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The ancient Egyptians were renowned for their knowledge and expertise regarding aromatics, and the use of incense in Egypt goes back to prehistoric times. It was from Egypt and the Mesopotamian basin in the Near East that the earliest tangible evidence in the form of aromatic remnants and cult objects have emerged. Resin balls have been found in several predynastic tombs and resinous materials continue to occur among the grave treasures of dynastic times. Balls of incense were discovered in Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Already at the time of the Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BC) the preparation and specific purposes of incense had been established. The ingredients and manufacture of various scents have been preserved on temple walls, together with directions for their use. The recipe for ‘Kyphi’, for example, is shown on the inner temple walls at Edfu, within the sacred precinct of the temple priests. This precious perfume and incense was made from a mixture of over 16 aromatic substances including juniper, cardamom, calamus, cyperus (a fragrant grass), mastic, saffron, acacia, henna, cinnamon, peppermint and myrrh, blended into a paste containing over 25 per cent resin, then shaped into pellets to be burned on specific occasions.

Indeed, incense was indispensable for all aspects of ancient Egyptian ritual practice, notably for the elaborate ceremonies surrounding death. During the funeral rites of a dead king, incense and aromatics were not only used to protect the physical corpse from decay and to disguise the stench of putrefaction, but also to confer the transformation from the human state to that of a divinity. In The Book of the Dead, incense is called for in many rites to purify and protect the soul in the after-life, and to ensure a safe passage.

From the Pyramid Texts, we learn that there is a purificatory use of incense in that the King is purified from all evil odours, an apotropaic use of incense in that incense is able to protect him from evil, and what may be called a mediatory use of incense in the sense that incense is used as a means of establishing contact between man and god, a contact which can bring man to heaven or god to earth.³

Incense was thus used to bring the human and transcendent worlds closer together – the ascending smoke was seen symbolically as a vehicle by which prayers could be carried to the deities above and as a means of communication between the two realms. What does this mean in modern psychological language? It suggests that scent has the power to evoke our highest aspirations and fears, and can be used to transport us onto another plane of consciousness.

The invisible yet influential effect of odour was well known to the ancient Egyptians who utilized its remarkable power: the ability to penetrate the unseen realms of the psyche and affect the inner dimensions of the mind. ‘Kyphi’ for example, was burned on ritual occasions to heighten the senses and spiritual awareness of the priests, and to raise the spirits of their ‘congregation’.

According to the ancient Egyptian world-view, the human realm was governed by a resident deity, sustained through offerings from the king or, in his absence, the high priests. The image of the deity was tended daily – washed, censed, anointed, clothed and fed – and in return the god ensured the equilibrium and good fortune of the people. According to myth, several of the deities were themselves associated with various aromatics – Nefertum, the god of perfumers, incense and fragrant oils, was identified with the sacred blue lotus, while his consort Sekhmet, the goddess of healing and alchemy, was known as the ‘lady of every herb’. Myrrh was derived from the tears of the god Horus, while plants used for incense were produced from the tears of Shu and Tefnut.

The early Egyptians also believed that their deities were nourished by odours and incense was commonly thought to be ‘the food of the Gods’. The ‘Ka’, or double of the body, which resided in sacred statues and in the mummy, took pleasure in scents, while its ‘Ba’, or soul, actually fed on incense and offerings. Since scent delighted the human senses, it was naturally assumed that the deities found it especially pleasing. By burning aromatics the Egyptians believed they could ensure divine favour and attract special attention to their prayers. In many temple murals the king himself can be seen standing before the statue of a god holding a smoking censer in his hands.

At Heliopolis, the City of the Sun, incense was burned in the temple three times a day in honour of the sun-god Ra: in the morning with gum arabic; at midday with myrrh; and at sunset with ‘Kyphi’. The nightly offering of ‘Kyphi’ ensured the return of the sun the following morning! Incense and libations were also offered during the coronation ceremony, to celebrate a military victory and before the opening of a shrine containing a deity.

The two main types of aromatics used by the ancient Egyptians were known as ntyw and sntr. The former most probably referred to myrrh (bdellium/sweet myrrh) which was also used in the form of stacte – oil of myrrh. Ntyw, which was employed in perfumes, medicines and cosmetics as well as incense, was the product par excellence imported from the ‘Land of Punt’, i.e. Somalia on the north African coast. Sntr, meaning ‘God’s odour’, was also imported in smaller quantities from Punt and most probably referred to a variety of frankincense – either Boswellia carteri, B. frerenan or B. papyrifera. It was used exclusively as an incense, though inferior in quality to the true sacred incense B. sacra, which is only found in southern Arabia. An expedition to the Land of Punt depicted on a temple relief shows Queen Hatshepsut receiving a ship loaded with vast quantities of aromatics brought back from the ‘incense terraces’. Expeditions to Punt were recorded as early as 2800 BC under the patronage of King Sahure. It was only around the first century AD that the focus of the incense trade swung towards Arabia.