Registered Aromatherapist

Aromatherapy dates back as far as 6000 years

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 Although the term aromatherapy ("aroma" meaning fragrance, and "therapy" meaning treatment) wasn’t used until the 20th Century.

 

The ancient Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks and Romans all have documented the use of oils, resins and herbs. 

 

Egyptian Aromatherapy

Various papyrus documents date 2890 BC show the ancient Egyptians were using aromatics for medicinal and cosmetic purposes, as well as for religious rituals and embalming. It was believed that certain smells could raise higher consciousness or promote a state of tranquillity. They used the fragrant oils from plants to make pills, powders, suppositories, medicinal cakes and purees, ointments and pastes. 

 

In Mesopotamia, Babylonian doctors recorded their formulas and prescriptions on clay tablets.

 

Ancient Chinese Aromatherapy

The ancient Chinese were using some form of aromatherapy around the same time as the Egyptians. Herbs and burned aromatic woods and incense were used to show their respect to God. The oldest surviving medical book in China, (dated around 2,700BC, written by Shen Nung) contains cures involving over three hundred different aromatic herbs.  The text suggests the ancient Chinese may even have preceded the Egyptians in their use and knowledge of plant-based medicines. 

 

Although other civilizations in India and the Americas were also using aromatics, it seems those in the Middle East and China that have actually left us the best records.

 

Greek 

The Greeks acquired much of their knowledge from the Egyptians and continued to use aromatic oils for medicines and cosmetics. The earliest known Greek physician was Asclepius who practiced around 1200 BC combining the use of herbs & surgery with great skill. After his death, he was deified as the god of healing in Greek mythology.

 

Hippocrates (400 BC), revered as the "Father of Medicine", mentions a vast number of medicinal plants in his writings and was the first to study the effects of essential oils. He believed that a daily aromatic bath and scented massage would promote good health. Hippocrates placed great importance on the moral qualities needed to be a doctor, such as discernment, self-effacement and devotion. He was the first physician to dismiss the Egyptian belief that illness was caused by supernatural forces. Instead, he believed a doctor should aim to discover natural explanations for disease by observing the patient carefully and make a judgment only after consideration of the symptoms. He believed that surgery should be used only as a last resort and considered the entire body a single organism. Therefore we have Hippocrates to thank for a concept which is fundamental to true aromatherapy - that of holism/holistic. 

 

Theophrastus, a Greek physician & philosopher, and student of Aristotle investigated everything about plants and even how scents affected the emotions. He wrote several volumes on botany including 'The History of Plants', which became one of the three most important botanical science references and is referred to as the Founder of Botany.

 

Rome

Many Greek doctors were employed by Roman emperors as military surgeons and personal physicians. Galen was a physician to Marcus Aurelius and there are records stating that no gladiator died of his wounds during Galen’s term of office. At the time Rome was thriving and was an ideal place for him to conduct further research. Galen wrote over 400 treatises, of which 83 are still in existence including 'De Simplicibus' which described the plant, its geographical location and its various medicinal uses, which are still known as Galenic. He also invented cold cream which was the prototype of virtually all ointments in current use. 

 

Another Greek doctor under Nero, Pedacius Dioscorides, collected medicinal plants from many Mediterranean countries and by about 78A.D he had documented the information on these plants and their uses into five huge volumes of his “Materia Medica’. This became the Western world's standard medical reference on herbal medicine, containing 1000 different botanical medications, plus descriptions and illustrations of approximately 600 different plants and aromatics. His magnificent work was so influential he has been bestowed the accolade, the Father of Pharmacology.

 

The works of Galen, Hippocrates and Dioscorides were transcribed into Persian and other Arabic languages, and after the fall of Rome, the surviving physicians fled to Constantinople and took their books and knowledge with them. 

 

Arabia

The first great Arab physician of whom we have detailed knowledge is Abu Bahar Muhamma ibn Zakaria-al-Razi. He wrote a medical encyclopedia covering over two dozen books on herbal medicine, entitled 'AI Kitab al Hawi', which was later translated into Latin and other European languages, and known in English as 'The Comprehensive Work'.  His medical accomplishments were highly acclaimed and he had an enormous influence on European science and medicine. He also developed tools such as mortars, flasks, spatulas and phials which were used in pharmacies until the early twentieth century.

 

Ibn Sina, also a Persian, is probably the most famous and influential of all the great Islamic physicians and known throughout Europe as Avicenna. His life is the stuff of legend. At the age of 16 he began studying medicine and by 20 he had been appointed a court physician, earning the title 'Prince of physicians'. He wrote 20 books covering theology, metaphysics, astronomy, psychology, philosophy and poetry, and most influentially, 20 books and 100 treatises on medicine.

He introduced the all fruit diet, invented traction for broken limbs, manipulation for spinal abnormalities, and is credited with discovering distillation of essential oils. He left valuable written records describing 800 plants and their effects on the human body.

His 14-volume epic 'Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb', which means 'The Canon of Medicine' was over one million words long and contained the sum total of all existing medical knowledge. This monumental medical encyclopedia included the Hippocratic and Galenic traditions, describing Syro-Arab and Indo-Persian practice plus notes on his own observations. It became the definitive medical textbook, teaching guide and reference throughout Western Europe and the Islamic world for over seven hundred years.

 

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