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object

Bitumen

Objects · Colors & materials · Nature

A named natural pitch of mortar, waterproofing, and older pharmacy. Not sulfur, and not amber.

Also known as Asphaltum

  • Bitumen is used in Medicine.

    Pliny’s Natural History treats bitumen among sticky mineral pitches used in plasters and remedies. A Roman-era pharmacological use of asphalt, not tree pitch alone and not New World copal.

    from Pliny the Elder · Natural History, c. 77 CE

    used in · sourced · documented

  • Bitumen is historically related to Pitch.

    In Watson’s Biblical and Theological Dictionary, Dead Sea bitumen gathered after windy weather serves the Arabs as pitch for all uses, enters medicines, and was thought a great ingredient in Egyptian embalming bitumen.

    from Richard Watson · A Biblical and Theological Dictionary, 1831–32 (Gutenberg #53884)

    historically related to · sourced · documented

Roman religion

  • Bitumen appears in Roman religion.

    Pliny’s Natural History seats bitumen among natural pitches of mortar, waterproofing, and craft sealing beyond pharmacy alone. A named bitumen craft seat in that encyclopedia, not bitumen medicine already walked and not pitch/tar as neighboring tree-pitch materials already walked.

    from Pliny the Elder · Natural History, c. 77 CE

    appears in · sourced · documented

Mesopotamian tradition

  • Bitumen appears in Mesopotamian tradition.

    Herodotus’s Babylon logos names bitumen among the hot mortar that binds the city’s baked-brick walls and quays. A named bitumen pitch in that traveler’s speech, not amber as fossil resin and not a modern asphalt dump.

    from Herodotus · Histories, c. 440s BCE

    appears in · sourced · documented

  • Bitumen appears in Flood.

    The Epic of Gilgamesh’s flood tablet seats bitumen among the caulking of Utnapishtim’s boat. A named bitumen in that flood episode, not a second appears_in→mesopotamian beside the Herodotus seat already held and not pitch as the element-only neighbor.

    from Epic of Gilgamesh, c. 1200 BCE (this recension)

    appears in · sourced · documented

Nahua tradition

Egyptian religion

  • Bitumen appears in Egyptian religion.

    Plutarch’s On Isis and Osiris lists bitumen among the sixteen ingredients of Egyptian cyphi in the incense chapter. A named bitumen in that treatise’s Egypt, not Pliny roman pitch alone and not amber as a resin dump.

    from Plutarch · On Isis and Osiris, c. 100 CE

    appears in · sourced · culturally specific

  • Bitumen is used in Egyptian religion.

    Plutarch’s On Isis and Osiris places bitumen in cyphi, the compound burned and also used as potion and salve in Egyptian solar-incense practice. A named bitumen cult use in that treatise, not waterproofing craft alone and not myrrh as the midday single burn.

    from Plutarch · On Isis and Osiris, c. 100 CE

    used in · sourced · culturally specific

  • Bitumen is historically related to Myrrh.

    Plutarch’s On Isis and Osiris names bitumen and myrrh together among cyphi’s sixteen ingredients in Egyptian incense compounding. A named bitumen–myrrh recipe neighbor in that treatise, not identity of the two resins and not frankincense as sunrise resin.

    from Plutarch · On Isis and Osiris, c. 100 CE

    historically related to · sourced · culturally specific

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