Helping You Create a Whole Life, Health and Healing: SoLet's talk History of Essential Oils

Monday, 2 May 2016

SoLet's talk History of Essential Oils

ssential oils are gaining worldwide recognition for their versatility, The use of botanicals as healing agents is a long-standing practice throughout human history. In fact, essential oils and other botanicals have been used in wellness practices as early as at least 5,000 years ago.

Let’s explore a culture where some of the earliest recorded uses of essential oil precursors began: Egypt.

Ancient Oils in Ancient Egypt

The fertile soil around the Nile River became a source of life throughout Africa. The kingdom of Egypt grew around the Nile delta; and its name became synonymous with power, wealth, and technological advancement.

The abundance of food in Egypt, owed to the richness of the land, allowed for the development of a rich culture, which included some of the earliest advances in writing, agriculture, urbanization, and central government. In addition, this progressive culture was the perfect stage for innovation in herbal medicine.

One of the first recognized compilations by ancient healers is called the Ebers Papyrus. Although it dates from approximately 1,500 B.C., it is believed to have been copied from earlier texts. The scroll contains recipes, ceremonies, and other information that Egyptians deemed worthy of preservation.

Excerpt from Ebers Papyrus.

But, of course, the most famous Egyptian use of aromatic botanicals is in mummification. In preparing the bodies of the deceased for burial, embalmers used various botanicals such as cinnamon, resins such as frankincense and myrrh, and an early form of cedar or juniper essential oil.

With such cutting-edge advances, Egypt’s international renown drew researchers from neighboring countries, leading to expanded use of botanicals in everyday life. We’ve talked about the emergence of Egypt as a leader in the field of essential oil usage.* Ancient Egyptians used many plant recipes for healing and spiritual practices, serving as forerunners to today’s essential oil movement. However, the use of essential oils and similar products didn’t end there! The vast influence of the Egyptian empire made it the hub for the spread of essential oil knowledge throughout the ancient world.

The most prominent borrower of Egyptian knowledge was the Roman Empire. Rome invaded and conquered Egypt in 30 B.C., wresting control from Cleopatra and establishing itself as the preeminent civilization in the region.

This shift in power spurred the ascension of Roman clerics to the top of the natural-solutions pyramid. Their most lucrative botanical, balsam, was heralded for its varied uses. Rome also became famous for its bathhouses, which used aromatic botanicals such as bay laurel, pine, fir, and juniper. These plants and their extracted essential oils were also used in massages or other therapeutic practices. When baths were not available, ancient Romans used scented olive oils to clean their bodies, applying them to the skin and then scraping them off with an instrument called a strigil.

One of the most enduring records of essential oil use during the Roman Empire is the New Testament. Israelites used essential oils such as frankincense, cedarwood, hyssop, fir, and spikenard to heal wounds and elevate spiritual communion. The most famous example of the value that essential oils had in Israelite culture is in the telling of the birth of Jesus, to whom gifts were given of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

The Egyptian and Roman empires may have declined, but ancient healers’ wisdom continued to spread. Renowned writers from the Middle East such as Persian polymath Ibn Sīnā (980–1037 A.D.) and Islamic botanist and physician Ibn al-Baitair (1197–1248 A.D.) promoted the use of herbs and essential oils. In 12^th-century Germany, Saint Hildegard of Bingen used herbs and oils in her practice and gave valuable insight into medieval medicine with her works, including Physica, a 200-chapter chronicling of plants and their uses.*

It’s obvious that the ancient world, from Egypt, to Rome, to Israel, to Persia, regarded essential oils and other plant byproducts highly.

But how, exactly, did our ancestors extract essential oils from plants, and how did these early methods evolve into today’s highly advanced extraction technology? Join me for my next post to find out!