silphium

of Cyrenaica (331-322 BCE) Silphium (also known as laserwort or laser; Ancient Greek: , ) is an unidentified plant that was used in classical antiquity as a seasoning, perfume, aphrodisiac, and medicine. It was an essential item of trade from the ancient North African city of Cyrene, and was so critical to the Cyrenian economy that most of their coins bore an image of the plant. The valuable product was the plant's resin, called in Latin laserpicium, lasarpicium, or laser (Laserpitium and Laser were used by botanists to name genera of aromatic plants, but the silphium plant is not believed to belong to these genera). The exact identity of silphium is unclear. It was claimed to have become extinct in Roman times, but is commonly believed to have been a relative of giant fennel in the genus Ferula. The extant plant Thapsia gummifera has been suggested as another possibility. Another conjecture is that it was simply a high-quality variety of asafoetida, a common seasoning in the Roman Empire, for the two were considered the same by many Romans, including the geographer Strabo. Silphium was considered highly valuable by all who held it. The plant was sung about by Roman poets and singers, who considered it equivalent to its weight in gold.…

of Cyrenaica (331-322 BCE) Silphium (also known as laserwort or laser; Ancient Greek: , ) is an unidentified plant that was used in classical antiquity as a seasoning, perfume, aphrodisiac, and medicine. It was an essential item of trade from the ancient North African city of Cyrene, and was so critical to the Cyrenian economy that most of their coins bore an image of the plant. The valuable product was the plant's resin, called in Latin laserpicium, lasarpicium, or laser (Laserpitium and Laser were used by botanists to name genera of aromatic plants, but the silphium plant is not believed to belong to these genera). The exact identity of silphium is unclear. It was claimed to have become extinct in Roman times, but is commonly believed to have been a relative of giant fennel in the genus Ferula. The extant plant Thapsia gummifera has been suggested as another possibility. Another conjecture is that it was simply a high-quality variety of asafoetida, a common seasoning in the Roman Empire, for the two were considered the same by many Romans, including the geographer Strabo. Silphium was considered highly valuable by all who held it. The plant was sung about by Roman poets and singers, who considered it equivalent to its weight in gold. Historically, Pliny the Elder blamed silphium's valuation on "tax-farmers", and Julius Caesar directly registered silphium as "1500 pounds of laser" in the Roman treasury.

Hieroglyphs and symbols for silphium

The Minoans probably used silphium as the visual reference for the hieroglyph psi ( ), meaning "plant". It resembles a central shoot flanked by two stalks. Minoan fetishes with this geometry are known as psi and phi type figurines, and are also designed for their letter-like shape. This glyph developed into the modern Greek psi (Ψ). Egyptian hieroglyphs for Libyan silphium have also been documented in archaeological publications as a balm ingredient that must be dehulled and which produces a sap or resin. In one record, it appears similar to the hieroglyph for branch (𓆱), written to be read from left to right. Some speculation exists about the connection between silphium and the traditional heart shape ( ♥ ). Silver coins from Cyrene of the 6th to 5th centuries BCE bear a similar design, sometimes accompanied by a silphium plant, and is understood to represent its seed or fruit. Some plants in the family Apiaceae, such as Heracleum sphondylium, have heart-shaped indehiscent mericarps (a type of fruit). , showing its heart-shaped mericarp Contemporary writings help tie silphium to sexuality and love. Silphium appears in Pausanias' Description of Greece in a story of the Dioscuri staying at a house belonging to Phormion, a Spartan: Silphium as laserpicium makes an appearance in a poem (Catullus 7) of Catullus to his lover Lesbia (though others have suggested that the reference here is, instead, to silphium's use as a treatment for mental illness, tying it to the "madness of love" ). Herodotus. The Histories. II:161, 181, III:131, IV:150–65, 200–05. Pausanias. Description of Greece 3.16.1–3 Pliny the Elder. Natural History. XIX:15 and XXII:100–06. Theophrastus. Enquiry into plants and minor works on odours and weather signs, with an English translation by Sir Arthur Hort, (1916). Volume 1 (Books I–V) and Volume 2 (Books VI–IX) Volume 2 includes the index, which lists silphium (Greek ) on page 476, column 2, 2nd entry.

Further reading

William Turner, A New Herball (published in 1551¹, 1562 and 1568) Ferula tingitana

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