Annual Meetings
J. Worth Estes 2009 Prize
The 2009 J. Worth Estes prize will receive a print from a rare facsimile edition of the 6th Century Vienna Dioscorides (original in the Austrian National Library in Vienna)
PANAX HERAKLIOS (Fennel Giant)
The painter of the horn-poppy (last year’s print) may also be responsible for the tall Ferula opopanax, the Mediterranean umbelliferous plant which ornamentally fills the whole page. Over 60 species of ferula are still spread throughout the countries surrounding the Mediterranean and in Asia. Particularly the Persian “Ferula galbaniflua” found application through galbanum, frequently used in medication for sores and catarrh. The Greek name “panax” means “universal remedy” (cf. panacea) and the secondary name “heraklios” sill refers to the botanical relationship with the bear’s breech plant: heracleum. Today’s designation “opopanax” points to the “milky juice” of the root, which was often used pharmaceutically in dried form as a yellow granular substance. Zedler’s encyclopedia, the Universal-lexikon of 1735 still enumerates a long list of illnesses which can be cured with the help of “opopanax”: abdominal pains, stroke, cramps, and epilepsy; it should work as an expectorant in cases of catarrh in the upper respiratory tract; with a mouthful of wine, it supposedly purged the body of ingested poison. The external application on sores, boils, fistulas, hip gout and podagra is mentioned by Zedler. “It is used in apothecaries’ shops in the making of wound-plasters and many other remedies, along with theriaca.”*
In antiquity, the ferula plant played an important role also under the name “narthex.” The dense white pith of the stalk which burns easily and glows for a long period was used for igniting and maintaining fires. Thus the legend arose that Prometheus hid the fire pilfered from Zeus in a ferula stalk. The meaning of the stalk was transferred to other divine attributes. The vine and ivy wound thyrsus rod of Dionysus and his followers was a ferula rod graced at the top with a pine-cone as fertility symbol. Already the Chinese had used the plant from aphrodisiacal and medicinal use. In this context, the peculiar recipe of the alchemist Thurneysser (1531-1596) can be explained, who recommended the incense of the ferula herb burned “during the waxing moon” as a remedy for impotence induced by black magic.
Not only was the plant a planaceum – the leaves placed in salt water were a favorite snack. Hollowed-out ferula sticks were used in antiquity also for the preservation of manuscripts.
*Note on theriaca: Theriaca was the famous antidote of the King of Persia, Mithridates, whom Crateuas served. It is supposed to have had, besides opium, seventy other ingredients, which however diminished in the course of time – in the pharmacopoeias of the 19th century there are only about ten. The original recipe of theriaca is supposed to have been chiseled on the threshold of the Asklepios temple in Epidauros. Later the Arabs in particular showed great admiration for the wonder drug, whereby it found widespread use in the rest of Europe with the Arab conquest. In medieval Venice, it was publicly prepared with trumpet calls and drum rolls. A typical theriaca preparation is shown by Hieronymus Brunschwig in a woodcut to antidote recipes in the “Cirurgia” of 1457.