The word incense comes from the Latin ‘ incendere’ meaning “to burn”. Incense has been found in every culture and civilization. Most of incense burning is done for religious purposes, but was also used for medicinal purposes, perfuming an area, time keeping, an aphrodisiac, aesthetic purposes or just any ceremonial purposes. Why is incense so widely used around the world? What is the true purpose of incense? To get the answers we must go to Ancient Egypt.