Simply Ask Aromatherapy
Simply Ask Aromatherapy
History of Essential Oils - Arabia
History of Essential Oils - Arabia
The Arabs of the Middle East and North Africa where merchants, carrying the essences throughout the lands they inhabited. Detailed Babylonian import orders (c.1800B.C.) for a variety of aromatics including cypress, cedarwood and myrrh were inscribed on clay tablets. They knew the value of pure oils and they transported not only oils but also the methods of using the oils from place to place. A new idea of how to use any oil quickly spread throughout the Middle East. As a direct result, the Arabs were famous for their perfumes and medications. Caravans of 3,000 camels transported costly frankincense along the Frankincense Trail, a 2,400-mile-long road that stretched through Dhofar in Southern Oman to the coast of Israel.
The Arabs of the Middle East and North Africa where merchants, carrying the essences throughout the lands they inhabited. Detailed Babylonian import orders (c.1800B.C.) for a variety of aromatics including cypress, cedarwood and myrrh were inscribed on clay tablets. They knew the value of pure oils and they transported not only oils but also the methods of using the oils from place to place. A new idea of how to use any oil quickly spread throughout the Middle East. As a direct result, the Arabs were famous for their perfumes and medications. Caravans of 3,000 camels transported costly frankincense along the Frankincense Trail, a 2,400-mile-long road that stretched through Dhofar in Southern Oman to the coast of Israel.
Incense Trail
Incense Trail
With the eventual collapse of the Roman Empire, (generally dated to AD 410) many physicians fled to Constantinople, taking with them these great books of their trade. Many were translated in Persian, Arabic, and other languages, and finally found their way into the Arab culture. The subsequent Dark Ages saw the emergence of the Arabian empire. The ancient Arabian people began to study the chemical properties of essential oils. They developed and refined the distillation process. It is the Persian physician Avicenna (980 - 1,037 AD) that is being credited with perfecting the distillation process of essential oils, with the invention of a coiled cooling pipe. The basic distillation method he developed has remained unchanged to this day. He studied the use of plants, their effects on the human body and recorded the results in his books on the properties of over 800 plants. His book The Canon of Medicinae was a standard work for many centuries. Additionally he approved greatly the use of massage. Here are the words of Avicenna's book regarding massage: “Restorative friction produces repose. Its object is to disperse effete matter formed in the muscles and not expelled by exercise. It causes the effete matter to disperse and so remove fatigue. Such friction is soft and gentle and is best done with oil or perfume ointment.”
The Arabs spread their knowledge not only by trade, but also by war. During the Arab "golden era", around 632 AD, they spread their knowledge of medicine and plant use from Spain to India. They contributed greatly to the development of western culture and their knowledge of plants and the uses contributed to our knowledge today.
It is thought that the Arabs were the first to distil ethyl alcohol from fermented sugar. This provided a solvent other than oils and waxes for infusions, and such popular luxuries as floral waters followed. Much of the demand for these products was from export markets.
Many new medicines and ointments were brought from the east during the Crusades and many of today’s surviving herbals, whose contents included recipes for the use and manufacture of essential oils, were written during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries.
With the eventual collapse of the Roman Empire, (generally dated to AD 410) many physicians fled to Constantinople, taking with them these great books of their trade. Many were translated in Persian, Arabic, and other languages, and finally found their way into the Arab culture. The subsequent Dark Ages saw the emergence of the Arabian empire. The ancient Arabian people began to study the chemical properties of essential oils. They developed and refined the distillation process. It is the Persian physician Avicenna (980 - 1,037 AD) that is being credited with perfecting the distillation process of essential oils, with the invention of a coiled cooling pipe. The basic distillation method he developed has remained unchanged to this day. He studied the use of plants, their effects on the human body and recorded the results in his books on the properties of over 800 plants. His book The Canon of Medicinae was a standard work for many centuries. Additionally he approved greatly the use of massage. Here are the words of Avicenna's book regarding massage: “Restorative friction produces repose. Its object is to disperse effete matter formed in the muscles and not expelled by exercise. It causes the effete matter to disperse and so remove fatigue. Such friction is soft and gentle and is best done with oil or perfume ointment.”
The Arabs spread their knowledge not only by trade, but also by war. During the Arab "golden era", around 632 AD, they spread their knowledge of medicine and plant use from Spain to India. They contributed greatly to the development of western culture and their knowledge of plants and the uses contributed to our knowledge today.
It is thought that the Arabs were the first to distil ethyl alcohol from fermented sugar. This provided a solvent other than oils and waxes for infusions, and such popular luxuries as floral waters followed. Much of the demand for these products was from export markets.
Many new medicines and ointments were brought from the east during the Crusades and many of today’s surviving herbals, whose contents included recipes for the use and manufacture of essential oils, were written during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries.