The Production of Perfumes in Antiquity

The Cases of Delos and Paestum

Bibliographic Data

ID4537381
AuthorsJean‐pierre Brun (0000-0001-8615-2061, corresponding author), Jean-Pierre Brun (0000-0002-0149-9056)
Year2000
Volume104
Issue2
Pages277-308
Publication date2000-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9114 • E-ISSN: 1939-828X
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2307/507452
OpenAlexW2330984635
LanguageEN
Citations received44
References cited14

Perfume production is one of the ancient arts. Although it is well attested in texts from the Egyptian Old Kingdom and the early second millennium in Mesopotamia and Palestine, the sources give us little precise data about early perfume technology. This situation changed at the end of the Hellenistic period, when production was increasingly characterized by larger and more distinctive equipment such as the wedge press. Recent excavations of two perfume shops in Delos and Paestum make it possible to describe the processes used during the Hellenistic period and the early Roman empire. These studies give us the opportunity to evaluate, through texts and inscriptions, the economic importance of perfume making and trade as well as the social status of perfumers

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Art · Hellenistic Period · Late Antiquity · Mesopotamia · Palestine · Period (music) · Roman Empire · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · History

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