In ancient Egypt, roses were everywhere. It is said that Cleopatra had the sails of her barge soaked in rosewater and regularly had the fountains at her palace filled with fresh rose petals.

Writing about Cleopatra, Athenaeus, a ancient Greek writer wrote: "On the fourth day she distributed fees, amounting to a talent, for the purchase of roses, and the floors of the dining-rooms were strewn with them to the depth of a cubit, in net-like festoons spread over all.”