Fragrances
Fragrances and perfumes, the only true man made delights for the essential sense of smell. These simple pleasures can be dated back all the way to the time of ancient Egyptian queen, Cleopatra. But the word “perfume” itself is actually derived from the Latin “per forum” meaning “through smoke” you may ask, smoke and perfume, where is the connection there? Well the answer once again lies with the Egyptians. I mentioned that the Egyptians had perfume, but not what they used it for. It was used in religious ceremonies to contact the gods whilst burning it. The sort of perfume that these people would have used would have been something along the lines of myrrh, frankincense, peppermint and rose.
The Persians perfected the art of preserving scents; while the Greeks categorized perfumes according to the part of the plant they came from and kept records of their compositions. Alexander the Great brought perfume to Greece after invading Egypt, and the Romans took on the Greek's perfume culture when they invaded Greece. In the mean time, Islamic, Chinese and Indian cultures had been using perfume as part of their religious and social rituals as well.
Now perfume is used almost solely to make a good impression upon some one. Whether that person be a suitor or an employer, it has the same principal. To impress.
Modern technology, such as the internet, has made such products far more accessible than they used to be, this means that they have become more popular and so on and so forth.
