Today : The official opening of the New Acropolis Museum.

Labdanum - Cistus and Ancient Greece.

HERODOTUS (484 BC– 425 BC) THALIA 112.

"Ledanum, which the Arabs call ladanum, is procured in a yet stranger fashion. Found in a most inodorous place, it is the sweetest-scented of all substances. It is gathered from the beards of he-goats, where it is found sticking like gum, having come from the bushes on which they browse. It is used in many sorts of unguents, and is what the Arabs burn chiefly as incense.


Herodotus world:


Doctor:






1.HIPPOCRATES( 460 BC - 370 BC).
Hippocrates of Cos II or Hippokrates of Kos "father of medicine"









2.THEOPHRASTUS ( 371 – c. 287 BC).
His two surviving botanical works, Enquiry into Plants and On the Causes of Plants, were an important influence on medieval science.








3.GAIUS OR CAIUS PLINIUS SECUNDUS, (AD 23 – August 24, AD 79).
Gaius or Caius Plinius Secundus, better known as Pliny the Elder, was an ancient author, naturalist or natural philosopher and naval and military commander of some importance who wrote Naturalis Historia.








4.PEDANIOS DIOSKURIDES. 1o AC









5.CELSUS ( 1nd century ).
Celsus Greek philosopher and opponent of Christianity. He is known to us mainly through the reputation of his literary work, The True Word.








6.GALEN (AD 129 –ca. 200 or 216).
Galen was a prominent ancient Greek physician, whose theories dominated Western medical science for well over a millennium.

Milan fashion week 2009

Milano.

Tomorrow : The official opening of the New Acropolis Museum.

http://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/?pname=Home&la=2

The history of perfume in Greece is both important and dramatic. There are many stories and fables about how perfume came into existence in ancient Greece. Through Greek mythology there are tales of how the goddesses gave beautiful scent to the natural world. Venus, for example, is said to given the myrtle bush the fragrance it has today. The myrtle supposedly hid Venus from the view of satyrs when she was bathing at the edge of a lake one day. Venus was so thankful to the bush that she awarded it the scent is now has.

Another story tells of Esmina being turned into a tree for committing a great sin. Esmina cried over her punishment and the goddesses felt sorry for her. They decided to be lenient and reduce the punishment. Esmina was still to be a tree, but a sweet smelling tree, the myrrh. This particular tree "cries" and produces an aromatic resin, supposedly the tears of Esmina, which is still used in the manufacture of incense and perfumes today.

Probably the greatest story in Greek mythology concerning perfume is the story of Venus and the rose. The rose is said to have originally been white and without any scent at all, until Venus was pricked by the thorn from a rosebush. The goddess dyed the rose with her blood, making it red. The story goes that Cupid then fell in love with the flower and kissed it, giving the rose the aroma of love.

Myths and legends aside, perfume has always been important in Greek culture. It was originally made by boiling the petals of flowers, although other ingredients were soon used, such as herbs and oils, which were imported from Arabia. An ancient Greek lady named Lais of Corinth, who was extremely wealthy, created her own perfume. She may have been the first to develop a perfume in this way in ancient Greece and although she listed the ingredients as being only orange blossom and oyster shells, the perfume has never been successfully duplicated.

However, not everyone in ancient Greece was a fan of perfume. The expense of importing oils from Arabia saw some try to get the use of perfume banned. Socrates was also quite critical of the use of perfume, especially amongst men, saying that it made free men smell the same as a slave.

But once it had begun, the peoples' love of perfume couldn't be stopped. It seemed everyone was using it and even the lowest wanted to get in on the act. A man who lived in squalor, some say even living in a barrel, Diogenes, reportedly perfumed his feet in order to breathe in the scent as it rose from the ground. A desire for perfume was spreading and the need to produce it and market it would only become more urgent as time went on.

Today perfume is widely used the world over and arguably no more so in Greece than anywhere else. Greek perfume does still have something that other perfumes don't, of course, and that is the universal name of love. The goddess of love. Aphrodite. The goddess Aphrodite does have a perfume named after her, sold with the qualities of passion and sensuality, and today we are encouraged to believe that through the use of perfumes and other cosmetics any woman can be a goddess. There's also a Greek perfume named after the goddess Venus, so consumers can choose the kind of goddess they would rather be, or choose the perfume to suit their own personalities.

So any woman can be a goddess. True. Any woman will smell like a goddess when she uses a good perfume, and she will inevitably feel more like a goddess.

The legacy the ancient Greeks left us through their love of fragrances and beauty, even down to the delicately carved bottles they kept their perfumes in, has surely shaped the importance we place on scent today.

KORRES - New Fragrance 2009

From homeopathic remedies to natural products

Korres Natural Products is a Greek company with roots in Athens' first ever Homeopathic Pharmacy. Set up in 1996 with the aim to utilise its extensive scientific resources for the creation of beneficial and safe products, the company today offers a complete skin and hair care range, make-up, sun care products and herbal preparations. A team of experienced scientists worked closely to make this happen, sharing common goals and values.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Saffron Amber,Agarwood, Cardamom
fragrance
100 mL e 3.38 Fl. Oz.













More in Site http://www.korres.com.....
Our products->What's new!->Korres Fragrances->Saffron amber_Agarwood_Cardamon

---------------------------------------------------------------

Rose wood, Blackcurrant, Cyclamen
fragrance
100 mL e 3.38 Fl. Oz.












More in Site : http://www.korres.com....
Our products->What's new!->Korres Fragrances->Rose wood_Blackcurrant_Cyclamen
---------------------------------------------------------------

Pepper, Jasmine, Gaiac wood oil, Passion fruit
fragrance
100 mL e 3.38 Fl. Oz.













More in Site : http://www.korres.com....
Our products->What's new!->Korres Fragrances->Pepper_Jasmine_Gaiac wood_Passion fruit

Saturday June 20, 2009 : The official opening of the New Acropolis Museum

http://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/?pname=Home&la=2

Perfume In Ancient Greece

Web site....

Perfume was central to ancient Greek life. It was linked to beauty which was inextricably linked with divinity. Learn more.

Perfume has been a desired commodity since ancient times and many of the techniques used are still used to some degree today. When looking at ancient attitudes towards perfume it is surprising to discover how much it actually reflects the expectations of it in the modern day. To understand the nature of it in Ancient Greece, historians rely upon written sources, excavated mosaics and other pictorial representations and artifacts such as perfume bottles. From these items, lots can be determined about the function, importance and production of it in ancient Greece.

The art of perfume making began in the island such as Crete and other Greek colonies. It was brought to the agora or marketplace and sold from stalls. The ancient Greeks quickly began to experiment with them, and created their own extraction techniques which incorporated boiling herbs and flower petals. These methods isolated the required plant ingredients and then perfumes were made by infusing the extracted scents in oils. The process was a simple version of modern techniques but could create as wide a variety of them as can be enjoyed today.

The ingredients were mainly homegrown flowers such as iris and marjoram, roses, lilies, and violets. Herbs and spices such as sage and cumin were also used. Incense and myrrh were seen as decadent and were perfume ingredients reserved for gods until the 4th century when there was a shift in tastes, ideology and availability. Like other ancient civilization, the ancient Greeks imported oriental essences to create more exotic perfumes. However, unlike other civilizations, they kept them mainly for their own use, rather than for export.

Perfume was central to ancient Greek life. It was so popular that the politician Solon temporarily banned the use of it to prevent an economic crisis. It was at the centre of hospitality, wealth, status, daily life and even philosophy. It was seen as erotic, mystical and spiritual. It was linked to beauty which was inextricably linked with divinity. The origins of perfume and perfumery are interwoven with Greek mythology. In Homeric tradition, the Olympian gods taught perfumery to people. The colour and scent of the rose is attributed to events surrounding Venus and Cupid.

Perfume was worn by both men and women and was central to cult worship as it was seen as pleasing to the gods and able to win their favour. It covered the scent of sacrifices during ceremonies, and was used as a good omen for marriage and childbirth. Babies were anointed with it for good health. It was also central to death. Perfumed libations were carried at the front of the funeral procession. Bodies were burned wrapped in perfumed shrouds which were thought to help secure a happy afterlife. Other bodies were buried with containers of it, again as offerings to the gods.

Perfume was also integral to cleanliness, and used in elaborate bathing rituals by both men and women. It was used so widespread that the philosopher Socrates openly disliked and dismissed its usage claiming it made a free man indistinguishable from a slave. Athletes used perfume after exercise for medicinal purposes in the form of balms and unguent oils. This is an early recognition of the possible therapeutic and healing properties that are reminiscent of attitudes towards aromatherapy and aromacology in modern times. Hospitality also required an abundance of perfume as guest`s feet were washed and anointed on being seated. Some wines were also perfumed according to works by Appicius, in the hope that they had medicinal properties.

With the importance of perfume so apparent, it is no surprise that it was stored in bottles shaped as birds an animals, sometimes only a few inches in size. Many are found from around the 6th century BC and are known as plastics. In fact, the perfume bottles are spun ceramics and they commonly adopted a shape which reflected the type of perfume to be contained.

Lekuthos were used for liquid perfume and were slim elegant glass bottles. Aryballes were used for oils and unguents. Alabastron perfume bottles were highly prized, mainly amongst women and it was common for the craftsmen to brand the bottles to mark their craftsmanship, making them even more collectable. As you can see, there are many similarities to modern day attitudes towards perfume.

Roberto Sedycias works as IT consultant for PoloMercantil.

By Roberto Sedycias
Published: 12/6/2007

Labdanum absolute is amber-like product.

The Complete Technology Book on Herbal Perfumes & Cosmetics by H. Panda

The Versatile Book Takes Recourse Of Pragmatic Formulae Of Diversified Herbal Perfumes And Cosmetics. Over All, The Book Contains Formulae, Processes, Technicalities Which Are Immensely Innovative And Profoundly Utilitarian For New Entrepreneur As Well As Motivate The Existing Units In Quality Improvement And Cost Reduction.

More
The Complete Technology Book on Herbal Perfumes & Cosmetics
by H. Panda

National Institute Of Industrial Re
ISBN 8186623620, 9788186623626
678 pages.

---------------------------------------------------
Page :100.
Labdanum Absolute

This is derived from Cistus ladaniferus or Cistus Creticus. The former is found in Spain and the latter in Crete. The Crasse region has large plantation of these plants. Because of the many spacies of Cistus that supply labdanum, producers have specialised in a variety of notes, not only resulting from the species treated, but also from such and such a fraction of the labdanum product obtained by different processes. There are thus many different labdanum absolutes available.

Labdanum has a typically balsamic odour, rather flowery, herbaceous, amber-like and very tenacius. The absolute derived from the species growing in Crete is the finest, the most amber-like and the least coloured.

The absolute is obtained from the concrete by benzene and extraction of the concrete by 95 alcohol.

Perfume with Amber : L'Essence de Cerruti by Cerruti.

Story

L’Essence de Cerruti is a musky leather scent for an elegantly sensual gentleman. The ad campaign, oscillating between darkness and light, ‘is the echo of sensuality touched with elegance.”

Description

The spicy-citrus opening heralds a musky leather scent with saffron and amber accents. Designed by: Antoine Lie, Givaudan.

top notes citrus, Cardamom, White pepper

heart note leather, Musk, Saffron, Rockrose, Amber

base note Benzoin, Cedar, Balms

Ambergis

web site....

Ambergris is produced in the hindgut of the sperm whale, Physeter catodon L. It is usually associated with the beaks of the whale's principal food, the common cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis. It consists of 80% ambrein, a cholesterol derivative which may be either an indigestible component of the squid or a secretion of the whale's gut in response to the constant irritation caused by the sharp beaks of the squid. It is thought that the production of ambergris is pathological in nature but there is limited evidence for this assumption. In the gut of the whale it is a black, semiviscous and foul-smelling liquid. On exposure to sunlight and air it quickly oxidizes and hardens to a pleasantly aromatic, marbled, grayish, waxy, pellucid substance in which the squid beaks are still embedded. When warmed it produces a very pleasant, mild, sweet, earthy aroma. From ancient times it has been used in the West as a fixative for rare perfumes since it has the effect of making other fragrances last much longer than they would otherwise. It is said that a single drop of tincture of ambergris applied to a paper and placed in a book will remain fragrant after 40 years and that once handled, the fingers will smell of it even after several days and several washings.




Chinese

Before 1,000 AD the Chinese referred to ambergris as lung sien hiang, "dragon's spittle perfume," because it was thought that it originated from the drooling of dragons sleeping on rocks at the edge of the sea. In the Orient it is still known by this name and is used as an aphrodisiac and as a spice for food and wine. The Japanese have also known ambergris from ancient times and called it kunsurano fuu, "whale droppings," a curiously onomatopoeic term to the Western ear! It was used to fix floral fragrances in perfumes.


Arabs


Ambergris was known to the Arabs as 'anbar and was originally called amber in the West It was used by the Arabs as medicine for the heart and brain. The Arabs believed that raw ambergris emanated from springs near the sea. In the Thousand and One Nights, Sinbad is shipwrecked on a desert island and discovers a spring of stinking crude ambergris which flows like wax into the sea where it is swallowed by giant fishes and vomited up again as fragrant lumps to be cast up on the shore.

Greeks

The Greeks also believed that ambergris came from springs in or near the sea. They believed that it enhances the effects of alcohol when smelled before drinking wine or when it is added to wine. Many a bacchanal profited from a pinch of ambergris, no doubt.

Ambergris from Sea Bird Droppings

In the West

In the West, true amber (yellow amber or Prussian amber, the succinum of the Romans and the [elektron] of the Greeks) and ambergris were thought to have the same or similar origins, probably because both were fragrant, rare, costly, somewhat similar in appearance and found cast up on seashores. To the earliest Western chroniclers, ambergris was variously thought to come from the same bituminous sea founts as amber, from the sperm of fishes or whales, from the droppings of strange sea birds (probably because of confusion over the included beaks of squid) or from the large hives of bees living near the sea. Marco Polo was the first Western chronicler who correctly attributed ambergris to sperm whales which he saw hunted on the island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean but which he also thought vomited it up after having eaten it in the depths of the sea.

In 1783.

In 1783 the great botanist Joseph Banks presented a paper by Dr. Franz Xavier Schwediawer, a German physician living in London at the time, before the Royal Society which ended, forever, Western confusion over ambergris and its origins. It correctly identified ambergris as a production of the often morbidly distended gut of sick sperm whales and associated its production with the beaks of the whale's principal foods, squid and cuttlefish.

In 1820.

In 1820 two French chemists, Joseph-Bienaimι Carentou and Pierre-Joseph Pelletier first isolated, characterized and named ambrein, the principal active fragrant ingredient of ambergris. Since then a great deal has been published on the chemistry of compounds with an ambergris-like scent, especially the more fragrant oxidative derivatives of ambrein like ambrox. They are all labdanoid terpenes which occur in a remarkable variety of plants, animals and microorganisms.Cistus (Rock Rose)., classical source of labdanum. These, and other, botanical extracts are the base for fixatives and woody, sweet fragrances in the modern perfumery industry which, for the most part, uses synthetics in place of natural substances.

There are many different labdanum absolutes available.

Labdanum has a typically balsamic odour, rather flowery, herbaceous, amber-like and very tenacious. The absolute derived from labdanum from plant Cistus Creticus, is the finest, the most amber like and the least coloured.

Trade in ambergris has been banned worldwide for years by treaty and by various national marine mammal protection acts. The romance of ambergris is now only a distant memory. Once it was eaten with eggs for breakfast at the tables of Dutch burgers and English squires. Now that sperm whales are returning to our seas a curious beachcomber may once again hope to find a lump of ambergris some day.

Rare Bit of Whale Vomit May Net Aussie Family over $1 Million

Web site......


Loralee, is the lucky lady who found the ambergris pictured here on this beach south of Streaky Bay

STREAKY BAY, Australia -- A family on South Australia's west coast has discovered a rare specimen of whale vomit on the beach that is tipped to be worth over $1 million.

The specimen, known scientifically as ambergris, is sought after by perfume companies and worth about $US20 per gram.

The sample found on a beach near Streaky Bay weighs 14.75 kilograms.

Ken Jury, who is representing the family, says this is the first discovery of ambergris in South Australia.

He says the last specimen found in Australia was in Queensland.

"Two small pieces were found that I would suggest together would make up half the size of the one that's been found at Streaky Bay, and they realised something like $190,000 each," he said.

About Perfume : what is Perfume?

Perfume is a mixture of :

fragrant essential oils
aroma compounds,
fixatives,
solvents.

It used to give the human body, animals, objects, and living spaces a "pleasant" smell.

How to Make Perfume : Steam distillation.

Steam distillation is a special type of distillation (a separation process) for temperature sensitive materials like natural aromatic compounds.

Many organic compounds tend to decompose at high sustained temperatures. Separation by normal distillation would then not be an option, so water or steam is introduced into the distillation apparatus. By adding water or steam, the boiling points of the compounds are depressed, allowing them to evaporate at lower temperatures, preferably below the temperatures at which the deterioration of the material becomes appreciable. If the substances to be distilled are very sensitive to heat, steam distillation can also be combined with vacuum distillation. After distillation the vapors are condensed as usual, usually yielding a two-phase system of water and the organic compounds, allowing for simple separation.

Principle

When a mixture of two practically immiscible liquids is heated while being agitated to expose the surfaces of both the liquids to the vapor phase, each constituent independently exerts its own vapor pressure as a function of temperature as if the other constituent were not present. Consequently, the vapor pressure of the whole system increases. Boiling begins when the sum of the partial pressures of the two immiscible liquids just exceeds the atmospheric pressure (approximately 101 kPa at sea level). In this way, many organic compounds insoluble in water can be purified at a temperature well below the point at which decomposition occurs. For example, the boiling point of bromobenzene is 156 °C and the boiling point of water is 100 °C, but a mixture of the two boils at 95 °C. Thus, bromobenzene can be easily distilled at a temperature 61 C° below its normal boiling point.

Applications

Steam distillation is employed in the manufacture of essential oils, for instance, perfumes. In this method, steam is passed through the plant material containing the desired oils. It is also employed in the synthetic procedures of complex organic compounds. Eucalyptus oil and orange oil are obtained by this method on the industrial scale.

Steam distillation is also widely used in petroleum refineries and petrochemical plants where it is commonly referred to as "steam stripping".

Other industrial uses of steam distillation include the production of consumer food products such as sprayable or aerosolized condiments such as sprayable mayonnaise.

History

Steam distillation was invented by the Persian chemist, Ibn Sina (known as Avicenna in the West), in the early 11th century. He invented it for the purpose of extracting essential oils, which are used in aromatherapy and the drinking and perfumery industries.

The invention of steam distillation contributed significantly to the development of perfumery, in perfecting the extraction of fragrances. The steam distillation technology significantly influenced Western perfumery and scientific developments, particularly chemistry.

The labdanum from Cistus Creticus (The Real)- New Season Summer 2009

Labdanum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Labdanum is a sticky brown resin obtained from the shrubs Cistus creticus (eastern Mediterranean), species of rockrose. It has a long history of use in herbal medicine and as a perfume ingredient.

History

In ancient times, the resin was scraped from the fur of goats and sheep that had grazed on the cistus shrubs. It was collected by the shepherds and sold to coastal traders. The false beards worn by the pharaohs of ancient Egypt were actually the labdanum soaked hair of these goats. Later long poles with leather or cloth strips were used to sweep the shrubs and collect the resin which was later extracted. It was used to treat colds, coughs, menstrual problems and rheumatism.



3 youtube video:

A polyphenol rich plant extract, CYSTUS052, exerts anti influenza virus activity in cell c.

C Ehrhardt, ER Hrincius, V Korte, I Mazur, K Droebner, A Poetter, S Dreschers, M Schmolke, O Planz, S Ludwig.

for web site.......

Infections with influenza A viruses still pose a major threat to humans and several animal species. The occurrence of highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses of the H5N1 subtype capable to infect and kill humans highlights the urgent need for new and efficient countermeasures against this viral disease. Here we demonstrate that a polyphenol rich extract (CYSTUS052) from the Mediterranean plant Cistus incanus exerts a potent anti-influenza virus activity in A549 or MDCK cell cultures infected with prototype avian and human influenza strains of different subtypes. CYSTUS052 treatment resulted in a reduction of progeny virus titers of up to two logs. At the effective dose of 50mug/ml the extract did not exhibit apparent harming effects on cell viability, metabolism or proliferation, which is consistent with the fact that these plant extracts are already used in traditional medicine in southern Europe for centuries without any reported complications. Viruses did not develop resistance to CYSTUS052 when compared to amantadine that resulted in the generation of resistant variants after only a few passages. On a molecular basis the protective effect of CYSTUS052 appears to be mainly due to binding of the polymeric polyphenol components of the extract to the virus surface, thereby inhibiting binding of the hemagglutinin to cellular receptors. Thus, a local application of CYSTUS052 at the viral entry routes may be a promising approach that may help to protect from influenza virus infections.

New period of collection labdanum traditional way from the plant Cistus Creticus.

The plant Cistus Creticus.

The goats eat the plant Cistus Creticus and collect labdanum.

A history from the season Pharaohs.
(10.000 years of history)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

In ancient times, the resin was scraped from the fur of goats and sheep that had grazed on the cistus shrubs. It was collected by the shepherds and sold to coastal traders. The false beards worn by the pharaohs of ancient Egypt were actually the labdanum soaked hair of these goats.
The goats eat the plant Cistus Creticus and collect labdanum.