Unguentum Onyrico 2015

This saying - O times! O manners! - was coined by Cicero in his speeches against Catilina, recorded by his freedman Marcus Tullius Tiro in an early form of what we now know as shorthand. After being defeated in the consul election for the year 63 BC, a certain Lucius Sergius Catilina plotted a coup d'état. The whole thing was uncovered and indicted in some of his most famous speeches by Marcus Tullius Cicero, who had won the election against Catilina.

Cicero was awarded the title of pater patriae for this, and he is still known today as a famous orator, lawyer, and politician of the late Roman Republic. Catilina, on the other hand, was first banished and later, when he opposed Rome with an army, was killed in a battle.

The time of upheaval, but also of Rome's greatness, is found in Unguentum. Unguentarii were called ointment or fragrance makers in ancient Rome. In ancient Rome, fragrances were presented in the form of ointments or oils and not diluted with alcohol and water as they are today. It is quite possible, therefore, that Cicero, the homo novus, who had attained all the offices of state at the minimum age, regularly supplied himself with new perfumes at the Unguentarius, which he applied after visiting the thermae.

Unguentum of Onyrico reminds here of a successful Roman politician and general like Cicero was. He comes along masculine, has a sharp aftershave note, as one might have used it when shaving in the field. At the same time, the scent comes across as smoky, further evoking the army camp. If the successful army commander returns to Rome, he may cover his head with a laurel wreath as a triumphant - from a slave who whispered to him, always reminded of his own mortality.

As he passes through Rome on his chariot, his own smell mingles with the scents drifting from the small streets of the city. Honey from the parlors of the sweet makers who set up their stalls during the triumphal procession to supply the people with their creations. But there are also other exotic spices mixed in, such as vanilla, which at that time was still separated from the Roman Empire by a large ocean (I always find it difficult to include vanilla notes in the descriptions of such historically inspired fragrances) - or saffron, cinnamon and tea, which must have already seemed very exotic in ancient Rome.

By the time he arrives at the end of the triumphal procession at the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol, the exhalations of the massive wooden arches erected for the triumphal procession mingle with this melange of scents. Only some of the triumphal arches remain today, as some of them were permanently built of stone or marble. Of that stone, the travertine of Tivoli, is also made the attachment on the cap of Onyrico's Unguentum.

Unguentum was one of the first scents that got me curious about and excited about niche fragrances, even if it's not at the top of my list of niche favorites. It took me a few tries with it before I could do something with it. But it's quite good for a spicy-balsamic scent and in my opinion, although I don't think much of the fixed classification of gender scents, it's a very masculine scent. But that one can also see or smell quite differently than I, you can see from the previous distribution of fragrance owners here. The milliliter price is already not without and scrapes on middle Roman decadence. In this sense: O tempora, o mores!