Silphium

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Silphium (antiquity)
)
This article is about the plant that was used in classical antiquity. For the modern genus of plants, see Silphium (genus).
Not to be confused with Silpium.
Ancient silver coin from Cyrene depicting a stalk of silphium

Silphium (also known as laserwort or laser; Ancient Greek: σίλφιον, sílphion), is an unidentified plant that was used in classical antiquity as a seasoning, perfume, aphrodisiac, and medicine.[1][2]

It was also used as a

genera
of aromatic plants, but the silphium plant is not believed to belong to these genera).

Silphium was an important

Mediterranean cultures; the Romans, who mentioned the plant in poems or songs, considered it "worth its weight in denarii" (silver coins), or even gold.[2] Legend said that it was a gift from the god Apollo
.

The exact identity of silphium is unclear. It was claimed to have become extinct in Roman times.

giant fennel in the genus Ferula.[1][7][8] The extant plant Thapsia gummifera[9] has been suggested as another possibility. Another theory is that it was simply a high quality variety of asafoetida, a common spice in the Roman Empire. The two spices were considered the same by many Romans including the geographer Strabo.[10]

Identity and extinction

A coin of Magas of Cyrene c. 300–282/75 BC. Reverse: silphium and small crab symbols.

The identity of silphium is highly debated. Without a surviving sample, no genetic analysis can be made. It is generally considered to belong to the genus

Thapsia garganica have been suggested as possible identities.[1][7][8][11][12] Ferula drudeana, an endemic species found in Turkey, is a candidate for silphium based on similarity of appearance in descriptions and production of a spice-like gum-resin with supposedly similar properties to silphium.[13][8] However, F. drudeana belongs to a lineage from the southern Caspian Sea region, with no known connection to Eastern Libya.[14]

Theophrastus mentioned silphium as having thick roots covered in black bark, about 48 centimeters long, or one cubit, with a hollow stalk, similar to fennel, and golden leaves, like celery.[2]

Weighing and loading of silphium at Cyrene

The disappearance of silphium is considered the first extinction of a plant or animal species in recorded history.

overharvesting have long been cited as the primary factors that led to its extinction.[6] However, recent research has challenged this notion, arguing instead that desertification in ancient Cyrenaica was the primary driver of silphium's decline.[17]

Another theory is that when

huckleberries which, when grown from seed, are devoid of fruit.[2]

Similar to the soil theory, another theory holds that the plant was a

second-generation can yield very unpredictable outcomes. This could have resulted in plants without fruits, when planted from seeds, instead of asexually reproducing through their roots.[2]

Pliny reported that the last known stalk of silphium found in Cyrenaica was given to Emperor Nero "as a curiosity".[6]

Ancient medicine

Many medical uses were ascribed to the plant.

warts
, and all kinds of maladies. Hippocrates wrote:[21]

When the gut protrudes and will not remain in its place, scrape the finest and most compact silphium into small pieces and apply as a

cataplasm
.

The plant may also have functioned as a

wild carrot, are known to act as abortifacients.[22]

Culinary uses

Silphium was used in Graeco-Roman cooking, notably in recipes by Apicius.

Long after its claimed extinction, silphium continued to be mentioned in lists of aromatics copied one from another, until it makes perhaps its last appearance in the list of spices that the

uncial manuscript. Vinidarius's dates may not be much earlier.[23]

Connection with the heart symbol

Main article:
Heart (symbol)
mericarp
Ancient Cyrenean silver coin depicting a silphium seed or fruit

There has been some speculation about the connection between silphium and the traditional

indehiscent mericarps
(a type of fruit).

Contemporary writings help tie silphium to

Dioscuri staying at a house belonging to Phormion, a Spartan
:

For it so happened that his maiden daughter was living in it. By the next day this maiden and all her girlish apparel had disappeared, and in the room were found images of the Dioscuri, a table, and silphium upon it.[26]

Silphium as laserpicium makes an appearance in a poem (Catullus 7) of Catullus to his lover Lesbia (though others have suggested that the reference here is instead to silphium's use as a treatment for mental illness, tying it to the "madness" of love[27][28]).

Heraldry

In the

Western Desert Campaign in North Africa during World War II.[29]

In popular culture

Characters in Lindsey Davis's 1998 historical crime novel Two for the Lions travel from Rome to North Africa in search of Silphium.[30]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ A generic term for a cookery book, as "Webster" is of American dictionaries.

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c Tatman, J.L. (October 2000). "Silphium, Silver and Strife: A History of Kyrenaika and Its Coinage". Celator. 14 (10): 6–24.
  2. ^ a b c d e Zaria Gorvett (2017). "The mystery of the lost Roman herb". BBC. Archived from the original on 2018-05-17. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
  3. JSTOR 29774642
    .
  4. ^ Evans, Arthur (1921). The Palace of Minos : a Comparative Account of the Successive Stages of the Early Cretan Civilization as Illustrated by the Discoveries at Knossos. Cornell University Library. Macmillan and Co. p. 284.
  5. ^ Hogan, C. Michael (2007). "Knossos fieldnotes". Modern Antiquarian. Archived from the original on 11 July 2018. Retrieved 13 Feb 2009.
  6. ^ a b c Pliny, XIX, Ch.15 Archived 2022-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ a b c Did the ancient Romans use a natural herb for birth control? Archived 2006-10-27 at the Wayback Machine, The Straight Dope, October 13, 2006
  8. ^ a b c Grescoe, Taras (23 September 2022). "This miracle plant was eaten into extinction 2,000 years ago—or was it?". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 25 September 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  9. ^
    doi:10.3406/jds.2004.1685
    .
  10. ^ Dalby 2000, p. 18.
  11. S2CID 144108503
    .
  12. S2CID 84007922
    .
  13. PMID 33418989
    .
  14. S2CID 90391176
    .
  15. ^ Grescoe, Taras (15 September 2023). "Eat the past to preserve the future". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  16. ^ "Off this tract is the island of Platea, which the Cyrenaeans colonized. Here too, upon the mainland, are Port Menelaus, and Aziris, where the Cyrenaeans once lived. The Silphium begins to grow in this region, extending from the island of Platea on the one side to the mouth of the Syrtis on the other." (Herodotus, iv.168–198 on-line text Archived 2013-04-09 at the Wayback Machine)
  17. ISSN 2673-611X
    .
  18. ^ Theophrastus, III.2.1, VI.3.3
  19. ^ Theophrastus, VI.3.5
  20. ^ Pliny, XXII, Ch. 49 Archived 2007-12-28 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ^ Hippocrates, Translated by Francis Adams. "On Fistulae, Section 9". Archived from the original on 2012-06-03. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
  22. ^
    ISBN 978-0-674-16876-3. Archived
    from the original on 2021-09-03. Retrieved 2021-09-03.
  23. ^ Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, Anthea Bell, tr. The History of Food, revised ed. 2009, p. 434.
  24. ^ Favorito, E. N.; Baty, K. (February 1995). "The Silphium Connection". Celator. 9 (2): 6–8.
  25. ^ Buttrey, T. V. (1992). "The Coins and the Cult". Expedition. 34 (1–2): 59–66. Archived from the original on 2021-09-03. Retrieved 2021-09-03.
  26. ^ Pausanias, 3.16.3 Archived 2021-02-25 at the Wayback Machine
  27. JSTOR 293237
    .
  28. S2CID 170172017
    .
  29. ^ "Si distinsero i soldati del 28° Reggimento Fanteria "Pavia" il cui scudo reca nel terzo quarto una pianta di silfio d'oro reciso e sormontata da una stella d'argento"." (Gaetano Arena, Inter eximia naturae dona: il silfio cirenaico fra ellenismo e tarda antichità, 2008:13
  30. ^ "Two for the Lions". Kirkus Reviews. 1999. Retrieved 19 March 2024. exploring the hills and towns along the African coast ... searching for the herb silphium, a gold mine if found

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

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