Spices were imported from all over the world to Mendes, [University of Hawaii professor Robert] Littman said, including from India, Arabia and Africa, making Mendes a major center of the perfume trade from about 300 B.C. to about 800 A.D.

During the third century B.C., the ancient city of Thmouis produced a perfume, which was named after the main city and called the Mendesian perfume. That’s the one Littman considers to be the “Chanel No. 5” of late antiquity – Cleopatra’s perfume.

— Read more in The Archeology Of Smell: Behind This UH Professor’s Ongoing Quest For Cleopatra’s Perfume at Honolulu Civil Beat.