Lecture "Perfume Production at Pylos and Sensory Anthropology"

Tuesday, 8th March 2022 at 13.00 pm

Lecture

“Perfume Production at Pylos and Sensory Anthropology”

Prof. Joanne Murphy

Director of the Irish Institute at Athens

Professor of Classical Studies in the University of North Carolina, USA

This paper connects some well- and long-known data about perfume production at Pylos with more recent work in sensory anthropology. By combining biological information about the olfactory system with archaeological evidence from Pylos, I examine the smells of Pylos with a view to highlighting the significance of perfumed oil in the Bronze Age. I stress the Pylian appreciation and manipulation of perfume not just as an economic and political substance but also as a mnemonic, evocative device.

I argue that palatial control and selective distribution of perfume show an awareness of  the social potential of the senses and a conscious attempt to evoke sensory reactions among the populace. Perfume was also associated with feasts at the palace, where it was probably issued as a gift to certain guests; at such ceremonies, which reinforce the creation of identities, perfume would have been a sensory continuation of the exclusion of some participants. It is impossible to avoid inhaling, identifying, and reacting to scents as they unravel in the direct connection between the nose and the brain; the unavoidable experience of inhaling perfume at Pylos would thus have manipulated the senses to create and reinforce identity and differential status, so that perfume can be understood as a sensory metaphor for the relationship with the palace elite.

This lecture will take place on Tuesday, 8^th March 2022 at 13.00 pm in the Amphiteatre of the Library of the School of Philosophy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

The lecture will be given in English. Your attendance is only admissible with a protective face mask and a valid 3G certificate (vaccinated, recovered, tested).

 

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