Performance is used in AV only in the sense of bringing to an end, completing, viz. Lk 1 (τελεί- wots, RV ‘ fulfilment’), 2 Co 8! (τὸ ἐπιτελέσαι, RV ‘the completion’). J. HASTINGS,
PERFUME, in the sense of a fragrant material, is tr? of mbp kétoreth, in Ex 30%, and of [np7, only in plur.] rikkiuhim, in Is 679, In the verbal form to sprinkle scents, in Pr 7)’, it is 3 niéph. Frag- rance, a word which does not occur in AV, has been introduced by RV in Ca 1*!?7!8in place of ‘savour’ or ‘smell,’ and is the rendering of πη, The same word occurs in Gn 27”, Hos 14°, Ca 42° 78,
The use of odorous or strongly-smelling materials has been alluded to under OINTMENT and IN- CENSE, as well as under tne specific names of the
PERFUME
various scents. Most of these Scripture perfumes ere Pangpot rather than sweetly-smelling, and would not please the present taste; but, as Pliny has said, there have been fashions in odours as in clothes. The raw materials are gums, resins, roots, barks, or leaves, and these were variously combined, according to the skill and fancy of the
erfumer. These o’np4 are called ‘ apothecaries’ in
x 307-8 372, 2Ch 16%, Neh 38 (o'n7), Ec 10), Sir 388 49! (LXX in both μυρεψός), and ‘ confectionaries’ in 1S 818 (ninjq). RV substitutes ‘perfumers’ ex- cept in 2Ch, Neh, and Sir; but these texts also refer to perfumers, not apothecaries in the modern sense of the word. These perfumers constituted a
ild among the Jews; see APOTHECARY, i. 126;
ONFECTION, i. 464; MEDICINE, above, p. 332.
These odorous compounds were either for per- sonal or for ritual use. Those used for the former usually took the form of ointments (which see), and were (1) for the purpose of masking the odour of the body, which is apt to be strong and disagree- able in a hot country. This is especially the case with the feet, hence the Greeks and Romans re- garded it as a great luxury to have their feet anointed with sweet-smelling ointment. Athenzus quotes a number of authorities in reference to this practice (xii. 78). It was in accordance with this mode of showing honour to guests that the woman anointed the feet of our Lord (Lk 7%, ef. Jn 12%). For other cases of the cosmetic use of ointments or perfumes see ANOINTING. The use of these was looked upon as an effeminate luxury by Pliny, who deprecates the lavish use of them in Rome (xiii. 1).
(2) Perfumes, such as frankincense, were some- times chewed to give to the breath a sweet scent (Ca 7°). For modern instances see Lane, Mod. Egyp. i. 238.
(3) Ladies among the Jews sometimes carried per- fume boxes at their girdles (Is 3”); these were called w53n ΒΞ, and this is translated ‘tablets’ (i.e. lockets) in AV. They were most probably metallic boxes containing ointment or frankincense. Such boxes have been found in Eeyrt
(4) Perfumes were sprinkled on garments or placed in boxes with clothing to give them a pleasant odour (Ps 45%, Ca 4"). This is still done in the East as in the West (see Lane, ἐδ. i. 256).
(5) Perfume was sprinkled on couches or beds as ἴπ eal
(6) In the Persian harem, perfumes were the chief means of purification in use: six months unction with oil ah myrrh, and six months with spices and the ‘ointment of the women,’ LXX σμήγμασι τῶν γυναικῶν (Est 2), At the present day rosewater is used for such purificatory washing (Burckhardt, Arabia, i. 68).
(7) Odours and spices were used at funerals, applied as antiseptics to the body. Asa was laid in a bed filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared iy the perfumers (2 Ch 16'*); and Nicodemus provided about 100 Ibs. of myrrh and aloes for the burial of our Lord. They were also burned at funerals; probably the burnings of 2 Ch 16 21° were made of them. At Forges. funeral Nero burned more perfumes than Arabia could produce within a year (Pliny, xii. 18).
Of the ritual or ceremonial uses of perfumes, usually in the form of incense, mention is made in many places in the OT, Sometimes it was burned before a king when making a state procession. To this there is an allusion in the pillar of smoke which preceded the king in Ca 35, Quintus Curtins speaks of a similar ceremonial in the case of Indian princes (viii. 38). See INCENSE in vol. ii. p. 468*. '
The period at which incense was introduced into the Jewish worship is unknown, but it was per- haps used in very early times (see, however, IN- CENSE, id. p. 467*). The Egyptians used it as far
PERGA "47
back as the 4th dynasty, and on almost every stele of the period which covers the whole of the Israelite sojourn in Egypt there is specific mention of ntr sntr or incense. Odorous fumigations are used in all ceremonial religions, and the sweet smell is TE ei to propitiate the god. Oedipus says that Thebes ‘reeks with incense and rings with prayers’ (Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus, 4), and Herodotus records that Datis, the Median, burnt 30 talents of frankincense on the altar at Rhenwa (vi. 97). Simi- lar references might be multiplied for other places, and for cults the most dissimilar. To this idea Amos alludes, when speaking for the offended Deity he says that ‘ He will not smell’ in their solemn assemblies (5). RV renders it ‘ will take no de- light,’ which is a paraphrase, the AV being the literal rendering. In the NT there is no account of the use of perfumes in Christian worship, but the idea is spiritualized like the other typical obsery- ances of the old worship: thus St. Paul calls the self- sacrifice of Christ ‘a sacrifice to God for a sweet- smelling savour’ (Eph 5*); and he also calls the