Perfume Production in the Ancient World

Alchemies of Scent website

Conference: Perfume Production in the Ancient World.

Part of Alchemies of Scent, a research group in the history of science funded by the Czech Science Foundation.

Topic and Aim
The topic of this conference is the production of scented materials (“perfumes”) in the ancient world from multiple perspectives: historical, archaeological, natural scientific, artisanal, cultural, religious.

The conference’s aim is to challenge traditional, monolithic ideas of ancient perfumery cultures ("Egyptian", "Mesopotamian", "Roman") and explore (a) how ingredients and the methods of using scented materials travelled across different civilizations, and (b) how perfumery and the production of scented materials themselves varied within the same culture, across time and place.

Scope
The conference will include papers on scent traditions including Aegean, African, Assyrian, Athenian, Ancient Egyptian, Chinese, Christian, Persian, Ptolemaic Egyptian, Islamicate, Roman, Mesopotamian, Minoan, Pompeiian, and South Arabian.

Confirmed Speakers

Maria Rosaria Belgiorno (ISPC-CNR)
Alice Capobianco (University of Genova)
Béatrice Caseau (Sorbonne Université)
Sean Coughlin (FLÚ CAS)
Roberto Dario (Perfumer)
Eduardo Escobar (Università di Bologna)
Katarzyna Gromek (Independent Researcher)
Barbara Huber (Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology)
Mohammadreza Jalali
Anya King (University of Southern Indiana)
Miguel Matos (Perfumer)
Giacomo Montanari (Università di Bologna)
Laura Prieto (FLÚ CAS)
Klara Ravat (Olfactory Artist)
Bastien Rueff (École française d’Athènes)
Andrea Salayová (Masaryk University)
Jay Silverstein (Nottingham Trent University)
Giuseppe Squillace (University of Calabria)
Laurence Totelin (Cardiff University)
Heike Wilde (FLÚ CAS)
Demi Lizzann Williams
Marie Theres Wittmann (University of Oxford)
Miguel Matos (Barcelona, winner of the Independent Perfumer award 2023)

Format
The conference is in-person and will involve practical exegesis and demonstrations. Hybrid talks will only take place in exceptional circumstances. A conference fee of 1.000 CZK (~40 EUR) will be used to cover materials, lunches and a conference dinner.

Registration Details
To register as a guest, please send your name, institutional affiliation, and area of research to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 7 October 2023.

Dates
Registration deadline: 7 October 2023
Arrival, registration and greeting: 6 November 2023

Conference: 7–8 November 2023

Organizers
Heike Wilde (Prague / Heidelberg)
Laurence Totelin (Cardiff)
Sean Coughlin (Prague)