Both civilisations used perfume extensively in bathing culture, religious rites, and as a visible mark of status and hospitality, with imported ingredients like myrrh and frankincense along established trade routes prized as genuinely valuable luxury goods.

A daily and ceremonial presence

Perfumed oils were a normal part of bathing and grooming for those who could afford them, applied to the body much as we’d use a moisturiser or cologne today, while temples and religious ceremonies used burnt aromatic resins as offerings believed to please the gods. Fragrance also marked hospitality and status at gatherings, with hosts anointing guests as a sign of respect, and funerary practices in both cultures made use of scented oils and resins as part of preparing and honouring the dead.

  • Daily bathing and grooming rituals
  • Religious offerings and temple ceremonies
  • Marking hospitality and social status at gatherings
  • Funerary and burial practices

Roman writers in particular left behind detailed accounts of specific perfumed oils and their uses, giving modern historians an unusually clear picture of just how embedded fragrance was in everyday Roman social life.

Trade in aromatic ingredients along Mediterranean and wider trade routes also helped spread fragrance culture between civilisations, well beyond what any single society could produce domestically on its own.

Our guide to the history of perfume and our complete guide to perfume go into this history in more depth.