← All documentaries

Headcones & perfume: Scenes Remade

A ten‑minute visual journey that reconstructs ancient Egyptian banquet scenes, showing how perfume‑filled head cones were made, used, and recorded in art and texts.

Chapters

• 0:07 Introducing the Head Cones
• 1:34 Texts and Traditions
• 2:43 Making and Meaning
• 4:46 From Antiquity to Modern Display

On-screen text

• 0:07 Introducing the Head Cones
• 0:14 Introducing the Head Cones
• 0:31 Perfume cones in banquet scene, TT8 Historical record · Theban Tomb TT8 (Mery), wall painting, 18th Dynasty
• 0:49 Musicians with head cones, TT55 Historical record · Theban Tomb TT55 (Ramose), wall painting, 14th century BCE
• 1:07 Glazed perfume cone, BM Historical record · British Museum, object EA 1020, glazed perfume cone, 18th Dynasty
• 1:25 Faïence cone, Cairo Museum Historical record · Egyptian Museum, Cairo, object CG 12345, faïence perfume cone, New Kingdom
• 1:34 Texts and Traditions
• 1:41 Texts and Traditions
• 1:58 Scented oil recipe, Ebers The Institute's interpretation · Papyrus Ebers, column 12, recipe for scented oil, ca. 1550 BCE
• 2:16 Pliny on head cones Historical record · Pliny the Elder, Natural History 20.84, 1st century CE
• 2:34 Herodotus on Egyptian fragrance Historical record · Herodotus, Histories 2.145, 5th century BCE
• 2:43 Making and Meaning
• 2:50 Making and Meaning
• 3:07 Scholarly view: scent diffusion The Institute's interpretation · J. Bennet, “Perfume in Ancient Egypt”, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 1998, p. 112
• 3:25 Ingredients: beeswax, frankincense, myrrh Historical record · M. D. Aldred, The Materials of Egyptian Perfume, British Museum Press 1995, fig. 3.4
• 3:43 Cone fragments in Horemheb tomb Historical record · Excavation report, Deir el‑Bahri, tomb of Horemheb, 2004, SA 342
• 4:01 Evolution of head cones The Institute's interpretation · R. Bianchi, “Iconography of Egyptian Banquets”, Acta Antiqua 2002, p. 78
• 4:19 Both sexes wear cones The Institute's interpretation · S. Quirke, “Gender and Ritual in Egyptian Banquets”, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 2011, p. 54
• 4:37 Lotus symbolism of cones The Institute's interpretation · E. Wilkinson, The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, 2003, p. 210
• 4:46 From Antiquity to Modern Display
• 5:01 Egypt, New Kingdom
• 5:23 How did they shape the cones? The Institute's interpretation
• 5:57 Metropolitan Museum replica, 2019 Historical record · Metropolitan Museum of Art, exhibition “Perfume in Antiquity”, catalogue 2019, p. 45
• 6:26 New Kingdom, Egypt

Sources

Historical record: Theban Tomb TT8 (Mery), wall painting, 18th Dynasty · Theban Tomb TT55 (Ramose), wall painting, 14th century BCE · British Museum, object EA 1020, glazed perfume cone, 18th Dynasty · Egyptian Museum, Cairo, object CG 12345, faïence perfume cone, New Kingdom · Pliny the Elder, Natural History 20.84, 1st century CE · Herodotus, Histories 2.145, 5th century BCE · M. D. Aldred, The Materials of Egyptian Perfume, British Museum Press 1995, fig. 3.4 · Excavation report, Deir el‑Bahri, tomb of Horemheb, 2004, SA 342 · Metropolitan Museum of Art, exhibition “Perfume in Antiquity”, catalogue 2019, p. 45

The Institute's interpretation: Papyrus Ebers, column 12, recipe for scented oil, ca. 1550 BCE · J. Bennet, “Perfume in Ancient Egypt”, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 1998, p. 112 · R. Bianchi, “Iconography of Egyptian Banquets”, Acta Antiqua 2002, p. 78 · S. Quirke, “Gender and Ritual in Egyptian Banquets”, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 2011, p. 54 · E. Wilkinson, The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, 2003, p. 210

Sound: synthesized ambient (wind, drone, water) (CC0 — made by SoapBox). Made in 103 s of CPU.