During the period of the Aegean Bronze Age (ca.3000-1000 BCE), the ancient cultures of the Minoans and the Myceneans on the island of Crete made extensive use of fragrant substances such as ladanum (also called laudanum) and saffron. It is said that shepherds would often meticulously collect remnants of ladanum, a sticky resin that comes from the shrubs of the Cistus ladanifer, from the beards of their goats after they had been grazing. As Jo Day, a classics professor at University College Dublin, remarked, the Minoans and Myceneans (1600-1200 BCE) also burned another spice as incense: saffron.

— Read more at Recreating The Aroma Of The Ancient City: Incense In The Ancient Mediterranean at Forbes.