Perfume Production in the Ancient World

7–8 November 2023

Vila Lanna, V Sadech 1/1, Prague 6, Czechia

The topic of this conference is the production of scented materials (“perfumes”) in the ancient world from multiple perspectives: historical, archaeological, natural scientific, artisanal, cultural, religious.

It’s aim is to challenge traditional, monolithic ideas of ancient perfumery cultures ("Egyptian", "Mesopotamian", "Roman") and explore (a) how ingredients and the methods of using scented materials travelled across different civilizations, and (b) how perfumery and the production of scented materials themselves varied within the same culture, across time and place.

The conference will include papers on scent traditions from much of antiquity, including Aegean, African, Assyrian, Athenian, Ancient Egyptian, Chinese, Christian, Ancient Greek, Islamicate, Mesopotamian, Minoan, Persian, Pompeiian, Ptolemaic Egyptian, Roman and South Arabian.

Follow this link for full conference details, programme and speakers.

Heike Wilde attends the XIIIth International Congress of Egyptologists: The Future of Ancient Egypt organized by Prof. Dr. Olaf Kaper of the Leiden University: The Netherlands Institute for the Near East (NINO).

Wilde presents her research with a poster entitled, “Aromatic Substances as Offerings for the Gods: Multi-disciplinary Approaches to Exotic Ingredients in the Temple Cult.”

Workshop: Scents of Religious Authority

Alchemies of Scent, Department for the Study of Ancient and Medieval Thought, and the Centre for Medieval Studies, Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences

At this workshop, we take a cross-cultural look at the scents of religious authority in sources from Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Medieval Europe. We will read and smell about the scent of divinity and death as they pertain to religious figures and their claims to authority.

Monday 5 June 2023

10.00–10.30. Scent in the Egyptian Temple: Worshipping the Gods with Fragrance in the Daily Ritual (Heike Wilde)

10.40–11.10. "Death seems to me today like the fragrance of myrrh": Scent and stench in the Egyptian realm of the dead (Diana Míčková)

11.20–11.50. Later Greek Medical Sources of Religious Scents (Sean Coughlin)

12.00–13.30. Lunch

14.00–16.00. The Fragrance of Authority: Did Medieval Folks Smell Power? And Did Power Want to be Smelled? (Joëlle Rollo-Koster)

18.00. Dinner

Tuesday 6 June 2023

10.00–12.00. Smelling: rose, musks, balsam

12.00–13.30. Lunch

13.30–17.00. Blending and experiment

Location

In Person

Participation is free, but registration is required as space is limited. Email alchemiesofscent@flu.cas.cz to register.

Day 1 (Morning), Day 2: Husova 7, 110 00 Prague

Day 1 (Afternoon): Jilská 1, 110 00 Prague

Online (Hosted on Zoom)

Register here on EventBrite

The So-Called Antu-List Reconsidered: Descriptions of Resinous Materials in Ptolemaic Temple Inscriptions

A workshop devoted to the translation of Ptolemaic temple texts related to ancient perfumery, organized by Heike Wilde was held for Alchemies of Scent at the Heidelberg University, Ägyptologisches Institut.

A new translation of ingredient-lists, recorded in two Egyptian temples of the Ptolemaic Period (Edfu and Athribis) has been discussed: Emendations, transcription and translation of the written signs, meaning of words describing resinous materials, dating the supposed primary text sources and the Ancient Egyptian system of classifying natural phenomena and their relation to deities and myths. The project members would like to thank Professor Dr. Joachim Friedrich Quack and appl. Professor Dr. Alexandra von Lieven for their valuable contributions.