Tree’s resin, called ’tsori’ in Biblical texts, was highly prized in ancient world for its used in perfume, incense, cataract medicine, embalming agents, and antidotes

Tree’s resin, called ’tsori’ in Biblical texts, was highly prized in ancient world for its used in perfume, incense, cataract medicine, embalming agents, and antidotes

The resin of a tree grown from an ancient seed found in a desert cave near Jerusalem could be the source of a medicinal balm mentioned in the Bible, a new study has found.

The strange seed, about 2cm long, was discovered in a Judean Desert cave in the late 1980s, and dated to between 993AD and 1202AD. After years of attempting to grow the plant, researchers have identified the sapling nicknamed “Sheba”.

…

Researchers suspected the “Sheba” tree to be a candidate for the “Judean Balsam” or “Balm of Judea”, which was cultivated exclusively in the desert region of southern Levant during Biblical times.

The Judean Balsam has been extensively described in the literature from Hellenistic, Roman-Byzantine and Post-Classical periods between the 4th century BC and the 8th century AD.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
    681·
    2 months ago

    used in perfume, incense, cataract medicine

    “I hear you’re having trouble seeing. Put this perfume in your eye.”

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
      23·
      2 months ago

      Well. It can’t all be snake oil.

      I mean people get suspicious of snake oil literally cures… like… everything…

      • Hegar@fedia.io
        341·
        2 months ago

        The funny thing is that actual chinese snake oil was incredibly effective at alleviating things like joint pain or some skin conditions. It has higher concentrations of omega 3s than fish oil and has even been shown to help mice learn mazes faster.

        That’s why grifters selling fake medicine all claimed it was snake oil - people already wanted snake oil because they knew it worked.

        • lefaucet@slrpnk.netEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          Wonder if anyone’s given effort to synthesize it. Name like snake oil would fly off shelves like liquid death and emergen-c combined

      • Dr. Bob@lemmy.caEnglish
        12·
        2 months ago

        Eyes aspirin suspiciously…pain reduction, anti-inflammatory, blood thinner, fever reduction. All-in-one package?

        • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
          15·
          2 months ago

          Basically all medication has side effects.

          Aspirin works by blocking production of cyclooxygenase, which, causes platelets not to produce thromboxane A2, effectively permanently rendering affected platelets useless.

          COX also reduces productions of prostaglandins which mediates pain- basically, causing your nerves to pay attention to pain signals. (I’m sure some one who’s actually a doctor or nurse is swearing at me by now…) and also triggers more inflammation.

          COX also increases production of PGE2 (another prostaglandin,) which is what triggers the fever response.

          This is how most NSAIDs work, though they each have other side effects, that are different from the others.

          • BalooWasWahoo@links.hackliberty.orgEnglish
            9·
            2 months ago

            doctor or nurse is swearing at me by now

            The people who interact with patients think you’re great. Give people some info and make it easy to understand. It’s the Ph.D. fella who did his thesis on cellular signaling focusing on nociceptor differences in distal/medial loci.

            >.>

            <.<

        • Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          2 months ago

          To add even more nonsense, you can get it naturally from the soft Underbark of willow trees.Literally eating this bark makes pain go away.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
        151·
        2 months ago

        That’s how I feel every time someone touts “traditional Chinese medicine.” Sure, ancient peoples knew about certain cures… they also didn’t understand basic concepts like viruses.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
            71·
            2 months ago

            Exactly. My dad had and I have a painful nerve condition called trigeminal neuralgia. My dad was desperate to try anything, so he tried acupuncture. I asked him if it helped with the pain and he told me, “no, but the acupuncturist said it did.” And then I asked him what it felt like, and he said, “it felt like someone stuck a lot of needles in my face.”

            • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.netEnglish
              31·
              2 months ago

              Jumping in to ask if you’ve tried carbomazapine (sp?) for the TN? My mom suffered for nearly 2 years with face shocks, sometimes dozens of times per day. That med is the only thing that helped, and we never had a doctor suggest it. I did my own research by looking up medical journals on my school’s library and then asked the doc to prescribe it for her. Almost instant relief

            • Drusas@fedia.io
              1·
              2 months ago

              My dad has lingering (in fact, worsened now that he’s getting older) pain and contortions and his foot that was nearly severed when he was a teenager. He’s very much not into alternative medicine and that sort of thing, but he finally decided to try acupuncture about two years ago. He says it helped. Only thing that has helped.

              I’m still skeptical, but I’m a little bit less skeptical because he’s the sort to be skeptical of it as well.

              • Longpork3@lemmy.nzEnglish
                2·
                2 months ago

                My laymans assumption is that acupuncture likely has a counterirritant effect, which can make pain seem less pronounced.

                Sort of like how punching yourself in the side of the head can provide relief for a migraine.

                • Drusas@fedia.io
                  1·
                  2 months ago

                  I wonder if that might be the case. My dad said that it wasn’t painful, so I’m not sure. The needles are apparently very thin.

                  I would expect, just like with pharmaceutical medicine, there is a placebo effect for some people and so it gets really complicated trying to determine how effective something like acupuncture is.

          • Billiam@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            2 months ago

            For people who hate the greed of the pharma industry, it’s really amazing to see just how little logic it takes to destroy their arguments:

            You know how we know ground-up rhino horn doesn’t cure your dick problems? Because Pfizer or GlaxoSmithKline or Bayer aren’t spending billions on rhino sanctuaries.

      • The Assman@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        31·
        2 months ago

        Many pharmaceuticals origate as natural remedies. You think they just came up with synthetic drugs out of thin air?

      • psmgx@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7·
        2 months ago

        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.[

        Hell yeah laserwort

          • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
            2·
            2 months ago

            It’s alright, someone else already did. I’m skeptical, it sounds like there’s genetic evidence it’s of Central Asian origin.

        • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          Ah, okay. That is a striking looking vine, but nothing is mentioned about it being tasty, and it’s genetically related to other Central Asian plants, according to a study cited on Wikipedia.