Herbs and essential oils have been used in the medicinal arena throughout history. The Persians, Greeks, and Romans used lavender as a perfume, medicine, and mummifying agent. The Greeks referred to lavender as 'Nardus' or 'Spikenard', derived from the Syrian city Naarda. In the Bible, Spikenard or 'Nard' was considered an extravagant perfume. "Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment," John 12:3.