Ancient History of Essential Oils

By: Jacquelyn A Close, RA
Copyright © Jacquelyn Close, 2008

7000 BC to 4000 BC

Anthropologists find evidence of fragrant plants being combined with fatty oils of olive and sesame to create Neolithic ointments.

3000 - 2000 BC

Egyptians records indicate that they are importing large quantities of Myrrh.

The Egyptian God Nefertem is depicted in hieroglyphs as healing through the power of plants and flowers.

An Indus Valley terra-cotta apparatus, dated to 3,000 BC, is believed to be the first known primitive still that may have been used for distilling essential oils from plants. (Discovered by an archeological expedition led by Dr. Paolo Rovesti in 1975.)

3000 BC

Three (3) Babylonian tablets dated to this period contain:
1) import orders for cedar, myrrh, and cypress
2) a recipe for scented ointments
3) a list of the medicinal uses for cypress

1333 -1323 BC

King Tutankhamen ruled Egypt and when his tomb was discovered in November, 1922, (3,000 years later) they found alabaster (calcite) jars sealed in fat and containing resinous materials, including spices and frankincense oils.

1300 BC - 1200 BC

Mesopotamian cuneiform tables describe elaborate egg-shaped vessels containing coils. The vessels closely resemble Arabian “itriz” which were used for distillation of oils much later in history in the same geographic region.

c. 1200 BC

The Book of Exodus provides a recipe for a holy anointing oil that was given to Moses for the initiation of Priests

700 BC

The ancient Greek word, aromata, describes incense, perfume, spices and aromatic medicines.

356 - 323 BC

Alexander the Great contemptuously threw out the defeated King Darius’ box of priceless ointments and perfumes, but after a few years travel in Asia, he sent deputies to Yemen and Oman to find the source of the Arabian incense with which he anointed his body and burned constantly by his throne. Alexander sent plant cuttings to his classmate Thephrastus, who established a botanical garden in Athens. Theophrastus’ treatise “On Odors” covered the effects of odor on the mind and body, properties that carry scent, blending, and the shelf-life of aromatics.

100 BC

Rome reportedly consumed 2,800 tons of imported frankincense and 500 tons of myrrh per year. Romans referred to their sweethearts as “My myrrh” and “my cinnamon.”

50 BC

1st century AD Roman historian, Pliny -- author of the 1st century AD Natural History, mentions 32 remedies prepared from rose oil, 21 from lily, 17 from violet, and 25 from pennyroyal. A spikenard ointment was suggested for coughs and laryngitis.

The New Testament is filled with hundreds of references to oil, including frankincense and myrrh brought to the Christ child.

The Greek work Christos, Christ, means “anointed.”

Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord -- James 5:14

1st Century AD

One of the five sections covered in Dioscorides famous “Herbal” is “Aromatics.”

400 AD - 600 AD

Japanese are known to have perfected a distillation process. Special schools taught (and still teach) “kodo,” the art of perfumery.

600 AD - 700 AD

Mohammed, the Prophet of Islam, is said to have loved children, women, and fragrance above all else.

803 AD -870 AD

The Book of Perfume Chemistry and Distillation by Yakub al-Kindi describes many essential oils. Jabir ibn Hayyan (Gerber) of Arabia in his Summa Perfectionis, wrote several chapters on distillation.

980 AD - 1037 AD

Credit for improving (and often, erroneously, for discovering) distillation goes to an Arab known in the West as AVICENNA (arabic: Ibn-Sina). Alchemist, astronomer, philosopher, mathematician, physician, and poet, Ibn-Sina wrote the Canon of Medicine. Essential Oils were used extensively in his practice, and one of his 100 books was devoted entirely to rose oil.

1098 AD - 1179 AD

In Europe, the Abbess of Bingen, Saint Hildegard, produces four treatises on medicinal herbs which included “Causea et Curae” (Causes and Cures of Illness). She is credited by some sources with the invention of lavender water.

1200 AD

The Hindu text, the Someshvara, describes a daily bath ritual in which fragrant oils of jasmine, coriander, cardamom, basil, costus, pandanus, agarwood, pine, saffron, champac, and clove-scented sesame oil are applied to the body.

1300 AD - 1400 AD

Italy monopolizes the Eastern trade routes established during the Crusades. The guilds grocers, spicers, apothecaries, perfumers and glovers controlled the import of enormous quantities of spices used to enhance the flavor of foods and to disinfect cities against the plague and other maladies.

1450 AD - 1600 AD

The Aztecs, Incas, Mayans, and Native American Indians are found to be as extravagant with incense, ointments, steams, sweat lodges, and herbal remedies as ancient Egyptians.

1600 AD

Chinese Materia Medica author Pen Ts’ao discusses almost 2,000 herbs, and included a separate section on 20 essential oils.

1601 AD - 1625 AD

King James I, who authorized the translation of the King James version of the Bible (KJV), reigned during the time of the great plague, known as the Black Death. Learning that robbers were stripping the dead of their jewelry and belongings, without becoming ill themselves, King James had the robbers arrested and offered to spare their lives if they would divulge the secret of how they avoided contracting the plague. The robbers were perfumers and spice traders by profession, and they told the King they had used essential oils of clove, cinnamon, lemon, eucalyptus, and rosemary rubbed all over their bodies and put on masks for breathing.

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RESOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

The Oil Story
Ancient History of Essential Oils
Modern History of Essential Oils
Hospitals Using Essential Oils
Quotes from Modern Science
Definitions of Essential Oil and Aromatherapy Terminology