Kyphi (Egyptian kapet, Greek kyphi) is the oldest incense we have recipes for. It was burned in Egyptian temples at dusk, prescribed by physicians, praised by Plutarch, and copied by Greek and Roman pharmacists, and it is the ancestor of every kneaded, aged incense from Arabian bakhoor to Japanese nerikō.
The sources
Three kinds of text survive:
- Temple inscriptions. The walls of the laboratory at Edfu (Ptolemaic period) and texts at Philae give lists of ingredients and quantities for the temple kapet, along with instructions for preparation over many days.
- Medical papyri. The Ebers Papyrus (c. 1550 BC) includes a kyphi recipe as a remedy for the home and the body.
- Greek authors. Plutarch in Isis and Osiris describes a sixteen-ingredient kyphi and explains its use at evening; Dioscorides and Galen give simpler pharmacists’ versions.
The recipes disagree on details and agree on structure.
The structure
Resins. Myrrh is constant. Frankincense, mastic and various “balsams” appear. Some lists include pine resin. These give the incense its body and its sacred character.
Binder and sweetness. Raisins soaked in wine, honey, and sometimes a resin syrup. The mixture was kneaded into a paste and left to mature. The raisins and honey ferment slightly and mellow the whole.
Aromatics. Cinnamon and cassia, juniper berries, sweet flag (Acorus), cyperus (Cyperus rotundus, “nut grass”), spikenard, cardamom, mint, saffron, henna flowers, aspalathus and others, depending on the text. These are the spice and herb layer that made kyphi smell of a garden rather than a censer.
Plutarch’s description
Plutarch says kyphi was burned at evening because its ingredients “thrive by night”, and that it was compounded of sixteen ingredients: honey, wine, raisins, cyperus, resin, myrrh, aspalathus, seselis, mastic, bitumen, rush, sorrel, two kinds of juniper, cardamom and sweet flag. He adds that it was not only an incense but a drink and a medicine, taken for the lungs and for sleep. That is the most famous account and the basis of most reconstructions.
Making it
The Edfu text describes a process over days: pounding the dry ingredients, soaking some in wine, cooking the raisins and honey, combining in stages, and kneading until the paste is uniform. Modern reconstructions follow the same shape:
- Grind resins and dry aromatics coarsely.
- Soak raisins in wine for a day; mash.
- Warm honey until fluid; combine with the raisin-wine mash.
- Work the dry ingredients into the wet until a stiff paste forms.
- Form into small pellets or a flat cake, and leave in a closed jar for at least a month.
- Heat pellets gently on a mica plate or heater; kyphi should warm and release, not burn.
The result is soft, sweet, spicy, resinous and slightly winy, unlike anything burned from a loose blend. It is the aged, kneaded quality that Egypt bequeathed to later traditions.
On benzoin
Kyphi predates benzoin’s arrival in Egypt by two thousand years, so an authentic reconstruction does not contain it. Many modern makers add a little anyway, because benzoin’s sweetness stands in for balsams that the texts name and we cannot identify. That is a reasonable substitution if it is called one. See Benzoin in incense traditions.
Why it still matters
Kyphi is the proof that incense was a composed thing, with recipes, techniques and time, three and a half thousand years ago. Every kneaded incense since is a variation. For a modern version of the same idea, see DIY resin incense blends.
Frequently asked questions
What was in kyphi?
The surviving recipes differ, but the core is resins (myrrh, frankincense, sometimes benzoin-like balsams or mastic), a binder of honey, wine and raisins, and aromatics such as cinnamon, cassia, juniper, sweet flag, cyperus, spikenard and mint. Sixteen ingredients is the number Plutarch gives.
Did kyphi contain benzoin?
Almost certainly not in antiquity: benzoin's trade into Egypt is medieval. Modern reconstructions sometimes add it for sweetness in place of balsams that are no longer available, which is defensible as long as it is labelled a substitution.
How was kyphi used?
It was burned in temples at evening, according to Plutarch, and prescribed as a medicine for sleep, anxiety and respiratory complaints. It was heated on coals rather than burned directly, as the honey and wine make it a soft, aged paste.
Sources & further reading
- kyphi
- egypt
- history
- incense recipes
