Earlier today I wrote about a statue in Dublin that perverts keep groping. Now we get word that statues used to be even more alluring.
New research suggests that Greek and Roman marble statues used to be multisensory experiences. You may have heard that they may have been painted and donned in jewelry and clothing to make them seem like ancient mannequins, but new research suggests that they may have also been perfumed to make them smell pretty.
Greek And Roman Statues Were Perfumed To Make Them Smell Nice
Archaeologist Cecilie Brøns published her findings in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology. She argues that the archaeological community’s continued disregard for the smells of ancient cultures, which she calls “smellblindness,” means that we’ve been ignoring an entire sensory experience when we analyze and discuss ancient sculptures.
Imagine you’ve been hearing of the Statue of Liberty your whole life. Then you visit one day to discover that smells like Chanel No. 5. You’d be pleasantly surprised but also a little angry that no one mentioned that the Statue of Liberty smelled sexy.
That’s essentially what Brøns is arguing. There is a severe lack of discussion about how these ancient statues smelled because some historical evidence suggests that they were covered in pleasant scents.
While physical traces of ancient perfumes are rare, Brøns says that historical texts provide a ton of evidence. For instance, Roman writer Cicero once described a ritual wherein a statue of Artemis was anointed with perfumes.
Greek poet Kallimachos once described a statue of Queen Bernice II as “wet with perfume.” There’s even evidence of ancient Greek inscriptions describing the various oils, waxes, and perfumes required to properly and pleasantly perfume temple statues.
Ancient statues weren’t just a visual experience, Brøns argues, “but also in all of factory one.”
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