object

Frankincense

Objects · Colors & materials

A Boswellia resin of the southern Arabian and Horn trade. A priced aromatic, not a proof that every culture’s incense is the same gift.

Also known as olibanum

Arabia

  • Frankincense appears in Arabia.

    Frankincense is a southern Arabian and Horn resin of priced trade. Aromatic geography, not a proof that Islamic prayer is incense-magic.

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

    appears in · sourced · documented

  • Frankincense is used in Incense.

    Frankincense is a resin burned as incense. The technique is widespread; the priced gum is local to a trade.

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

    used in · sourced · documented

  • Frankincense is used in Offerings.

    Resin burned as a gift. Pliny prices aromatics; he is not writing temple law for every altar.

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

    used in · sourced · documented

  • Frankincense is used in Medicine.

    Dioscorides’ De Materia Medica lists frankincense (libanos/thus) among drugs: an astringent for ulcers and bloody wounds, mixed into medicines for the arteries and bowels, and taken as a drink for those who spit blood. A first-century pharmacological use of the resin, not Arabian incense-trade and not a temple offering.

    from Pedanius Dioscorides · De Materia Medica, 1st century CE

    used in · sourced · documented

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