βδέλλιον

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Gr. βδέλλιον,

Lat. bdellium,

Bdellium /ˈdɛliəm/ (Hebrew bedolach), also bdellion, is a semi-transparent oleo-gum resin extracted from Commiphora wightii and from Commiphora africana trees growing in Ethiopia, Eritrea and sub-saharan Africa.

The aromatic gum obtained from Balsamodendrum africanum.

Commiphora mukul, Burseraceae: ἄκανθα ᾿Ινδική. Theophr. HP IX, 1-2.

GENERAL DEFINITION

Bdellium consists of a water-soluble gum, a resin and an essential oil. The essential oil of Commiphora africana contains predominantly α-thujene.

Bdellium consists of a water-soluble gum, a resin and an essentia α-thujene. Bdellium is used in perfumery, as incense and in Bdellium is used in perfumery, as incense and in traditional medicine.

Bdellium in appearance resembled an impure for of myrrh. It was pungent in taste, in fragrance mildly aromatic, and with a smell of balsamic resin. The gum was extracted by tapping the bark during the cold season.

A. LANGUAGE BETWEEN TEXT AND CONTEXT

1-2. Etymology–General Linguistic Section.

Dsc. I 67: <βδέλλιον> – οἱ δὲ μάλδακον, οἱ δὲ βλόχον καλοῦσι –  
δάκρυόν ἐστι δένδρου Ἀραβικοῦ.

The fruit of the doum palm has been used in folk medicine to treat hypertension. In a trial, a group of patients with raised blood pressure were all given an antihypertensive drug but in half the individuals, this was supplemented with doum fruit extract. It was found that those receiving the supplement had lower systolic and diastolic pressures and lower total cholesterol, and the blood lipids and lipoproteins were changed in a such a way as to decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease.

B. TESTIMONIA - A selection of representative sources

Galenus, Ad Glauconem de medendi methodo libri ii (XIX p. 106): οὐ γὰρἂν ἄλλως ἔτι διαμένοι λιπαρός· ὥσπερ οὐδὲ τὸ βδέλλιον οὐδὲ τὸ ἀμμωνιακὸν οὐδὲ ἡ χαλβάνη.

Galenus Med., De simplicium medicamentorum temperamentis ac facultatibus libri xi (XI p. 728, l. 8 Kühn): οἷον βδέλλιον καὶ στύραξ καὶ χαλβάνη καὶ ἀμμωνιακὸν θυμίαμα καὶ μυελὸς ἐλάφειός τε καὶ μόσχειος, καὶ
στέαρ αἴγειόν τε καὶ ταύρειον, ὅσα τ' ἄλλα τοιαῦτα.

Galenus, De simplicium medicamentorum temperamentis ac facultatibus libri xi (XI, p. 849, line 18 Kühn): Περὶ βδελλίου. Βδέλλιον τὸ μὲν Σκυθικὸν ὀνομαζόμενον, ὃ δὴ καὶ μελάντερόν ἐστιν καὶ ῥητινωδέστερον, μαλακτικῆς ἐστιν ἱκανῶς καὶ δραστηρίου δυνάμεως.

Pliny, in his Natural History (XII, 32: in qua bdellium laudatissimum), describes the best bdellium coming from Bactria (identified as Commiphora wightii) as a "tree black in colour, and the size of the olive tree.

ἄκανθα ᾿Ινδική. Theophr. HP IX, 1-2.

C. COMMENTARY

The fruit of the doum palm has been used in folk medicine to treat hypertension. In a trial, a group of patients with raised blood pressure were all given an antihypertensive drug but in half the individuals, this was supplemented with doum fruit extract. It was found that those receiving the supplement had lower systolic and diastolic pressures and lower total cholesterol, and the blood lipids and lipoproteins were changed in a such a way as to decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Bdellium was an ingredient in the prescriptions of ancient physicians from Galen to Paul of Aegina, and in the Greater Kuphi.
Isidore of Seville reports in his Etymologiae (XVII.viii.6) that bdellium comes from trees in India and Arabia, the Arabian variety being better as it is smooth, whitish and smells good; the Indian variety is a dirty black.

Doum palm was considered sacred by the Ancient Egyptians, and the seed was found in many pharaoh's tombs.

The bdellium referred to by Dioscorides as "the bdellium imported from Petra" (De Materia Medica, I, 80).

D. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jehuda Feliks (2007), "Bdellium", Encyclopaedia Judaica 3 (2nd ed.), Thomson Gale, p. 234.

J. Innes Miller, Spice Trade, p. 69-71.

E. CPGM reference(s)

La ricetta dell'Anon. Londinese. Suppl. Arist. III, 1, p. 76 Diels. Galenos 4 (2010), 1-45.

AUTHOR

Isabella Andorlini

βδέλλιον
Accepted term: 29-Oct-2015