There’s no single inventor. Perfume developed independently across several ancient civilisations, though a chemist named Tapputi, recorded on a cuneiform tablet from Mesopotamia around 1200 BC, is often cited as the earliest named perfumer in history.

Why there’s no clean “first”

Burning aromatic woods and resins for ritual and religious purposes goes back further than any written record we have, likely tens of thousands of years in some form. What Tapputi’s tablet actually documents is something closer to an early distillation and filtering method, using flowers, oils and calamus, which makes her one of the first named individuals in perfumery specifically rather than the inventor of scent itself. Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and later the Arab world all developed their own techniques largely in parallel.

Why this question doesn’t really have a tidy answer

Fragrance as a practice predates writing, so any “first perfume” claim is really just “first perfume we happen to have a record of.” It’s a bit like asking who invented cooking. Our history of perfume guide covers how the craft developed across different regions and eras, and the complete guide to perfume is a good companion read.