STUDY REVEALS PATCHOULI SCENT WAS A POPULAR PERFUME WITH ROMANS

IN Rome during the time of Antinous, people may have been perfuming themselves with the musky scent of patchouli, new research hints. 

Such perfume oils could be stored in a handled and lidded container called a BALSAMARIUM (bath unguent jar) in the form of the head of Antinous, which was hugely popular.

Men took a balsamarium like the ones pictured on this page with them to the Roman Baths so that they emerged looking and smelling like the god Antinous.

The new study marks the first time that the composition of a Roman perfume has been identified, offering us a rare whiff of a bygone empire.

A clean body and a well-groomed appearance was not only indispensable in the art of love, but was also considered a fundamental feature of Roman self-esteem, frequently contrasted with the uncleanliness and unkempt appearance of Barbarians living outside the borders of the Empire.

The perfume, which has solidified after two millennia inside a carved quartz bottle, was discovered in a funerary urn found in a mausoleum in Seville, Spain. Unearthed in 2019, during an excavation in modern-day Carmona, the mystery ointment has now been chemically described, revealing the inclusion of patchouli, an essential oil common in modern perfumery but never before known in use in ancient Rome. 

As well as the essence of patchouli, obtained from Pogostemon cablin, a plant of Indian origin, the cologne was found to have a base of vegetable oil – possibly olive oil – although the researchers cannot be certain about this.

The vial in which it was found was made of rock crystal (quartz) carved in the shape of an amphora, which would have been exceptionally rare and expensive – perfume containers were typically made of blown glass back in the first century CE. 

“In Roman times, quartz vessels were very rare luxury objects several of which have been found near Carmona,” the team write in a paper on their findings. “The [jar] was thus a rather unusual finding for an archaeological site, and even more unusual is that it was tightly stopped and contained a solid mass.”

It is the very fact that the flask was so perfectly sealed, with a type of carbonate mineral called dolomite as a stopper and a bitumen seal, that means the solidified perfume inside has been so well preserved.

The study is published in the journal Heritage.

Any well-groomed Roman male owned an array of bathing implements, combs, strigilae, lamps, water-resistant flip-flops and other articles ... including a balsamarium to hold his bath oils or skin lotions.

Antinous balsamaria were exceedingly popular in Rome. Suitable for holding bath oils or moisturizers, an Antinous balsamarium suggested that its owner would emerge from the baths looking like a God. 

And we thought modern advertising came up with that gimmick!