Myrrh in the Ancient World -- The MB of Ian Alex Blease

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Date Posted: 05:08:16 09/27/08 Sat
Author: Ian
Author Host/IP: cpc1-darl6-0-0-cust743.midd.cable.ntl.com / 82.1.142.232
Subject: Myrrh in the Ancient World
In reply to: Ian 's message, "Trolling through Net History" on 05:06:31 09/27/08 Sat

Circa 2003: Ian A Blease (c)

Myrrh (Commiphora myrrha) as mentioned many times over in the Bible was an important scent in ancient times

The odour of Myrrh is desribed as being warm-balsamic,sweet,spicy aromatic,and sharp and pungent when fresh.
Perfumers value it as an absolute oil or resinoid in oriental/spicy bases,chypres,woody bases,forest notes etc, and it blends well with geranium,musk,patchouli,spices and heavy floral bases.
As with frankincense, it occurs in the bark of trees,in small reservoirs which are scraped or tapped by incisions made with a knife to release the gum, which is then collected.
As well as in the Holy land , Myrrh was a highly prized incense in Ancient Egypt, Monumental texts in the Deir el Bahri temple of Queen Hatshepsut tell us that she sent her famous expedition to the land of Punt (Somalia)to obtain supplies of 'ntyw, usually translated as Myrrh and another incense called "sntr" , of the identity of this substance, we are not sure, it could posssibly be Frankincense. As well as quantities of the gum, Hatshepsut also brought back living trees for the the great temple of the God Amun. An argument has gone on over the identity of "'ntyw" as well, but it is now almost certain that it is Myrrh, depictions on the temple walls at Deir El Bahri show the gum as reddish-brown in colour, which is the colour of Myrrh resin.
Myrrh was a highly prized scent and is mentioned in numerous texts in the Bible and is used the love texts of the Song of Solomon, where it is associated with the scent of Love. The list of Biblical references for myrrh are as follows.

Genesis 37:25 43:11
Exodus 30:23
Esther 2:12
Psalm 45:8
Proverbs 7:17
Song of Solomon 1:13, 3:6, 4:6,14, 5:1,13
Matthew 2:11
Mark 15:23
John 19:39
The Myrrh of the Bible is likely to of come from the Dhofar region of South Yemen, Qana was the distribution centre for overland camel routes to the Mediteranean and North Persian gulf, production of Myrrh in Roman times was estimated to of been in the region of 450-600 tins per year, hence Myrrh was many times more costly than frankincense. Today, much cheaper Myrrh comes from India and Somalia, to the complaint of Arabian dealers.
Myrrh Trees do not grow more than 9ft in height, but are tough and very hardy with knotted branches and branchlets that stand out at right angles, ending in a sharp spine.The leaves are scanty, small and very unequal, it survives in a very hostile enviroment, the area around Ghizan on the Red Sea coast is so bare and barren that it is called "Tehama" meaning literally "Hell".
Several species of Commiphora are known today, it is probable that the biblical variety comes from C.Myrrha, the well known Biblical " Balm of Gilead" deriving from C.gileadensis, a rare and precious product, and as such, very expensive. I think it is encouraging that products that have been important for thousands of years since the dawn of civilisation, are still important to us today.
Go and buy some essential oil of myrrh and oil of frankincense, use them and enjoy the opulence of these uniqiue and perfect natural scents."

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