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Bdellium (dĕl'ē-əm) (Hebrew bedolach) is an aromatic gum like myrrh that is exuded from a tree. A medieval Arab writer first made the identification with gum guggul, the species Commiphora wightii,^[1] although "bdellium" has also been used to identify the African species C. africana and at least one other Indian species, C. stocksiana.^[2] Bdellium was an adulterant of the more costly myrrh (Commiphora myrrha); guggul is still used as a binder in perfumes.

Coriander seeds

The word bedolach occurs only twice in the Hebrew Bible. The first is in Genesis 2:12, where it is described as a product of the land of Havilah; the context has led some readers to link bedolach with pearls or other precious stones.^[3] Bdellium is mentioned once again, as something familiar, in Numbers 11:7, where manna is compared to it in color:

"Now the manna was like zera gad [coriander seed], and its appearance as the appearance of bedolach."

Bdellium appears in a number of ancient sources. In Akkadian, it was known as budulhu,^[4] in Sanskrit gulgulu.^[5] Theophrastus is perhaps the first classical author to mention it, if the report that came back from his informant in Alexander's expedition refers to Commiphora wightii: "In the region called Aria there is a thorn tree which produces a tear of resin, resembling myrrh in appearance and odour. It liquifies when the sun shines upon it."^[6] Plautus in his play Curculio refers to it. Pliny the Elder describes the best bdellium coming from Bactria as a "tree black in colour, and the size of the olive tree; its leaf resembles that of the oak and its fruit the wild fig", but his descriptions^[7] seem to cover a range of strongly perfumed resins. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, of the second century CE, reports that bdella is exported from the port of Barbarice at the mouth of the Indus.^[8] In China, bdellium, known as an hsi hsiang or "Parthian aromatic", was among the varieties of incense that reached China either along the Silk Route from Central Asia, or by sea. Later an hsi hsiang was applied to an East Indian substitute, gum benzoin from Sumatra.^[9]

Bdellum was an ingredient in the prescriptions of ancient physicians from Galen to Paul of Aegina, and in the Greater Kuphi.^[10]

[edit] Etymology

Middle English, from Latin, from Greek bdellion, variant of bdolkhon, of Semitic origin; akin to Akkadian budulhu.

[edit] Notes

^ Andrew Dalby, Dangerous Tastes: The Story of Spices, 2000, "Gum guggul" p. 109f.
^ J. Innes Miller, The Spice Trade of the Roman Empire (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969), pp. 69ff. Miller refers to this species by its synonym, C. mukul.
^ The Idra Rabba (128b) describes the appearance of the dew descending from the Head of Arich Anpin as being "white like the color of the bedolach stone, in which all colors are seen". the Kabbalistic 138 Openings of Wisdom: Opening 89
^ Miller, Spice Trade, p. 69.
^ Dalby 2000, ibid..
^ Noted by Dalby 2002, ibid.
^ "Next to Ariane is Bactriane, which produces the most esteemed kind of bdellium. The tree is of a black colour and of the size of an olive-tree. Its leaf resembles that of the oak, and its fruit that of the wild fig-tree. Bdellium itself is of the nature of a gum. Some call it brochon, others malacha, others again maldacon, but when it is black and rolled into a little ball it is known as hadrabolon. This substance ought to be transparent like wax, odoriferous, unctuous when crumbled, and bitter to the taste but without being at all acid. When used in sacred rites it is steeped in wine to increase its fragrance. It grows in Arabia and India as well as in Media and Babylon. Some persons call the bdellium which is brought to us by way of Media, peratic. It is more brittle than the other kinds, harder in the crust, and more bitter to the taste; the Indian kind is, on the other hand, moister and gummy, and is adulterated by means of the almond nut. The various other kinds are corrupted with the bark of scordastum, the tree of this name producing a gum which resembles bdellium. The adulterations of perfumes, let it be said once for all, are detected by their smell, by their colour, weight, taste, and by the action of fire. The Bactrian bdellium is dry and shining, and has numerous white spots, like finger-nails in shape. Besides, it should be of a certain weight than which it ought to be neither heavier nor lighter. The price of bdellium when quite pure is three denarii per pound." (Natural History 12.19).
^ Dalby 2000.
^ Joseph Needham et al., Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 5 (Cambridge University Press) 1974, §33.Alchemy and Chemistry, p. 142f and note g.
^ Miller, Spice Trade, p. 71.

[edit] Further reading

Dalby, Andrew (2003), written at London/New York, Food in the ancient world from A to Z, Routledge, ISBN 0415232597, pp. 226-227.

[edit] External links

Alchemy-works: Bdellium
Bdellium

[0] Andrew Dalby, Dangerous Tastes: The Story of Spices, 2000, "Gum guggul" p. 109f.

[1] J. Innes Miller, The Spice Trade of the Roman Empire (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969), pp. 69ff. Miller refers to this species by its synonym, C. mukul.

[2] The Idra Rabba (128b) describes the appearance of the dew descending from the Head of Arich Anpin as being "white like the color of the bedolach stone, in which all colors are seen". the Kabbalistic 138 Openings of Wisdom: Opening 89

[3] Miller, Spice Trade, p. 69.

[4] Dalby 2000, ibid..

[5] Noted by Dalby 2002, ibid.

[6] "Next to Ariane is Bactriane, which produces the most esteemed kind of bdellium. The tree is of a black colour and of the size of an olive-tree. Its leaf resembles that of the oak, and its fruit that of the wild fig-tree. Bdellium itself is of the nature of a gum. Some call it brochon, others malacha, others again maldacon, but when it is black and rolled into a little ball it is known as hadrabolon. This substance ought to be transparent like wax, odoriferous, unctuous when crumbled, and bitter to the taste but without being at all acid. When used in sacred rites it is steeped in wine to increase its fragrance. It grows in Arabia and India as well as in Media and Babylon. Some persons call the bdellium which is brought to us by way of Media, peratic. It is more brittle than the other kinds, harder in the crust, and more bitter to the taste; the Indian kind is, on the other hand, moister and gummy, and is adulterated by means of the almond nut. The various other kinds are corrupted with the bark of scordastum, the tree of this name producing a gum which resembles bdellium. The adulterations of perfumes, let it be said once for all, are detected by their smell, by their colour, weight, taste, and by the action of fire. The Bactrian bdellium is dry and shining, and has numerous white spots, like finger-nails in shape. Besides, it should be of a certain weight than which it ought to be neither heavier nor lighter. The price of bdellium when quite pure is three denarii per pound." (Natural History 12.19).

[7] Dalby 2000.

[8] Joseph Needham et al., Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 5 (Cambridge University Press) 1974, §33.Alchemy and Chemistry, p. 142f and note g.

[9] Miller, Spice Trade, p. 71.

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Contents

[edit] Etymology

[edit] Notes

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links