object
Myrrh
A Commiphora resin of the same trade world as frankincense. Medicine, burial, and offering have used it; those uses are local.
Arabia
Myrrh appears in Arabia.
Myrrh belongs to the same resin trade as frankincense. Pliny lists aromatics; he is not writing a Qur’an commentary.
from Pliny the Elder · Natural History, c. 77 CE
appears in · sourced · documented
Myrrh is used in Incense.
Myrrh is burned and also used as a medicine and in burial. Those jobs should be kept distinct.
from Pliny the Elder · Natural History, c. 77 CE; Pedanius Dioscorides · De Materia Medica, 1st century CE
used in · sourced · documented
Myrrh is used in Medicine.
Dioscorides and Pliny list myrrh among drugs. A pharmacological resin, not automatically a burial spice in every culture.
from Pedanius Dioscorides · De Materia Medica, 1st century CE; Pliny the Elder · Natural History, c. 77 CE
used in · sourced · documented
Myrrh is associated with Death.
Burial uses of myrrh are attested in some Mediterranean and Near Eastern practices. They are local, not a universal “death resin.”
from Pliny the Elder · Natural History, c. 77 CE
associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific
sources
- Natural History · Pliny the Elder
Pliny, Naturalis Historia.
- De Materia Medica · Pedanius Dioscorides
Dioscorides, De Materia Medica.