Читать книгу Aromatherapy Workbook - Shirley Price - Страница 10

Through the influence of both the Egyptians and the Greeks the Romans began to be more appreciative of perfumes and spices – in fact, the word ‘perfume’ comes from the Latin per fumum, meaning ‘through the smoke’ and refers to the burning of incense. The Bible cites many references to incense, together with the use of plant oils and ointments.

De Materia Medica, a renowned ancient book written by Dioscorides, a Roman who lived in the first century AD, listed in detail the properties of about 500 plants. This information proved to be so influential that the book was translated into several languages, including Persian, Hebrew and Arabic. Dioscorides also told how he had come across the story of the doctor whom tradition claimed had invented distillation. This doctor had apparently cooked some pears between two plates in the oven and when they cooled, had tasted the liquid formed on the underneath of the top plate. To his surprise, this both smelled and tasted of pears, and as a result, he began to try and obtain not only this delicious ‘spirit’ as he called it, but others, in greater quantity. (Unknown to Dioscorides, others had already tried: in 1975 Dr Rovesti, well known for his research with essential oils, found in a museum a terracotta still from the foothills of the Himalayas – now 3,000 years old.)

As the Roman Empire spread, so did the knowledge of the healing properties of plants. When the Roman soldiers went on their long journeys to conquer the world they collected seeds and plants, which ultimately reached Britain, among other countries, and eventually became naturalized. Among these were fennel, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.

Baghdad was for many years the chief centre for rose oil from Persia (obtained by solvent extraction), and Damascus boasted a perfume industry.

Incidentally, it is thought that the Arabs were the first to distil ethyl alcohol from fermented sugar, thus providing a second medium which could be used for solvent extraction. (Around the ninth century Ibn Chaldum, an Arabian historian, tells that rose water was exported from Arabia to India and China.¹)