Perfume was a thriving industry in Late Bronze Age Greece. In this presentation and sensory experience, archaeologist Cynthia Shelmerdine shares the Mycenaean evidence that reveals the materials, production methods, and people involved in the process. Perfumer Michael Nordstrand then recounts how he recreated both a 3,000-year-old perfume and a variation interpreted for a modern audience. Attendees will have the opportunity to compare both versions on scent strips before joining a Q&A moderated by curator Claire Lyons.
Perfume in Pylos: Recreating a Bronze Age Scent
Talk
Perfumed oil made in Greece during the Late Bronze Age was often scented with rose petals and sage and stored in jars like the one pictured above. Stirrup Jar (detail), Mycenaean, about 1180 BCE. Terracotta. From Pylos, Palace of Nestor, Room 32. © Hellenic Ministry of Culture – Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development / Archaeological Museum of Chora, CM 1219
Photo © Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati, photo: Jeff Vanderpool
About
Speakers
Cynthia Shelmerdine
Robert M. Armstrong Centennial Professor of Classics
Cynthia W. Shelmerdine is Robert M. Armstrong Centennial Professor of Classics, emerita at The University of Texas at Austin, and research affiliate in classics at Bowdoin College. Her research interests are in Aegean Bronze Age archaeology, and the language, history, and society of Mycenaean Greece. She was educated at Bryn Mawr College, Cambridge University and Harvard University. She has worked as a ceramic expert with the University of Minnesota Messenia Expedition (1970s), the Pylos Regional Archaeological Project (1990s), and the Iklaina Archaeological Project (1999–present). Shelmerdine has published seminal work on the perfume industry of Pylos and served as editor of the Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age (2008).
Michael Nordstrand
Founder of Mythologist Studio™
Michael Nordstrand is the founder of Mythologist Studio™ and a singular voice in contemporary perfumery. His work is recognized for its balance of technical precision and emotional depth, rooted in a cross-disciplinary approach that unites art, history, and science. He holds degrees and certifications from Givaudan, ISIPCA, the Grasse Institute of Perfumery, and Cornell University, where his focus was on aromatic plants popularized during the Middle Ages. Michael is the winner of the 2025 Art and Olfaction Award for Bad Lily and the 2024 British Society of Perfumers Award for Patchoulÿ Tartessos.
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Duration
Approximately 2 hours
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