Tapputi

Tappūtī-Bēlet-Ekallim (lit. 'Assistant of the Lady of the Palace')[a] is one of the world's first recorded chemists.[2] She was a perfumer active in Assur during the reign of Tukulti-Ninurta I.[1] As mentioned in a cuneiform tablet dated around 1200 BC,[3] she used flowers, oil, and calamus along with cyperus, myrrh, and balsam, which after adding water and other solvents were distilled and filtered several times.[4]

She also was an overseer at the Royal Palace and worked with someone named (—)-ninu (the first part of her name has been lost).[5]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The 'Lady of the Palace' referenced is the goddess Bēlet-Ekalli.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b McBride, Nuri (22 July 2022). "Tappūtī-Bēlet-ekallim: The First Perfumer?". Death Scent.
  2. ^ Levey 1973, p. 9, note 1: "The earliest chemist known by name is thus a woman."
  3. ^ Gabriele Kass-Simon; Patricia Farnes; Deborah Nash, eds. (1999). Women of Science: Righting the Record (First Midland Book ed.). Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana Univ. Press. p. 301. ISBN 9780253208132.
  4. ^ Levey, Martin (1973). Early Arabic Pharmacology: An Introduction Based on Ancient and Medieval Sources. Brill Archive. pp. 8–9. ISBN 90-04-03796-9.
  5. ^ Rayner-Canham, Marelene, and Geoffrey Rayner-Canham. Women in Chemistry: Their Changing Roles from Alchemical Times to the Mid-Twentieth Century. First edition. Chemical Heritage Foundation, 9 June 2005. 1. Print.


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