoh Egypt. Accordingly the ancient Greeks loved importing palm oil from Naukratis in Egypt, as well as essences of lily (mainly from the Persian Empire from the city of Sousa), lotus and dill essence. The use of these aromatics spanned a wide range from preparations against poisons and insect and snake bites to aromatherapeutic uses.

Labdanum, or Cistus ladanifer

Interesting remains in situ in the production sites are revealing to the procedures used; such prehistoric remains are located at the palace of Zakros (first half of the 15th century BC, in Crete), the palace of Pylos (end of 13th century BC in the Peloponnese) and two houses in Mycenae, the House of the Oil Merchant and the House of the Sphinxes. The production sites are called μυρεψεία, i.e., "myrrh roasting," implying the importation of myrrh from the arid desserts of East and South.

The name has survived through Greek into the Byzantine empire with Greek doctor Nicolaos Myrepsos, who in the 11th century AD collected more than  2,200 recipes in his fragrant pharmacopeia and hence μυρεψός ("myrrh-epsos") came to denote the profession of the doctor and later of the chief preparing the "holy myrrh" (άγιο μύρο), used in the Christian chrism, at the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople!

Giant Minoan Pithoi (storage jars) in Knossos palace, Crete

A great amount of pottery, cups, crock pots, jars, pitchers, censers, sieves, griddles and grills, and portable braziers denote an extensive manipulation of materials for the production of aromatics. The flowers were seeped into oil, animal fat or water immersed into elaborate "tubs," while warm oil serving as a carrier for the aromatic essence was first boiled in cauldrons. The finished liquid was poured carefully into μυροδοχεία, literally "myrrh receptacles" of varied size, shape and decoration.

Even though we almost involuntarily envision alembics and water boiling and steam rising into the air when we think about centuries-old preparation of fragrances (such is the power of suggestion perpetuated through the movies and comics) the method of distillation was actually nonexistent up till the 9th century AD. Instead, cold press extraction and immersion in some form of solvent were the two main preparation methods throughout antiquity.

According to the written evidence of Dioscorides who explains the no doubt similar process in his De Materia Medica 1.43-55 (1st century AD):

"This is a double phase process. The purpose of the first phase is to render the oil receptive to the aroma of the flowers and the leaves to be added later. An unguent is made from the roots of calamus, of gorse and of cyperus plants, made into a paste with pestle & mortar and mixed with water or wine, which is then boiled in olive oil. The oil is then sieved through a colander and let to cool off. The second phase involves seeping into the cool oil those fragrant flower petals or leaves and roots which would give the final aroma to the product. Lastly added color for decorative purposes and salt and/or spices for preservation purposes."
 

The method of aromatics immersion took the form of "enfleurage" (not an 18th century French invention at all despite common lore!) which involved spreading flower petals and leaves onto trays of animal fat or warm plant oil, letting them seep and yield their fragrant load, and replacing the fat or oil every couple of days until there would be no more fragrant essence to be yielded. This process resulted in a μυραλοιφή (i.e., a waxy pomade) which was then shaped into a cone or ball, to be used in grooming and festivities.

In cold pressing the flowers, rinds and roots were put into bags of linen with hooks on either side, upon which they were hang and then squeezed into two diametrically opposite directions so as to squeeze any liquid that would be hiding and which would be collected in pottery underneath. A similar press to the one for olives or grapes (for the preparation of olive oil and wine respectively) was also used for aromatic materials of a more resistant texture, such as nuts and seeds.

olive press, Greece, from www.natural-greece.gr

Apart from personal grooming, aromatics, much like in Egypt, were also used for religious ceremonies in ancient Greece. The lure of these fragrant effluvia is described none more dreamily than in Herodotus's Histories (in the 5th century BC):

"It is during The Eleusinian Mysteries [ceremonies of Athenian origin which celebrated the fertility and grain goddess Demeter and Kore (i.e. Persephone, of the myth of the pomegranate)]  that aromatics are used the most. The 9th and 10th day of the celebrations the hierophant makes a speech in which he explains to the initiated the joys which await them. In the Elysian Fields there is a golden city, with emerald fortifications and roads paved in ivory, where the gates are made of cinnamon. Around its walls the River of Perfume flows, a 100 cubits wide and deep enough that one could swim in it. The baths are crystal edifices held up by pillars of fragrant wood and in the bathtubs a warm and pleasantly odoriferous dew is ever flowing. Three hundred and sixty sources of pure water are located in this magnificent city, as many of honey and five hundred fountains of fine fragrance. The banqueting hall is a grove of trees bearing the most suave flowers and their fruits are cups which are automatically filled with wine when cut and put onto the table. Charming nightingales fill the air with their song and pick up fragrant blossoms which they drop onto the guests like scented snow. A thick vapor rises from the Perfumes River and floats within the banquet hall imparting a refined and suave fragrant dew."
 

Sebastiano Conca (1680-1764), The Vision of Aeneas in the Elysian Fields

The journey across the Mediterranean on the wings of history continues in Part 3.