The balsam of Matariyya: An exploration of a medieval panacea

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

Volumn 66, Issue 2, 2003, Pages 193-209

  Milwright, Marcus ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA   (Canada)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 62449240690     PISSN: 0041977X     EISSN: 14740699     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/s0041977x03000119     Document Type: Article

References (183)

1. For instance, see T. Bardinet, Les Papyrus médicaux de l'Égypte pharaonique: traduction intégrate et commentaire (Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard, 1995), passim
2. R. Harrison, Healing herbs of the Bible (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1966), 43, 45-6
3. J. Zarins, 'Mesopotamia and frankincense: the early evidence', in Profiuni d'Arabia. Aui del convegno, ed. A. Avanzini (Rome: 'L'Erma' di Bretschneider, 1997) 251-72
4. D. Potts, The Arabian Gulf in antiquity, 2 vols. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), I, 349; 11, 9-10, 149
5. G. Majno, The healing hand: man and wound in antiquity (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1975), 208-19
6. N. Groom, Frankincense and myrrh (London:Longman, 1981)
7. T. Greenhill, Nekrokedeia or the art of embalming (London, 1705), 210
8. Pliny, Natural history XII.54.111, 123
9. See also comments in H. Cotton and W. Eck, 'Ein Staatsmonopol und seiner Foleen: Plinius, "Naturalis historia", 12,123 und der Preis für Balsam', Rheinische Museum für Philologie, 140, 1997, 153-61
10. Ibn Iyās, Abū al-Barakat Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Hanafi, Die Chronik des Ibn Ijās, ed. M. Mustafa, M. Sobernheim and P. Kahle, 5 vols. (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1960-74), iv, 149
11. See E. MacGiIl, 'An example of a primary source: This Booke of Sovereigne Medicines', in Prospecting for drugs in ancient and medieval European texts: a scientific approach, ed
12. B. Holland (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1996), 52-3. Balm of Gilead is mentioned as a 'cure' for love-sickness in the work of the Spanish poet, Judah al-Harizi (d. 1235)
13. See ed. and trans. V. Reichert, The Tahkemoni of Judah al-Harizi (Jerusalem: Raphael Haim Cohen, 1965-73), 11, 339-44
14. G. Trease and W. Evans, Pharmacognosy, 10th ed. (London: Balliere Tindall, 1972), 156-7
15. T. Wallis, Textbook of pharmacognosy, 4th ed. (London: J. and A. Churchill, 1960), 500
16. Trease and Evans, Pharmacognosy, 156-7
17. Majno, Healing hand, 217-18
18. R. Rao, Z. Khan and A. Shah, 'Toxicity studies in mice of Commiphora molmol oleo-gum-resin', Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 76, 2001, 151 and references. A detailed chemical analysis of myrrh
19. D. Martinez, K. Lohs and J. Janzen, Weihrauch und Myrrh. Kulturgeschichte und wirtschaftliche Bedeutung. Bolanik. Chemie. Medizin (Stuttcart: Wissenschaftliche Verlaggesellschaft, 1989), 169-80
20. R. Wren, Potter's new cyclopaedia of botanical drugs and preparations, revised E. Williamson and F. Evans (Saffron Walden: C. W. Daniel, 1988), 198
21. Rao el al., 'Toxicity', 151
22. M. Tariq et al., 'Anti-inflammatory activity of Commiphora molmol'. Agents and Actions, 17, 1986, 381-2
23. See also comments by M. Postlethwayt in the translated edition of J. Savary des Bruslons, The universal dictionary of trade and commerce, 2 vols., 3rd ed., unpaginated text (London, 1766), I, ' balsam'. He notes that balm of Mekka may be used for pains in the stomach, colic, weakness of the lungs and low appetite
24. A.-S. Abdul-Ghani and R. Amin, 'Effect of aqueous extract of Commiphora opobalsamum on blood pressure and heart rate in rats', Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 57, 1997, 219-22
25. see: J. Riddle, 'The medicines of Greco-Roman Antiquity as a source for medicines today', in ed. B. Holland, Prospecting for drugs in ancient and medieval European texts: a scientific approach (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1996), 7-17
26. P. Prioreschi et al., 'A quantitative assessment of ancient therapeutics: poppy and pain in the Hippocratic corpus', Medical Hypotheses, 51, 1998, 325-51
27. Dioscorides, De materia medica 1.19 (according to: ed. M. Wellmann, Pedanii Dioscurides Anazarbos. De materia medica libra quinque (Berlin: Weidemann, 1906-14)
28. see: J. Stannard, 'Medieval herbals and their development', Clio Medica, 9, 1974, 23-33
29. Dioscorides and Renaissance Materia Medica', Analecta Medico-Historica 1: Materia Medica in the XVI Century (Oxford, 1966), 1-21 (both reprinted in J. Stannard, Herbs and herbalism in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, eds
30. K. Stannard and R. Kay, (Variorum Collected Studies Series, Aldershot: Variorum, 1999))
31. J. Riddle, Dioscorides on pharmacy and medicine (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985)
32. M. Collins, Medieval herbals: the illustrative traditions, The British Library Studies in Medieval Culture (London: British Museum, 2000), 31-114
33. M. Sadek, The Arabic Materia Medica of Dioscorides (St Jean-Chrysostome, Quebec: Editions du Sphinx, 1985)
34. See Savary des Bruslons, Dictionary,' balsam'
35. F. Fabri, Evagatorium in Terrae Sanctae, Arabiae et Egypti peregrinationem, ed. C. Hassler, 3 vols. (Bibliothek des Literarischen Vereins in Stuttgart 2-4, Stuttgart: Gedruckt auf Kosten des Literarischen Vereins, 1843-49), 111, 15
36. For instance, P. Pomet, Histoire générale des drogues (Paris, 1694), 276 (citron)
37. P. Belon du Mans, Observations du plusieurs singularitez et choses mémorables trouuées en Grece, Asie, Iudée, Égyple, Arabic et autres pays estranges (Paris, 1554), 111 (cardamom)
38. K. Vollesen, ' Burseracaeae', in Flora of Ethiopia 3: Pittosporaceae to Araliceae, eds
39. I. Hedberg and S. Edwards (Addis Ababa and Uppsala, 1989), 475-7
40. J. Gillett, Burseracaeae (Flora of East Africa, Rotterdam: Bulkema, 1991), 84-6
41. And see comments in H. and A. Moldenke, Plants of the Bible (New Series in Plant Sciences, 28, Waltham, MA: Chronica Botanica, 1952), 84-6
42. D. Vesey-Fitzgerald, 'Vegetation of the Red Sea coast south of Jedda, Saudi Arabia', Journal of Ecology, 43, 1955, 485-6. Additional synonyms are given in Groom, Frankincense, 126-30
43. See D. Vesey-Fitzgerald, ' Vegetation of the Red Sea coast north of Jedda, Saudi Arabia', Journal of Ecology, 45, 1957, 552
44. For instance, Ali Bey Abbasi, The travels of Ali Bey Abbasi in Morocco, Cyprus, Egypt, Arabia, Syria and Turkey between the years 1803 and 1807, 2 vols. (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, 1816), I: 112
45. M. Meyerhof, 'Der Bazar der Drogen und Wohlgeruche in Kairo', Sonderabdruck aits Archiv für Wirtschaftforschung im Orient, 3/4, 1918, 198, no. 297
46. P. Faure, Parfums et aromates de l'antiquité (Nouvelles Etudes Historiques, Paris: Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1987), 240, 246-7
47. J.-P. Albert, Odeurs sainteté. ,La mythologie Chrétienne des aromatiques (Recherches d'Histoire et des Science Sociales, Paris: Éditions de l'Ecole des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, 1990), passim
48. Groom, Fra.ikincense, 127
49. See also I. Löw, Die Flora den Juden, 4 vols. (Vienna and Leipzig: R. Löwit Verlag, 1924-34), I, 300
50. P. Crone, Meccan trade and the rise of Islam (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987), 65
51. P. Donceel-Voûte, 'Traces of fragrance along the Dead Sea', Parfums d'Orient. Res Orientales, 11, 1998,94
52. G. Post, Flora of Syria, Palestine and Sinai, 2nd ed. revised by John Dinsmore (Beirut: American University in Beirut Press, 1932-33), I, 284
53. See L. Boulos, Flora of Egypt. Volume Two: Geraniaceae-Boraginaceae (Cairo: Al Hadra Publishing, 2000), 68-9
54. K. Vollesen, ' Burseracaeae', in Flora of Ethiopia 3: Pittosporaceae to Araliceae, eds. I. Hedberg and S. Edwards (Addis Ababa and Uppsala, 1989), 475-7
55. J. Gillett, Burseracaeae (Flora of East Africa, Rotterdam: Bulkema, 1991), 84-6
56. Groom, Frankincense, 126-30
57. For instance, see a discussion of this issue in al-Ghāfiqī, The abridged version of 'the book of simple drugs' of Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Ghāfiqī Abu'l-Farag (Barhebraeus), Egypt University, ed. and trans. M. Meyerhof and G. Sobhy (Faculty of Medicine Publication 4, 5 fascs., Cairo: Al-Ettemad Printing House, 1932-40), 11, 244-5 (Arabic text: 58-9)
58. See translator's additions in P. Pomet, A compleat history of druggs (London: R. Bonwicke et al., 1712), 205-6
59. Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Birūnī, Al-Biruni's book of pharmacy and medicine, ed. and trans. H. Said (Karachi: Hamdard Academy, 1973), I, 73
60. 'Abd al-Latīf b. Yusuf al-Baghdādī, Kitab al-ifāda wa'l-ī'tibār, ed. A. Sabūnū (Damascus, 1983), 24
61. The eastern key, ed. K. Zand, J. and I. Vidan (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1954), 45. He writes that the 'oily balsam [tree]' (al-balsām al-duhnī) [i.e. the cultivated version] does not bear fruit (lā yuthmiru)'
62. See discussion in M. Milwright, 'Balsam in the mediaeval Mediterranean: a case study of commodity and information exchange', Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, 14/1, 2001, 3-23
63. Ibn al-Baytār, Mufrāda, I, 107-9
64. Matthaeus Platearius, Le livre des simple médecines d'après le manuscrit français 12322 de la Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris, ed
65. Ghislaine Malandin (Paris: Editions Ozalid et Textes Cardinaux, 1986), p. 222 (and see illustration on p. 223)
66. For instance, see the entries on balsam in: Bartholomaeus Anglicus (fl. early 13th), De proprietatibus rerum XVII.18 (in ed. M. Seymour et al., On the properties of things. John Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus De proprietatibus rerum. A critical text, 2 vols [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975], 11, 916-17)
67. The herbal of Rufinus, ed. L. Thorndike (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1946), 50-52 (composed c. 1287-1300)
68. For instance, Fabri, Evagatorium, 11I, 17. And see discussion in Riddle, Dioscorides, 75-7
69. See also comments on references to balsam in biblical and talmudic literature in Encyclopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem, 1971), iv, 142-43
70. Löw, Flora, i, 299-304
71. J. Preuss, Biblical and Talmudic medicine, trans, and ed. F. Rosner (New York: Hebrew Publishing Company, 1978), 238
72. For instance, al-Birūn̄, Pharmacy, 1: 75
73. Dioscorides, De materia medica 1.19, describes the use of balsam to remove boils. Ibn al-Baytār, Mufrāda, 1, 109, states that burnt balsam wood mixed with vinegar (al-khall) can be rubbed on the skin to remove warts (sing, al-thu'lūl)
74. See also S. Rubin, Medieval English medicine (Newton Abbott: David and Charles, 1974), 125
75. Translator's notes in Savary des Bruslons, Universal dictionary, 1: 'balsam'
76. See also M. Charas, The royal pharmacopoea galenical and chymical (London: John Starkey and Moses Pitt, 1678), 11. 3 'Balsomes' (213-19)
77. Pausanias, Description of Greece IX. 28.3-4
78. Dioscorides, De materia medica 1. 19
79. Al-Tabarī, 'AIī b. Sahl Rabbān, Firdausu'l-hikmat or paradise of wisdom, ed. M. Siddiqi (Berlin, 1928), 403
80. Simeonis Seth, Syntagma per elementorum ordinem, de alimientorum facilitate (Basle, 1561), 20
81. Maimonides, Treatise on poisons, hemorrhoids and cohabitation. Maimonides' medical writing, trans. F. Rosner (Haifa: Maimonides Research Institute, 1984), 51
82. Ibn Wahshiyya, Muhammad b. 'Alī, Medieval Arabic toxicology: the book of poisons of Ibn Wahshiya and its relation to early Indian and Greek texts, trans, and ed. M. Levey (American Philosophical Society Transactions, New Series 56 viii, Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1966), 55, 58, 69, 71, 79, 88, 102, 108
83. For a general discussion of the transmission of theriacs, see G. Watson, Theriac and mithridatium. A study of therapeutics (London: Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 1966)
84. Celsus, De medicina v. 23. Variant forms of Mithridatium are given in Galen, De Antidotis ii. 1-4 (according to ed. C. Kühn, Claudii Galeni opera omnia [Medicorum graecorum opera quae exstant, Leipzig, 1821-33], xiv, 108-29)
85. See also Watson, Theriac, 5-6
86. Galen, De theriaca ad pisonem vi-vii (Kühn cd., xiv, 233). For translations, see Claudio Galeno. De theriaca ad pisonem, ed. and trans. E. Cottcri (Biblioteca della 'Rivista di Storia della Scienze Mediche et Naturali', 8, Florence, 1959), 120-26)
87. Galen, De theriaca ad pamphilimum (Kühn ed., XIV, 306)
88. Avicennae arabum medicorum principis, canon medicinae. Trans. Gerard of Cremona with annotations by I. Costco and I. Mongio (Venice, 1608), iv. 1.1 (11, 265-83)
89. G. Anawati, ' La traite d'Averroes sur la thériaque et ses antecedents Grecs et Arabes', Quaderni di Studi Arabi 5-6, 1987-88, 36-8
90. Pomet, Druggs, 11, 204-05 (who notes that the balsam which is sold in Cairo is often balsam of Peru prepared with spirit of wine or distilled oil); Charas, Pharmacopoca, Part 2, Book 1, 143
91. Charas, Pharmacopoiea, Part 2, Book 1, 138-9, 143; Savary des Bruslons, Dictionary, 'balsam'
92. Al-'Umarī, Ibn Fadl Allāh, Masāal al-absār, ed. Ayman Sayyid (Textes Arabes et Études Islamiques, 23, Cairo: Institut Français d'ArchéoIogie Orientale, 1985), 68
93. See C. Cahen,' Une traité d'armurerie composé pour Saladin', Bulletin d'Études Orientates, 12, 1947-48: 122, 145
94. For a discussion of the theoretical basis of Galenic pharmacology, see O. Temkin, Galenism. Rise and decline of a medical philosophy (Cornell Publications in the History of Science, Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1973), 112-14
95. Dioscorides, De materia medica I. 19; Ibn al-Baytār, Mufrāda, I, 108 (citing Galen); al-Ghāfiqī, Simple drugs, 11, 244. Platearius (Livre, 222) ciaims balsam is a heating and drying element of the third degree
96. E. Wallis Budge, ed. and trans., Syrian anatomy, pathology and therapeutics or 'book of medicines', 2 vols. (London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1913), xv. 11 (trans, n, 374-5)
97. Alexander of Tralles, Oeuvres medicales d'Alexandre de Tralles. Le dernier auteur classique dans grands médicins grecs de l'antiquite, trans. Félix Brunet (Médecine et Thérapeutique Byzantine, 4 vols., Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1933-37), VII.18-19
98. Ibn al-Baytar, Mufrāda, I, 109 (citing Ibn Abī al-Ash'ath and al-Taymī respectively)
99. See also Budge, Syrian anatomy, III. 37 (11, 64) for a cerecloth impregnated with balsam
100. Al-Birūnī, Pharmacy, 1, 75
101. A1-Kindī, Abū Yūsuf Ya'qub b. Ishāq, The medical formulary or Aqrabadhin of al-Kindi, trans, and ed. M. Levey (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1966), 146
102. Ibn Sīnā, Husayn b. 'Abd Allāh, De generatione et corruptione 11. 2.57 (see Avicenna latinus. Liber tertius naturalium, ed. S. Van Riet [Editions Critiques. Académie Royale de Belgique, Louvain-Ia-Neuve and Leiden: E. Peeters and E. J. Brill, 1987], 87)
103. Ibn Sīnā, Avicenne. Poème de la médecine, ed. H. Jahier and A. Noureddine (Paris: Société d'Edition 'Les Belles Lettres', 1956), 79-80
104. Ibn Ridwān, Abū Hasan 'Alī, Medieval Islamic medicine. Ibn Ridwān's treatise, on the prevention of bodily ills in Egypt, trans, and ed. M. Dols and A. Gamal (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1984), 133 (Arabic text: 27). For balsam as a medicinal perfume
105. see also Paul of Aegina, Seven books vII 21-2 (in trans, and ed. F. Adams, The seven books of Paulas Aegineta, 3 vols. [London: Sydenham Society, 1844-47], III, 598-600)
106. See also Budge, Syrian anatomy, xv 11 (n, 374-5); Ibn Sīnā, Canon n 2.84; Constantine the African, Liber de gradibus simplicium in Opera (Basel, 1536), 357
107. Ibn al-Jazzār, Ibn al-Jazzār on sexual diseases and their treatment. A critical edition of Zād al-musāfir wa-qūt al-hādir. Provisions for the traveller and nourishment for the sedentary. Book 6, trans, and ed. G. Bos (The Sir Henry Wellcome Asian Series, London: Wellcome Institute, 1997), 218, 303
108. al-Birūnī, Pharmacy, i, 75; Prosper Alpin, Histoire naturelle de I'Egypte par Prosper Alpin, 1581-1584, trans, and ed. R. de Fenoyl and S. Sauneron (Collection des Voyageurs en Egypte, 20, Cairo: Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 1979], 191-2
109. Prosper Alpin, La Médecine des Égyptians par Prosper Alpin, 1581-1584, ed. R. de Fenoyl (Collection des Voyageurs en Egypte, 21, Cairo: Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 1980), 314. This interpretation of hysteria derives from Galen
110. Fabri, Evagatorium, III, 17
111. Galen, De compositione medicamentorum II.iv 7 (Kühn ed., xn, 781-85, 787-88)
112. See also H. Nielsen, Ancient ophthalmological agents (Acta Historica Scientiarium Naturalium et Medicinalium, 31, Odense: Odense University Press, 1974), 17
113. Alexander of Tralles, Oeuvres II 3 (III, 23-4)
114. Budge, Syrian anatomy, v 6 (II, 95). The leechbook of bald (composed c. 900-950) recommends a mixture of balsam, honey, seawater, rainwater and wine to be smeared on the eyes in cases of cataract
115. See Rubin, English medicine, 121
116. 'Alī Ībn 'Īsā al-Kahhāl, Memorandum book of a tenth-century oculist for the use of modern ophthalomologists, trans.'and ed. C. Wood (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1936), 181-3
117. See also M. Levey, Early Arabic pharmacology (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1973), 128
118. Hunayn ibn Ishāq, The book of the ten treatises on the eye ascribed to Hunain ibn ls-Hâq (809-877 A.D.). The' earliest existing systematic text-book on ophthalmology, ed. and trans. M. Meyerhof (Cairo: The Government Press, 1928), 121-2 and notes (Arabic text: 189). According to Meyerhof, the relevant passage is in Paul of Aegina, Seven Books 122 (1, 421)
119. Constantine the African, Der 'Liber de oculis ' des Constantine Africanus, ed. D. Haefeli-Till (Zürcher Medizinaeschichtliche Abhandlungen, Neue Reihe, 121, Zurich: Juris Druck und Verlag, 1977), XII.13 (p.92)
120. Budge, Syrian anatomy, XII 7 (11, 262, 277). Balsam appears in a compound fumieant for clearing catarrh (see Paul of Aegina, Seven books vii 22)
121. See Rubin, English medicine, 61, 125
122. L. Voigts, 'Anglo-Saxon plant remedies and the Anglo-Saxons', Isis, 70, 1979, 260
123. Budge, Syrian anatomy, xvi 5 (11,417). Balsam is also recommended by Jean de Saint Amand (fl. 13th-14th) for strengthening the liver. See ed. J. Pagel, Die Areolae des Johannes de Sancto Amando (Berlin: Georg Reimer, 1896), 54
124. For instance, Ibn Ridwān, Kifāya, 81; al-Birūnī, Pharmacy, I, 75
125. Ibn al-Baytār, Mufrāda, l, 109
126. Budge, Syrian anatomy, VII 2 (n, 111-14)
127. Alexander of Tralles, Oeuvres III 1 (in, 54-5)
128. Platearius, Livre, 222
129. Benvenutus Grassus, The wonderful art of the eye. A critical edition of the Middle English translation of his De probatissimia arte oculorum, ed. L. M. Aldredge (Medieval Texts and Studies, 19, East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1996), 1.815
130. Alpin, Histoire, 191-2; Méddccine, 322-3
131. see M. Jullien, L'arbre de la vierge a Matarieh, 4th ed. (Cairo: Imprimerie Nationale, 1904)
132. U. Zanetti, 'Matarieh, la Sainte Famille et les baumiers', Analecta Bollandiana, 111, 1983, 21-68
133. See also D. Behrens-Abouseif, 'The north-eastern extension of Cairo under the Mamluks', Annales Islamologiques, 27, 1981, 158-60 and pi. X
134. The relevant section of the text is translated and discussed in Zanetti, 'Matarieh', 23-7
135. see Donceel-Voûte, 'Traces', 106-17
136. J. Patrich and B. Arubas, 'A juglet containing balsam oil(?) from a cave near Qumran', Israel Exploration Journal, 39, 1989,43-59
137. T. Gnoli,' La produzione del balsamo nellbasi di Engaddi (Israele).Su alcuni nuovi documenti dal deserto di Guida', in Profuni d'Arabia. Aui del convegno, ed. A. Avanzini (Rome: L'Erma' di Bretschneider, 1997), 413-29
138. G. Wissowa, ed., Paulys Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (Stuttgart: J. B. Metzerscher Verlag, 1896), 2.2: cols. 2836-9
139. See L. Ginzberg, The legends of the Jews, trans. H. Szold et at., 8th ed. (Washington, D.C.: The Jewish Publications Society of America, 1982-83), III, 179-81; vi
140. Also ed. I. Epstein, The Babylonian Talmud (London: The Soncino Press, 1935-59), Seder Nezikin. Horayoth 11b (p. 84)
141. Ibn Hawqal, Muhammad Abū al-Qāsim, Viae et regno, descriptio ditionis moslemicae, ed. M. de Goeje (Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum, 2, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1873), 106
142. Behrens-Abouseif, 'Extension', 160; Ibn Iyās, Chronik iv, 149. Citing Ibn Samajun, 'Abd al-Latīf al-Baghdādī (afāda, 24; Eastern Key, 41, 45) writes that the oil was extracted during the rising of Sirius (al-Sha'arī) in the month of Shubāt (February)
143. Arnold von HarfT, The pilgrimage of Arnold von Harff, ed. and trans. M. Letts (Hakluyt Society 2nd series, no. 94, London: 1946), 104-05. The author describes how a rival to the sultan pulled up the balsam trees and broke the waterwhecls used to irrigate the garden. He concludes ' ⋯ as I was told, as indeed I saw with my own eyes, that no balsam would grow there for ten years'
144. Ibn Iyās, Chronik IV, 149
145. See also C. Petry, Protectors or Praetorians? The last Mamluk sultans and Egypt's waning as a great power (New York: State University of New York Press, 1994), 119
146. D. Behrens-Abouseif, 'Gardens in Islamic Egypt', Der Islam 69/2, 1992, 308-9
147. See Voyage en Égypte de Jean Palerne, Forésien, 1581, ed. S. Sauneron (Collection des Voyageurs Occidentaux en Egypte, 2, Cairo: 1971), 98
148. H. von Lichtenstein in ed. S. Sauneron, Voyages en Egypte pendant tesr annees 1587-1588, trans. U. Castel and N. Sauneron (Collection des Voyageurs Occidentaux en Égypte, 6, Cairo: 1972), 11
149. J. Sandys, Relation of a voyage begun in Anno Domini 1610 (London, 1615), 127
150. C. Niebuhr, Voyage en Arabie el en d'autres pays (Amsterdam: S. J. Baalde, 1776-80), I, 98
151. For instance, see ed. D. Pingree, Picatrix: the Latin version of Ghayat al-hakim (Studies of the Warburg Institute, 39, London: Warburg Institute, 1986), passim
152. For a general discussion of holy oils, see 'Chrism' in ed. E. Livingstone and F. Cross, The Oxford dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 332
153. S. Brock, The Holy Spirit in the Syrian baptismal tradition (The Syrian Churches Series, 9, Poona, 1979)
154. ed. M. Dudley and G. Rowell, The oil of gladness. Anointing in the Christian tradition (London, 1993). For the anointing of icons in the Coptic Church
155. see H. E. White, The Metropolitan Museum of Art expedition. The monasteries of Wadi'n-Natrun. Part III: the architecture and archaeology, ed. W. Hauser (New York: Metropolitan Museum, 1933), 69, n. 5
156. P. Menevisoglou, To Aywv Mνoν́ρν εν τη νρθνδν́ξω ανατν λικη ξκκλησί α (The Holy Myron in the Eastern Orthodox Church), ed. P. Christou (Analecta Vlatadon, 14, Thessaloniki, 1972), 33-4 (citing Codex Barberini Greek 336 in the Vatican)
157. Menevisoglou, Holy Myron, 33-40
158. A. Butler, The ancient Coptic churches of Egypt (reprinted London: Oxford University Press, 1970), II, 332-3
159. E. Atchley, A history of the use of incense in divine worship (Alcuin Club Collections, 13, London: Longman and Green, 1909), 100-07
160. Greenhill, Nekrokedeia, 211. The miraculous ability of a mixture of balsam and myrrh to maintain the body despite illness or death is also described in fiction
161. See The chronicle of the Cid, trans. R. Southey (London, 1808), 330-35
162. Saewulf trans, in ed. J. Wilkinson, J. Hill and W. Ryan, Jerusalem pilgrimage, 1099-1185 (London: The Hakluyt Society, 1988), 110
163. E. Kantorowicz, The King's two bodies. A study in medieval political philosophy (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1957), passim
164. J. Nelson, Politics and ritual in early medieval Europe (London and Ronceverte: Hambledon Press, 1986), chapter 11. The anointing ritual could also be performed with the lesser oil of catechumens
165. 'Umarī, Masālik, 68
166. Matthieu de Coussy cited in C. Davillier, Les origines de la porcelaine en Europe (Paris, 1882), 9-10
167. J. Wansbrough, 'A Mamluk commercial treaty concluded with the republic of Florence 894/1489', in ed. S. Stern, Documents front Islamic chanceries (Oriental Studies, 3, Oxford: Bruno Cassirer, 1965), 40
168. A. Atiya, Egypt and Aragon: embassies and diplomatic correspondence between 1300 and 1330 A.D. (Abhandlungen fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 23.7
169. Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, 1938, 28-32
170. L. Mas Latrie, Histoire de l'ile de Chypre, 3 vols. (Paris, 1852-61), m, 481-3. Gifts of balsam were also made by Ottoman sultans and viziers in the sixteenth century
171. See J. Raby, 'Terra Lemnia and the potteries of the Golden Horn: an antique revival under Ottoman auspices', Byzantinische Forschungen, 2), 1995, 316-17
172. L. Villecourt, 'Une manuscrit arabe sur le Saint Chrême dans l'Eglise copte 11', Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique, 18, 1992, 6
173. M. Mango, 'Byzantine maritime trade with the East (4th-7th centuries)', Aram, 8, 1996, 148
174. Atchley, Incense, 141
175. W. Heyd, Histoire du commerce du Levant au Moyen Age. Trans. M. Reynaud (1885-86 reprinted Leipzig: Harrassowitz, 1923), II, 575-80
176. F. Balduczi Pegolotti, Pratica della mercatura, ed. A. Evans (Cambridge, MA: The Medieval Academy of America, 1936), 124, 414. According to the account of Pignol Zucchelo in 1347, balsam wood was sold at I dīnār per 10 pounds
177. See E. Ashtor, Histoire des prix et des salaires dans l'Orient médiévale (Paris: SEVPEN, 1969), 338
178. A.-M. Chazaud, 'Inventaire et comptes de la succession d'Eudes, comté de Nevers (Acre, 1266)', Memoires de la Sociéteá Nationale des Antiquaires de France, 32, sér. 4, t.2, 1871, 192, 201. Balsam was probably available for sale in Palestine in earlier periods, although Willibald's account of smuggling a container of the 'oil' through customs at Tyre in 726 may indicate that its export was either restricted or heavily taxed. See Voigts, ' Plant remedies', 260
179. Milwright, 'Balsam', 10. It is also striking that, despite the frequent mentions of drugs and perfumes, there appears to be no mention of balsam in the Geniza archive
180. See S. Goitein, A Mediterranean society. The Jewish community of the world as portrayed in the documents of the Cairo Geniza, 6 vols. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967-88)
181. For instance, large containers apparently still containing balsam were located in the Vatican in the early twertieth century. See H. Grisar, Die rōmische Kapelle Sancta Sanctorum und ihrer Sehatz: Meine Entdeckungen und Studien in der Palaslkapelle der mittelalterichen Päipste (Freiburg: Herdesche Verlagshandlung, 1908), 89-97
182. For instance, see M. Levey, Substitute drugs in early Arabic medicine with special reference to the texts of Māsarjawaih, al-Rāzī, and Pythagoras (Veröflentlichungen der Internationalen Gesellschaft für Geschichte der Pharmazie. Neue Folge, 37, Stuttgart: Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgescllschaft MBH, 1971), passim. It is difficult to evaluate the practical value of these texts in this context because balsam is itself given in some lists as a substitute for other, less expensive, products
183. In 1575 the Catholic Church authorized the use of balsam of Peru as an alternative to the balsam from Matariyya in the churches of South America. See Heyd, Histoire, n, 580