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Home , Myrrh

CHAPIERSIX

THERAPEUTICS AND MATERIA MEDICA *

Max Neuburger, in his groundwork, 1 devoted only several brief sections to topics related to therapeutics in the works of Flavius Josephus. As usual re• garding medical items, the data are scattered through Josephus' works. We shall first consider materia medica, mainly plants and , but also other substances such as oil, , and bitumen. A special paragraph will deal with poisons and aphrodisiaca. Then will follow a chapter on magic cures, one on thermal baths and hydrotherapy and finally other means such as mu• sic-therapy and gerocomy.

Materia Medica

A number of plants and roots which have medicinal properties are mentioned in Josephus' narrative, not always in a medical context. Already in the time of the Patriarchs, the land of Canaan was known to produce some . When sent his sons, including Benjamin, a second time to Egypt to buy food, he said: "Take of the best fruits in the land (as a present to the man, i.e. ) ... a little balm, and a little honey, gum, ladanum, nuts, and almonds" (Gen. 43:11). Josephus has another version of these "products of Canaan": they took ", myrrh, terebinth, and honey" [Ant. II, 118]. Possibly, nuts and almonds seemed to Josephus too common to be included in a present for a high official. Myrrh ( Engl.)2 was common in Arabia and Abyssinia, and was used for its aromatic

* Based in part on my paper "Medicinal Drugs in the Works of Flavius Josephus", in: The Healing Past, Pharmaceuticals in the Biblical and Rabbinic World (I. & W. Jacob eds.) Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1993, pp. 95-105. 1 Max Neuburger, Medizin im Flavius Josephus, Bad Reichenhall: Buchkunst, [1919]. See pp. 34-36; 41-42; 66-71. 2 Myrrh [Gr. myron] is usually considered to be rendered in Hebrew by mor, although Schweinfurth (1893) identified mor as "Mekkabalsam." Myrrh appears in the materia medica of Hippocrates, Galen, Scribonius Largus (= myrra). Some think that the biblical myrrh was Commiphora Kataf Engl. See bibliography in Dragendorff, p. 367. 126 TIIERAPEUTICS AND MA1ERIA MEDICA and antiseptic properties. Terebinth (Pistacia Terebinthus L)3 produces an edible fruit; its oil was used against gout and rheumatic diseases. Its was used against diarrhea. Its was the most useful component, used as an anodyne and against worms. Three among these valuable products of Canaan are also mentioned in the context of Joseph being sold by his brothers: "A caravan of Ismaelites came from Gilead with their bear• ing gum, balm and ladanum,4 going to carry it down to Egypt" (Gen. 37:25). Josephus in this case gives no detail, only stating that Joseph was sold to "some Arab traders of the race of lshmaelites conveying (ar6mata) ... from Galadene (i.e., Gilead) for the Egyptian market" [Ant. II, 32]. Balsam is the first product mentioned in the biblical text and was most probably the most valuable among the presents sent to Joseph by Jacob. Throughout antiquity and not less during the Middle Ages the "", later called "balm of " was one of the most famous prod• ucts of Palestine. The balm-tree was mainly grown in the oasis of Jericho. Speaking of this settlement, watered by a spring that had been "cured" by the prophet Elisha (II Kings 2:21), Josephus writes: Indeed, this spring irrigates a larger tract than all others, permeating a plain seventy furlongs in length and twenty in breadth, and fostering within that area the most charming and luxuriant parks. Of the date-palms5 watered by it there are numerous varieties differing in flavour and in medicinal properties; the richer species of this fruit when pressed under foot emit copious honey6, not much inferior to that of bees, which are also abundant in that region [War IV, 468-469].

3 Terebinth [Gr. stakten terebinthon], also called Pistacia Palestinae Boiss., was known to the ancient Egyptians, to Hippocrates and Galen (sometimes c:alled terminthos). The Vulgate has terebinthi and the tereminthon. 4 In both biblical texts, 'gum' is a rendering of the Greek thym(tlma (and thymiamaton) of the LXX, whereas the Vulgate has once styracis and once aro• mata. "Ladanum" is for the Greek staktes, Latin stactes (i.e., the of resin of myrrh). Ladanum is, rather, the resin of Cistus cyprius L. 5 Date-palms: dactylifera L. Unripe dates are astringent and were used against hemorrhoids and to drain urine and milk. Their "honey" is slightly purgative. Its medicinal properties were already mentioned in the Ebers Papyrus. 6 "Honey" was then a term in general use for both the production of bees and pressed fruit-especially dates and figs. Honey (Hebr. devash) was one of the presents of Jacob's sons to Joseph [cf. Ant. III, 118]. Besides its use as a nutri• ment and a medicine, honey was also used for the preservation of corpses: Aristobulus had been poisoned, "his corpse lying preserved in honey for a long while, until Antony finally sent it back to Judea and had it placed in the royal sepulchres" [Ant. XIV, 124-See also War I, 184]. Another case is mentioned in the (b. Baba Bathra fol. 3b).