7.14.2009

History of labdanum from Cistus Creticus. (Part 2)



The collection of genuine labdanum with the traditional way becomes only from the plant Cistus Creticus. Cistus Creticus exists in Eastern Medideranen.
The collection labdanum with the traditional wa
y depends:

1. from the plant (only from Cistus Creticus).
2. from the ground.
3. from the climate. The climate is altered with the years so that are altered also the regions from where it is collected labdanum.

I will present all regions where they were collected the laudanum as well as the historical reports.


Part 2: Gelead (Bibleplace).
http://www.bibleplaces.com/gileadupper.htm
Time: up to the genesis of Christ, they g
athered the laudanum with traditional way in the region of Gilead.

Is labdanum the Balsam of Gilead ????


Cistus creticus or Cistus incanus is identical with the Arabic ladan, whence the Latin and English names of the gum, Ladanum, obtained from the Cistus.



"They sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming up from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt." Genesis 37:25.

"And their father Israel said unto them, If [it must be] so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds:" Genesis 43:11

"Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?" Jeremiah 8:22

"Go up to Gilead and get balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt. But you multiply remedies in vain; there is no healing for you," Jeremiah 46
: 11.


"Ledanum, which the Arabs call ladanum, is procured in a yet stranger fashion. Found in a most inodorous place, it is the sweetest-scented of all substances. It is gathered from the beards of he-goats, where it is found sticking like gum, having come from the bushes on which they browse. It is used in many sorts of unguents, and is what the Arabs burn chiefly as incense." Herodotos - Thalia 112

This suggests that rock roses really might have provided the very "balm" which Jeremiah associated with Gilead.
The association of the balm as desired in Egypt as well as throughout Israel is a unifying factor in Jeremiah's metaphoric thinking. When the Daughter of My People was exiled in Babylon, she longed for the Balm of Gilead, and this longing was that of a people in exile for the things and places of their lost homeland. The association of the Balm of Gilead with exiles and lamentations begins early (the Ishmaelite balm traders took Joseph into exile in Egypt).

Gilead matches today to the northwestern part of the Kingdom of Jordan. David fled to Mahanaim in Gilead during the rebellion of Absalom (2 Samuel 17:27). Gilead is later mentioned as the homeplace of the prophet Elijah (I Kings 17:1).
In ancient times parts of Gilead were covered with forests. It is said that species of Cistus were widespread and more common throughout Gilead and used as a medicine, what could be the balm of Gilead.



Cistus incanus,Cistus creticus,Cistus villosus, Soft-Hairy Rockrose,


Most Cistus species have aromatic foliage but some species also exude a highly aromatic gum or resin, called ladanum or labdanum, a gold-colored essential oil with the penetrating odor of ambergris, which has been used in incenses since ancient times and it was also used for embalming and aphrodisiac purposes. Nowadays it is a valuable ingredient of perfumes and as incense in Eastern churches. Ladanum and other extracts from cistus also have a long history of use in folk medicine.


The gum is secreted from glandular hairs on the leaves and young stems, especially under hot sunshine. It was gathered by allowing goats to graze on and among the plants; the ladanum adhered to their beards, which were then cut off.

Tournefort (1656-1708), a French Botanist, has given a detailed description of the mode of obtaining ladanum. He relates that
it is now gathered by means of a Aasavronjpmv or kind of flail with which the plants are threshed. When these thongs are loaded with the fiagrant and sticky resin they are scraped with a knife. The substance is then roiled into a mass, in which state'it is called ladanum or labdanum.
It was known to the Greeks as early as the times of Herodotus (484 BCE-ca.425 BCE) and Theophrastus (370BCE - about 285 BCE).




According to H.B.Tristram (The Natural History of the Bible) "the Cistus has been supposed to be the "Rose of Sharon" of Cant.II.1, though it is scarcely characteristic of the plain, being rather the plant of the hills". And Tristram continues: "Mount Carmel especially abounds of the Cistus, which in April
covers some of the barer parts of the mountain with a glow not inferior to that of the Scottish heather".


Numerous pollen grains of the Cistus creticus were found on the Shroud's of Turin surface. Dr. Avinoam Danin, a botany professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, indicates that such pollen grains serve as "geographic and calendar indicators" demonstrating that the origin or provenance of the Shroud was definitely the Holy Land, and more specifically an area in and around Jerusalem.


"The Adoration of the Magi" El Creco Dominikos Theotokopulos
(He comes from area of labdanum).


Myrrh is mentioned in the Bible (Psalm 45:8; Song of Solomon 4:14) and is believed to have been a mixture of myrrh and the oleoresin labdanum. One of the three gifts the Magi brought to Jesus Christ (Matthew 2:11) was myrrh. Myrrh gum resin was also used as a stimulant tonic and is even used today as an antiseptic in mouthwashes as well as to treat sore gums and teeth.

http://www.flowersinisrael.com/Cistusincanus_page.htm
http://www.paghat.com/balmofgilead.html
http://www.tal-zion.org/balm.htm
http://www.odu.edu/~lmusselm/plant/bible/cistus.php

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