Summer, 2020. The discovery of a news article about a perfume recipe on an ancient Assyrian cuneiform tablet ignites an obsession. What did it smell like?How was it made? Who was Tappūtī, the perfumer whose name was associated with this 3000 year old scent? What was her life like? How did she work, and what else did she create?
So began the adventure for author and historian Marlen Elliot Harrison. The Perfumer of Ashur, his debut work of historical fiction, explores the imagined life of Tappūtī-bēlat-ekalle, one of the world’s earliest, documented, female chemists and perfumers.