Fact:

Stakte, Susinum, Cyprinum, Mendesian, those names had the same impact as Opium or Chanel Number Five in our modern world.

Until and during the first few centuries of the Common Era, Egypt was the prestigious center of an international perfume industry. Perfumes were created and marketed in many locations, however it was Egypt that was most renowned and was identified with the international perfume trade. Egypt was so well known for its perfume that during Julius Caesar's Roman triumphs, perfume bottles were tossed to the crowd to demonstrate his mastery over Egypt.

Up Date:                                                                                                                  Aphrodite Connection and Perfume Production:

Oldest Perfumes Found on "Aphrodite's Island"  Jugs used to make and store ancient perfumes lie at an excavation site on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The 4,000-year-old fragrances—the world's oldest known perfumes

besides King Ur Nammu—were re-created by an experimental archaeology center and are now on display at an Italian museum. John Roach for National Geographic News March 29, 2007 The world's oldest known perfumes have been found on the island reputed to be the birthplace of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, lust, and beauty, Italian archaeologists announced last week. Discovered on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus in 2003, the perfumes date back more than 4,000 years, said excavation leader Maria Rosaria Belgiorno of the National Research Council in Rome. Remnants of the perfumes were found inside an ancient 3,230-square-foot (300-square-meter) factory that was part of a larger industrial complex at Pyrgos. The buildings were destroyed during an earthquake in 1850 B.C., but perfume bottles, mixing jugs, and stills were preserved under the collapsed walls. The artifacts are currently on display at the Capitolini Museum in Rome. . Aphrodite was likely recognized as the goddess of Cyprus because the island was already well known for its perfumes by the time the myth arose. Many perfumes today are considered aphrodisiacs—substances believed to boost sexual desire "The Cyprus perfumes were born before Aphrodite, and after Aphrodite they remained linked to the island and its goddess," Belgiorno said. The archaeologist added that she doesn't know why the people of Cyprus started making and wearing perfumes 4,000 years ago. In ancient Egypt, she noted, perfumes were used for cosmetic and pharmaceuticals.  The smell of the perfumes is "a nice experience that re-creates in our mind a sort of ancestral reminder” Scents Re-created Belgiorno's team analyzed the remains of the mixing jugs and identified 14 fragrances native to the Mediterranean region used in perfume production. Extracts of anise, pine, coriander, bergamot, almond, and parsley are among the ingredients the ancient perfume-makers preferred. The team also discovered four "recipes" concocted with the different fragrances.  An experimental archaeology center in Blera, Italy, recreated these perfumes using techniques described by Pliny the Elder, a Roman author who died observing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Plants and herbs were ground up and mixed with olive oil in clay jugs, then distilled in a clay apparatus,