The ancient Egyptian elites and commoners alike enjoyed pleasing aromas upon their bodies, and many records we have found are from tombs that provide the recipes of the owner’s favorite scent in unguent or oil form. Doctors utilized scents in their external medicine of utmost importance in the treatment of their patients. From Cleopatra, who scented the sails of her pleasure barge with Susinon; to the baker’s wife who enjoyed a fragrant oil produced with myrrh on a holiday of Hathor, scents brought joy to the people of ancient Egypt. The gods themselves enjoyed scents of burning incense, oils, and unguents on their sacred statues and temples. Tons of exotic ingredients from frankincense to cinnamon to spearmint were offered by the Pharaoh to the temples of the gods for their continued beneficence.
Satjya Natjrw researched recipes for these fragrances and modernly reproduced the scents of ancient Egypt. We then used them to produce products all bearing these unique aromas of the gods of ancient Egypt.
Our fragrance oils are created from ancient Egyptian formulae found in temples, tombs, and on papyri. We use the ancient method of heat steeping as the ancient Egyptians utilized, whereby the ingredients are heated with oil over several hours. As modern perfumes use distilled essential oils that were not produced until the 13th – 14th centuries CE, our scents are more subtle than modern perfumes, especially when smelled from the bottle, but they are more fragrant after they are shaken and then applied to the skin. Compare our prices to modern iterations that use essential oils and ingredients that did not exist in ancient Egypt. While ancient perfumes require more application, our fragrance oils are more economical and accurate to ancient formulae.
Directions: Warm the oil and shake well to agitate the contents. Apply to the skin and allow the scent to develop.
Kyphi
Known as Kyphi by the ancient Greeks, this ancient incense bears the name of Ka’apat, which was the oldest word for incense. Its wonderful scent permeates the mind and soul, relaxing the spirits. Ka’apat was burned in ancient temples during the evening rituals, to prepare the god for Their slumber. Satjya Natjrw has reconstructed this incense from the ancient recipe found at the Ointment Workshop of the Temple of Horus in Edfu, Egypt.
Ka’apat is an incense that has a long history in ancient Egypt. Its earliest mention comes from the Pyramid Texts, where it is listed among offerings that the deceased king would find good in the afterlife. In the medical Papyrus Ebers, a recipe for Ka’apat appears to cense the home and clothes and was ingested as a treatment for bad breath. The Papyrus Harris I lists the ingredients for Ka’pat as offerings to various temples by Rameses III. The word for censing or burning incense is ‘ka’ap’ hence it can be seen Ka’apat is one of the oldest incense created and used by the ancients.
The late first/early second century CE historian Plutarch is most notably a wealth of information on Ka’apat (called Kyphi by his time as a Greek transliteration of Ka’apat). He reveals the Egyptians ingested Kyphi as a cleansing tonic, and its smoke is calming and brought sleep.
“The Kyphi emits a sweet breath and a beneficent exhalation by which all is changed, while the body, being moved by the whiff softly and gently acquires a temper that seductively brings on sleep, so that without intoxication it relaxes and loosens the chain-like sorrows and tensions of daily cares. The scent purifies and polishes like a mirror the faculty which is imaginative and receptive to dreams, just like the notes of the lyre which the Pythagoreans used before sleep to charm and heal the emotive and irrational part of the soul. For scent often restores the power of perception when it is failing, while they often obscure and calm it, since the exhalations penetrate the body because of their smooth softness.”
Plutarch also reveals Kyphi was burned in the temples during the evening rites of temples in Egypt, along with frankincense in the morning and myrrh at midday. This corresponds to a story in the 4th-century b.c.e of Petese, the prophet of Ra in Heliopolis, who was struck down by the gods. The wife of Petese mixes frankincense, myrrh, and Kyphi; she burns this for the sun god R’a who then speaks in the voice of Petese, thus this powerful combination was able to bring the power of speech to her dead husband.
Ingredients: Dates, Grape Wine, Date Wine, Honey, Frankincense, Myrrh, Chios, Pine Resin, Sweet Flag, Rooibos, Lemongrass, Spearmint, Sweet Galingale, Juniper, Pine Kernels, Chervil, Cinnamon, Castor Oil, Grapeseed Oil
Ka’ Hr Ka’
The sacred Kaʿ Hr Kaʿ unguent is produced for the burial rites of the god Sokar-Osiris during the month of Koiak to renew the cycle of His death and rebirth. Though the Kaʿ Hr Kaʿ unguent is to anoint the emblematic Sokar mummy the ingredients are excellent for the skin. The complex scent consists of layers of cinnamon and frankincense, Egyptian lotus, with a hint of pine. It will leave you with that feeling of the immortality of Osiris ascending to the heavens.
Ingredients: Frankincense resin, Pine resin, Honey, Egyptian lotus, Palm Butter, Olive oil, Castor Oil, Grape Wine, Beeswax, Cinnamon
Mendesian
This scent originated in Mendes; the Greek name of the Ancient Egyptian city of Djadut, also known in Ancient Egypt as Par Ba’nabdjadwt (The Domain of the Ram Lord of Djadwt) and Inpat, is known today as Tell El-Ruba. This Nile Delta city became the capital of Ancient Egypt’s Late Period. The mendesian perfume was so popular for thousands of years, that it became known simply as ‘The Egyptian’ by Roman times.
Ba’anabdjadwt was the god of Mendes, who was consulted by the Divine Tribunal in the Judgment of Horus and Seth. Ptah, the creator god of Memphis, took the form of Ba’anabdjadwt in his form of virility in the conception of Ramesses II. It can be worn for creativity, virility, and a favorable court verdict.
Ingredients: Myrrh, Cinnamon, Castor Oil, Grapeseed Oil
Frankincense
Boswellia serrata is the botanical name given to the tree that produces the resin known to the ancient Egyptians as Sanatjar, meaning ‘divine substance.’ It was first imported from Syria and Punt, with Pharaohs Hatshepsut, Tuthmose III, Amenhotep II, and Rameses III attempting to grow trees to provide a domestic supply. Sanatjar was utilized in cosmetics, medicine, and ritual censing. Burned as incense in purification rituals, it was also the first burned in the morning temple rites.
Ingredients: Frankincense Resin, Castor Oil, Grapeseed Oil
Myrrh
Myrrh is a natural resin extracted from the tree Commiphora myrrha across the Middle East and parts of Africa. Like frankincense, it is an antiseptic. It was used in Pharaonic medicine as an analgesic for bruises, arthritis, sprains, and toothaches. The ancient Egyptians used Myrrh as incense for their midday temple ritual.
Ingredients: Myrrh Resin, Castor Oil, Grapeseed Oil
Susinon
This favorite of Cleopatra is made with the highest quality ingredients of lily with complex notes of cardamom, sweet flag, myrrh, and saffron.
Susinon oil was exceedingly popular and used by Greeks and Egyptians alike, but the quality of Egypt’s Susinon was considered far superior. With evidence going back as far as the 26th dynasty of the production of lily oil, it had been in production in Egypt since 500 B.C.E. The most exotic ingredients were used in the production of oil, with top-quality moringa oil as its base for its long-lasting, non-greasy, and light consistency. Only the best quality Persian saffron and lily procured in Aswan, Egypt is used to reproduce this rare and luxurious scent.
Ingredients: Lily, Moringa Oil, Sweet Flag, Myrrh, Sweet Aromatic Wine, Cardamom, Persian Saffron, Cinnamon, Honey, Sodium Chloride
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