Incense

Incense in Ancient Egypt


 * Plants Made into Incense:**

Bay Laurel

Cedar

Cinnamon

Frankincense

Myrrh

Papyrus

The use of incense has been known and developed since the earliest times in ancient Egypt. The ancient Egyptians used incense in enormous qualities - bad smells were associated with impurity. A pleasing smell was the "fragrance of the gods" - hence temples, shrines, tombs, and people had to smell good. Moreover, the burning of incense covered the smell which arose from mummification and animal offerings. Incense ingredients were either ground up and thrown on hot coals, or mixed with dried fruit (such as raisins or dates) and formed into small pellets, which were burned on a censer.

The ingredients were both homegrown and imported from Punt, a region in the vicinity of the Horn of Africa. Punt was the source of myrrh, frankincense, and aromatic woods. Incense from far-away Punt and Arabia was accordingly expensive. Only the very rich could afford to use them, if they were not reserved for the exclusive use of the gods. "The temple is filled with the scent of incense. Incense spreads throughout your sanctuary, it sanctifies your throne, it purifies your Ka from evil."

Scents were believed to have originated from the gods, to have sprung from their eyes or tears or bones. Many plant ingredients were known as the "fruit of the eye of Horus." Burning and offering incense was a way of communicating with the deities - propitiating the gods were crucial in the treatment of disease. Good smells attracted the gods, while at the same time repelled the demons believed to be causing the illness. A common refrain was "Hail, ye gods, whose scent is sweet!" Temples received allocations of raw materials and prepared their own incense in a workshop. Plutarch says that the Egyptians "Every morning make a triple offering of incense to the Sun, an offering of resin at sunrise, and of myrrh at midday."

Tuthmosis III was pictured on the walls of his temples offering sacred oils and presenting heaps of incense to the gods. Ramses II was honored as one who "cleaned Memphis with natron and incense, and installed the priests in their places." The Papyrus Harris says "I planted for thee plentiful tribute of myrrh, in order to go around thy temple with the fragrance of Punt for thy august nostrils at early morning. I planted incense and myrrh in thy great and august court in //Inek-Sebek//, being those which my hands brought from the country of God's Land, in order to satisfy the two serpent-goddesses every morning."

Incense also played a part in the funerary rites, where the deceased was made ready to meet the gods, and censers were among the grave goods as early as the Old Kingdom. Just prior to the Egyptian New Year a special ceremony for the dead was done, in which a funerary priest or a relative of the deceased would come to the tomb at night. They would light a candle, burn incense, and present a jar of unguent while reciting a prayer asking for the Eye of Horus to be vigilant for the deceased and illuminate his path to the Hereafter.

Incense and Cosmetics in Ancient Egypt