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Scientists recreate Julius Caesar's perfume using 2,000-year-old recipe that calls for 'gladiator sweat'
The perfume of Julius Caesar has been recreated more than 2,000 years after his death.
The Roman dictator, who reigned from 46 through 44BC, was thought to wear a particular fragrance called 'Telinum,' which was made from a mixture of flowers, fruits, oils and even 'gladiator sweat'.
While Egyptians are credited with inventing perfume for ritualistic and medicinal purposes, the Romans refined it.
Scientists combed through historical accounts of Caesar's perfume and scent before trying to recreate it themselves.
The researchers said they referenced written works to confirm what scents were used in Caesar’s perfume and looked at ‘both ancient writers and works of his close friends.’
The team concluded his perfume likely contained a mix of mint, rose, lemon, bergamot, lavender, jasmine, water lily, violet, oud cedarwood and amber.
The final ingredient, or so legend says, was adding the sweat of gladiators.
The men's perspiration was regarded as a high honor as it contained their blood, exfoliated skin, dirt and olive oil that was spread on their bodies before they headed into the arena to fight to the death.
The research team at the The Scent Culture and Tourism Association (SCTA) recreated the sweat using patchoul , a type of flowing plant that is popular among the health conscious.
Patchouli has an earthy, woody, musky scent known for its intoxicatingly rich bouquet, which the team said mimic the smell of gladiators.
The completed fragrances is set for sale in Turkey, France, and Italy starting in October, but the price has not yet been revealed.
'What Caesar smelled like, what was in his perfume, where he got his perfume or who made it for him had always been a matter of great curiosity,' the team shared in a statement.
'According to information provided by both ancient writers and works of his close friends, the contents of his perfumes have been largely determined.'
Caesar appointed himself dictator over the Roman Republic when he was 54 years old and used his power to expand Rome’s rule by invading Great Britain and installing Cleopatra as queen of Egypt after he defeated Ptolemy’s army in the Battle of the Nile.
His reign lasted for only two years before he was assassinated in 44 BC by political rivals, including Marcus Junius Brutus.
The SCTA said they referenced written works to confirm what scents were used in Caesar’s perfume and looked at ‘both ancient writers and works of his close friends.’
Pictured is a crystal quartz vessel previously found in the mausoleum during excavations in Carmona, Spain, which was found to contain ingredients of the recreated perfume
Roman author Pliny the Elder described ancient people using gladiator’s sweat, writing: ‘The scrapings from the bodies of the athletes are looked upon as possessed of certain properties of an emollient, calorific, resolvent, and expletive nature, resulting from the compound of human sweat and oil.’
The team said they focused on recreating the Telinum perfume because Caesar ‘attracted the attention of the public with his lifestyle and clothing’ and his perfumes were ‘followed with great interest by the public.
The researchers reported that ancient Romans preferred simple scents that gave off a musty and pungent smell.
But emperors and other nobles, including priests and military generals, insisted on buying sweeter perfumes from abroad or commissioning their own from local brands to separate themselves from the common people.
Egyptians and Mesopotamians were the first cultures to use perfume for ritualistic and medicinal purposes about 4,000 years ago and was adopted by the Romans in the first century.