[Egyptologist Dora] Goldsmith has documented Greco-Roman sources consistently listing four ingredients for Mendesian perfume: myrrh, cassia, resin and oil of balanos (most academics believe this is a species of moringa, others desert date oil). Some accounts also mention cinnamon. [...]

“The way Greeks treated Egyptian recipes was very flexible. They retained some ingredients, but they also changed a lot. The study of how perfume recipes changed from the Egyptians to the Greeks can be referred to as transmission of knowledge in perfumery.”

— Read more in Exploring the forgotten scents of ancient Egypt at Middle East Eye.

Changes are in the air, though. Some archaeologists are sniffing out odor molecules from artifacts found at dig sites and held in museums. Others are poring over ancient texts for references to perfume recipes, and have even cooked up a scent much like one presumably favored by Cleopatra. In studying and reviving scents of the past, these researchers aim to understand how ancient people experienced, and interpreted, their worlds through smell.

— Read more in Ancient ‘smellscapes’ are wafting out of artifacts and old texts at ScienceNews.

Spices were imported from all over the world to Mendes, [University of Hawaii professor Robert] Littman said, including from India, Arabia and Africa, making Mendes a major center of the perfume trade from about 300 B.C. to about 800 A.D.

During the third century B.C., the ancient city of Thmouis produced a perfume, which was named after the main city and called the Mendesian perfume. That’s the one Littman considers to be the “Chanel No. 5” of late antiquity – Cleopatra’s perfume.

— Read more in The Archeology Of Smell: Behind This UH Professor’s Ongoing Quest For Cleopatra’s Perfume at Honolulu Civil Beat.

To truly comprehend the nuanced role smell played in past centuries, look no further than the funeral ceremonies of ancient Rome. When, in 1485, construction workers accidentally stumbled upon a Roman citizen’s grave while working on the Via Appia, they were amazed by the “strong odor of turpentine and myrrh” preserved inside the sarcophagus, alongside subtle hints of frankincense, aloe, and cedar oil.

— Read more in The foul and the fragrant: what did the past smell like? at Big Think.