Ionone: The Molecule that Shaped the History of Western Civilization

Cleopatra VII (69–30 BC) was the last Ptolemaic ruler of Hellenistic Egypt (the Dynasty was started upon the death of Alexander the Great by Ptolemy the Savior, one of his generals or body guards, and ended with the death of Cleopatra and the Roman conquest in 30 BC). The Queen is probably best known for her love affairs with Julius Caesar (10044 BC) and then Marcus Antonius (83-30 BC). Rightly or wrongly she became the epitome of shrewd seduction, leading brave Roman commanders on a path to debauchery and destruction. Among the customs of the time was the heavy use of perfumes. The sails of the ship on which Cleopatra received Marcus Antonius, we are told by Enobarbus in Shakespeare’s eponymous play, were soaked in fragrances: Purple the sails and so perfumed that the winds were lovesick. Cleopatra’s willingness to please went beyond the external use of perfumes; attributed to her is the ingestion of small amounts of turpentine [the resin of the terebinth tree (Pistacia terebinthus)] or of the derived oil (Oleum terebinthinae) with the purpose of conferring to her urine a more pleasing scent reminding of violets (Figure 1). In his textbook of pediatrics John Apley (19081980) states I have sniffed a smell like violets in the urine of a child who drank turpentine, as Cleopatra of Egypt did for that effect (1,2).