Scientists recreate Julius Caesar’s perfume using 2,000-year-old recipe that calls for ‘gladiator sweat’

Julius Caesar’s perfume was recreated more than 2,000 years after his death.

The Roman dictator, who ruled from 46 to 44 BC, reportedly wore a special fragrance called ‘Telinum’, which was made from a mixture of flowers, fruits, oils and even ‘gladiator sweat’.

Although the Egyptians are known as the inventors of perfume for ritual and medicinal purposes, the Romans refined it.

Scientists combed through historical accounts of Caesar’s perfume and scent before attempting to recreate it themselves.

The team concluded that his perfume likely contained a blend of mint, rose, lemon, bergamot, lavender, jasmine, water lily, violet, cedarwood and amber.

The final ingredient, so the legend goes, was the addition of the sweat of gladiators.

The sweat of the men was considered a great honor, as it contained their blood, peeling skin, dirt, and olive oil, which were smeared on their bodies before they entered the arena to fight to the death.

The research team from the Scent Culture and Tourism Association (SCTA) has recreated sweat using patchoul, a type of flowering plant popular among health-conscious people.

Patchouli has an earthy, woody, musky scent known for its intoxicatingly rich bouquet, which the team says mimics the scent of gladiators.

The finished fragrances will be available for sale in Turkey, France and Italy from October, but pricing has not yet been announced.

“What Caesar smelled like, what was in his perfume, where he got his perfume from or who made it for him, has always been a source of great curiosity,” the team said in a statement.

‘According to information from both ancient writers and the works of his close friends, the contents of his perfumes have been largely established.’

Caesar appointed himself dictator of the Roman Republic when he was 54 years old. He used his power to expand Rome’s rule by invading Britain and installing Cleopatra as queen of Egypt after defeating Ptolemy’s army at the Battle of the Nile.

His reign lasted only two years, until he was assassinated in 44 BC by political rivals including Marcus Junius Brutus.

According to the SCTA, they referred to written works to confirm which scents were used in Caesar’s perfume, looking at “both ancient writers and works by his close friends.”

The photo shows a crystal quartz vessel that was previously found in the mausoleum during excavations in Carmona, Spain. It contained ingredients for the counterfeit perfume.

The Roman writer Pliny the Elder described how ancient people used the sweat of gladiators: “The scrapings from the bodies of athletes are considered to be emollients, warming, dissolving, and anesthetic. They are derived from the combination of human sweat and oil.”

According to the team, the focus on recreating the Telinum perfume was because Caesar ‘attracted the public’s attention with his lifestyle and clothes’ 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 odor.

However, emperors and other nobles, including priests and generals, demanded that they buy sweeter perfumes from abroad or have perfumes made by local brands themselves, in order to distinguish themselves from the common people.

The Egyptians and Mesopotamians were the first cultures to use perfume for ritual and medicinal purposes, about 4,000 years ago. In the first century, it was adopted by the Romans.