In our previous historical article on Essential Oils, we described its prehistoric origins to its starring role in Ancient Egypt. It is appropriate to say that the history of oils is practically inseparable from that of natural herbal medicine.
Now, we return to Greece in this journey in time up to the current global boom.
Greeks, Romans, Hebrews
The Greeks learned a lot from the Egyptians and it is believed that through contacts with the Far East, they were also influenced by India.
Hippocrates (460- 370 BC), a great figure in the history of medicine, argued that the body has naturally the power to heal itself, so his therapies focused on facilitating that process using essential oils and herbs and recommending baths and daily aromatic massages.
Another important Greek personage was Theophrastus (371-287 A.C.), Father of the botany, also considered the first aromatherapist of the history. The last of the six books that make up his Enquiry into Plants deals with the odors of plant species.
During the Roman Empire the use of essential oils was extended, especially in massages for soldiers and members of the privileged classes, as well as a main ingredient for baths and perfumes, and for therapeutic ointments.
The oils are within the 1,000 drugs in De Materia Medica, a 5-volume work written between the years 50 and 70 AC by Dioscorides, a Greek physician in the Roman army. It was the main medical text for the next 1,500 years.
In the Bible - Old and New Testament - there are more than 180 references on the use of essential oils. Cedar, frankincense, myrrh, spruce, and cinnamon are among the most named.
The Middle Ages
After the prevailing hedonism in Rome, the world changed and the use of perfumes and scented baths decreased. The medicinal uses of essential oils were kept treasured and transmitted within families and monasteries. Many alchemists, pursuing spiritual elevation and immortality, worked in elixirs and potions with essential oils.
During the Black Death, the pandemic that ravaged Europe during the 14th century, herbs such as lavender, incense, pine and rosemary, were often burned to try to purify the environment.
A central chapter in this history was written by the Persian physician, scientist and philosopher Avicenna, who perfected the steam distillation system of essential oils around the year 1000, creating the spiral pipe system that basically remains until today.
Displaced Herbs and Oils
With the arrival of the Modern Age, medicine sought quick results and focused more on symptoms than on patients and the causes of their illnesses.
Simultaneously, the new pharmacology identified the active ingredients of many plants and designed synthetic equivalents, therefore, herbs were increasingly separated from the treatments and substituted by chemical drugs without major concern for any harmful side effects
Additionally, a percentage of charlatans emerged from herbal medicine, which contributed to discredit natural therapies; this was how essential oils ended up relegated to perfumery and kitchens.
Reappearance and healthy mega trend in the 21st Century
The rebirth of essential oils began in France. René-Maurice Gattefossé was a chemist and his family had a company dedicated to essential oils and perfumery. The day one of his sons was born, he was the victim of an explosion in his laboratory so he was taken to the hospital but developed gas gangrene.
He then asked to be allowed to treat his severe burns with lavender oil. He had a surprising recovery and therefore decided to devote himself to the study of the therapeutic properties of oils.
Gattefossé published, years later, a book about oils where he coined the term "Aromatherapie" that is still being used today. In addition, during the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918, a mixture of essential oils formulated by him was used successfully in French hospitals.
During World War II, another Frenchman, Jean Valnet, used essential oils to treat the wounded with magnificent results. He later published an aromatherapy treatise that is still considered a bible in this field.
In our day, the growing awareness of the excesses of a medicine that is often dehumanized and causes so many negative side effects has motivated a renewed search to stimulate the healing powers of the body itself through the support of natural methods and substances, such as the wonderful essential oils.
This search is conducted by common people and manifests in the extraordinary growth of the global market of essential oils but fortunately it is also increasingly seen among doctors and scientists.
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