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Mummia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the prisoner, seeMumia Abu-Jamal.
Natural asphalt/bitumen from theDead Sea
Apothecary vessel of the 18th century with inscription MUMIA
Egyptian mummy seller (1875,Félix Bonfils)
Wooden apothecary vessel with inscription "MUMIÆ",Hamburg Museum

Mummia,mumia,or originallymummyreferred to several different preparations in thehistory of medicine,from "mineralpitch"to" powdered humanmummies".It originated fromArabicmūmiyā"a type of resinousbitumenfound inWestern Asiaand used curatively "intraditional Islamic medicine,which was translated aspissasphaltus(from "pitch" and "asphalt" ) inancient Greek medicine.Inmedieval European medicine,mūmiyā"bitumen" wastransliteratedinto Latin asmumiameaning both "a bituminous medicine from Persia" and "mummy". Merchants inapothecariesdispensed expensive mummia bitumen, which was thought to be an effectivecure-allfor many ailments. It was also used as anaphrodisiac.[1]

Beginning around the 12th century when supplies of imported natural bitumen ran short, mummia was misinterpreted as "mummy", and the word's meaning expanded to "a black resinousexudatescraped out from embalmed Egyptian mummies ". This began a period of lucrative trade between Egypt and Europe, and suppliers substituted rare mummia exudate with entire mummies, eitherembalmedordesiccated.After Egypt banned the shipment of mummia in the 16th century, unscrupulous European apothecaries began to sell fraudulent mummia prepared by embalming and desiccating fresh corpses.

During theRenaissance,scholars proved that translating bituminous mummia as mummy was a mistake, and physicians stopped prescribing the ineffective drug. Artists in the 17–19th centuries still used ground up mummies to tint a popular oil-paint calledmummy brown.

Terminology

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Theetymologiesof both Englishmummiaandmummyderive fromMedieval Latinmumia,which transcribesArabicmūmiyā"a kind of bitumen used medicinally; a bitumen-embalmed body" frommūm"wax (used in embalming)", which descend fromPersianmumiyaandmum.[2][3]

TheOxford English Dictionaryrecords the complex semantic history ofmummyandmummia.Mummywas first recorded meaning "a medicinal preparation of the substance of mummies; hence, an unctuous liquid or gum used medicinally" (c. 1400), whichShakespeareused jocularly for "dead flesh; body in which life is extinct" (1598), and later "a pulpy substance or mass" (1601). Second, it wassemantically extendedto mean "a sovereign remedy" (1598), "a medicinal bituminous drug obtained from Arabia and the East" (1601), "a kind of wax used in the transplanting and grafting of trees" (1721), and "a rich brown bituminous pigment" (1854). The thirdmummymeaning was "the body of a human being or animal embalmed (according to the ancient Egyptian or some analogous method) as a preparation for burial" (1615), and "a human or animal body desiccated by exposure to sun or air" (1727).Mummiawas originally used inmummy's first meaning "a medicinal preparation…" (1486), then in the second meaning "a sovereign remedy" (1741), and lastly to specify "in mineralogy, a sort of bitumen, or mineral pitch, which is soft and tough, like shoemaker's wax, when the weather is warm, but brittle, like pitch, in cold weather. It is found in Persia, where it is highly valued" (1841). In modern English usage,mummycommonly means "embalmed body" as distinguished frommummia"a medicine" in historical contexts.

Mummiaormumiais defined by three Englishmineralogicalterms.[4]Bitumen(from Latinbitūmen) originally meant "a kind of mineral pitch found in Palestine and Babylon, used as mortar, etc. The same as asphalt, mineral pitch, Jew's pitch,Bitumen judaicum",and in modern scientific use means" the generic name of certain mineral inflammable substances, native hydrocarbons more or less oxygenated, liquid, semi-solid, and solid, including naphtha, petroleum, asphalt, etc. "Asphalt(from Ancient Greekásphaltos"asphalt, bitumen” ) first meant "A bituminous substance, found in many parts of the world, a smooth, hard, brittle, black or brownish-black resinous mineral, consisting of a mixture of different hydrocarbons; called also mineral pitch, Jews' pitch, and in the [Old Testament] 'slime'", and presently means "A composition made by mixing bitumen, pitch, and sand, or manufactured from natural bituminous limestones, used to pave streets and walks, to line cisterns, etc.", used as an abbreviation forasphalt concrete.Until the 20th century, the Latinate termasphaltumwas also used.Pissasphalt(from Greekpissasphaltus"pitch" and "asphalt" ) names "A semi-liquid variety of bitumen, mentioned by ancient writers".

The medicinal use of bituminous mummia has a parallel inAyurveda:shilajitorsilajit(from Sanskritshilajatu"rock-conqueror" ) ormumijo(from Persianmūmiyā"wax" ) is "A name given to various solid or viscous substances found on rock in India and Nepal… esp. a usu. dark-brown odoriferous substance which is used in traditional Indian medicine and probably consists principally of dried animal urine"[citation needed].

History

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The usage of mumiya as medicine began with the famous Persianmumiyablack pissasphalt remedy for wounds and fractures, which was confused with similarly appearing black bituminous materials used in Egyptian mummification. This was misinterpreted by Medieval Latin translators to mean whole mummies. Starting in the 12th century and continuing until as far as the 19th century, mummies and bitumen from mummies would be central in European medicine and art, as well as Egyptian trade.[5]

Bitumen or asphalt had many uses in the ancient world such as glue, mortar, and waterproofing. Theancient Egyptiansbegan to use bitumen forembalmingmummies during theTwelfth Dynasty(1991–1802 BCE).[6][7]

According to historians of pharmacy, mummia became part of themateria medicaof the Arabs, discussed byMuhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi(845–925) andIbn al-Baitar(1197–1248).[8]Medieval Persian physicians used bitumen/asphalt both as a salve for cuts, bruises, and bone fractures, and as an internal medicine for stomach ulcers and tuberculosis. They achieved the best results with a black pissasphalt that seeped from a mountain inDarabgerd,Persia.[9]The Greek physicianPedanius Dioscorides' c. 50–70De Materia Medicaranked bitumen from theDead Seaas medicinally superior to the pissasphalt fromApollonia (Illyria),both of which were considered to be an equivalent substitute for the scarce and expensive Persianmumiya.[10]

During theCrusades,European soldiers learned firsthand of the drug mummia, which was considered to have great healing powers in cases of fracture and rupture.[11]The demand for mummia increased in Europe and since the supply of natural bitumen from Persia and the Dead Sea was limited, the search for a new source turned to the tombs of Egypt.

Misinterpreting the Latin wordmumia"medicinal bitumen" involved several steps. The first was to substitute substances exuded by Egyptian mummies for the natural product.[12]The Arab physicianSerapion the Younger(fl. 12th century) wrote about bituminous mumia and its many uses, but the Latin translation of Simon Geneunsis (d. 1303) said, "Mumia, this is the mumia of the sepulchers with aloes and myrrh mixed with the liquid (humiditate) of the human body".[13]Two 12th century Italian examples:Gerard of Cremona,mistakenly translated Arabicmumiyaas "the substance found in the land where bodies are buried with aloes by which the liquid of the dead, mixed with the aloes, is transformed and it is similar to marine pitch",[14]and the physicianMatthaeus Plateariussaid "Mumia is a spice found in the sepulchers of the dead.... That is best which is black, ill-smelling, shiny, and massive".[15]

The second step was to confuse and replace the rare black exudation from embalmed corpses with the black bitumen that Egyptians used as an embalming preservative. The Baghdad physicianAbd al-Latif al-Baghdadi(1162–1231) described ancient Egyptian mummies, "In the belly and skull of these corpses is also found in great abundance called mummy", added that although the word properly denoted bitumen or asphalt, "The mummy found in the hollows of the corpses in Egypt, differs but immaterially from the nature of mineral mummy; and where any difficulty arises in procuring the latter, may be substituted in its stead."[16]

The third step in misinterpretingmummiawas to substitute the blackened flesh of an entire mummy for the hardened bituminous materials from the interior cavities of the cadavers.[17]The ancient tombs of Egypt and the deserts could not meet the European demand for the drug mumia, so a commerce developed in the manufacture and sale of fraudulent mummies, sometimes calledmumia falsa.[18]The Italian surgeonGiovanni da Vigo(1450–1525) defined mumia as "The flesh of a dead body that is embalmed, and it is hot and dry in the second [grade], and therefore it has virtue to incarne [i.e., heal over] wounds and to staunch blood", and included it in his list of essential drugs.[19] The Swiss-German polymathParacelsus(1493–1541) gave mummia a new meaning of "intrinsic spirit" and said true pharmaceutical mummia must be "the body of a man who did not die a natural death but rather died an unnatural death with a healthy body and without sickness". The German physicianOswald Croll(1563–1609) said mumia was "not the liquid matter which is found in the Egyptian sepulchers," but rather "the flesh of a man that perishes a violent death, and kept for some time in the air", and gave a detailed recipe for making tincture of mumia from the corpse of a young red-haired man, who had been hanged, bludgeoned on thebreaking wheel,exposed to the air for days, then cut into small pieces, sprinkled with powdered myrrh and aloes, soaked in wine, and dried.[20]

Renaissancescholars and physicians first expressed opposition to using human mumia in the 16th century. The French naturalistPierre Belon(1517–1564) concluded that the Arab physicians, from whom the western writers derived their knowledge of mumia, had actually referred to the pissasphalt of Dioscorides, which had been misconstrued by the translators. He said Europeans were importing both the "falsely called" mumia obtained from the scraping the bodies of cadavers, and "artificial mumia" made by exposing buried dead bodies to the heat of the sun before grinding them up. While he considered the available mumia to be a valueless and even dangerous drug, he noted that KingFrancis Ialways carried with him a mixture of mumia and rhubarb to use as an immediate remedy for any injury.[21]Thebarber surgeonAmbroise Paré(d. 1590) revealed the manufacture of fake mummia both in France, where apothecaries would steal the bodies of executed criminals, dry them in an oven, and sell the flesh; and in Egypt, where a merchant, who admitted collecting dead bodies and preparing mummia, expressed surprise that the Christians, "so dainty-mouthed, could eat the bodies of the dead".[22]Paré admitted to having personally administered mumia a hundred times, but condemned "this wicked kinde of Drugge, doth nothing helpe the diseased," and so he stopped prescribing it and encouraged others not to use mumia.[23]The English herbalistJohn Gerard's 1597Herballdescribed the ancient Egyptians usingcedarpitch for embalming, and noted that the preserved bodies that shopkeepers falsely call "mumia" should be what the Greeks calledpissasphalton.Gerard blamed the error on the translator of Serapion who interpreted mumia "according to his own fancie" that it is the exudate from an embalmed human corpse.[24]

The medical use of Egyptian mumia continued through the 17th century. The physicistRobert Boyle(1627–1691) praised it as "one of the useful medicines commended and given by our physicians for falls and bruises, and in other cases too." The Dutch physicianSteven Blankaart's 1754Lexicon medicum renovatumlisted four types of mumia: Arabian exudate from bodies embalmed with spices and asphalt, Egyptian bodies embalmed with pissasphalt, sun-dried bodies found in the desert, the natural pissasphalt.[25]Mummia's familiarity as a remedy in Britain is demonstrated by passing references inShakespeare,Francis BeaumontandJohn Fletcher,andJohn Donne,and also by more detailed remarks in the writings ofThomas Browne,Francis Bacon,andRobert Boyle.[26]

By the 18th century, skepticism about the pharmaceutical value of mumia was increasing, and medical opinion was turning against its use. The English medical writerJohn Quincywrote in 1718 that although mumia was still listed in medicinal catalogues, "it is quite out of use in Prescription".[27]Mummia was offered for sale medicinally as late as 1924 in the price list ofMerck & Co.[28]

Both mummia and asphalt have long been used as pigments. The British chemist and painterArthur Herbert Churchdescribed the use of mummia for making "mummy brown" oil paint:

'Mummy,' as a pigment, is inferior to prepared, but superior to raw, asphalt, inasmuch as it has been submitted to a considerable degree of heat, and has thereby lost some of its volatile hydrocarbons. Moreover, it is usual to grind up the bones and other parts of the mummy together, so that the resulting powder has more solidity and is less fusible than the asphalt alone would be. A London colourman informs me that one Egyptian mummy furnishes sufficient material to satisfy the demands of his customers for twenty years. It is perhaps scarcely necessary to add that some samples of the pigment sold as 'mummy' are spurious.[29]

The modern pigment sold as "mummy brown" is composed of a mixture ofkaolin,quartz,goethiteandhematite.

See also

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References

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  1. ^Ana, Ruiz (2001).The Sprit of Ancient Egypt.Agora Publishing.ISBN9781892941497.
  2. ^Online Etymology Dictionary,mummy.
  3. ^The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language,mummy.
  4. ^All definitions are from theOED(2016).
  5. ^Karl H. Dannenfeldt (1985), "Egyptian Mumia: The Sixteenth Century Experience and Debate",The Sixteenth Century Journal16.2: 163.
  6. ^Abraham, Herbert (1938),Asphalts and Allied Substances: Their Occurrence, Modes of Production, Uses in the Arts, and Methods of Testing,D. Van Nostrand Co.
  7. ^S. G. F. Brandon, "Mummification." Man, Myth and Magic: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural.
  8. ^Needham, Joseph and Lu Gwei-djen (1974),Science and Civilization in China. Vol. 5., Part 2. Chemistry and Chemical Technology. Part II. Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Magisteries of Gold and Immortality,Cambridge University Press, 75.
  9. ^Pringle, Heather Anne (2001),The Mummy Congress: Science, Obsession, and the Everlasting Dead,Barnes & Noble, 196.
  10. ^Dannenfeldt (1985), 164.
  11. ^Pringle (2001), 196.
  12. ^Dannenfeldt, Karl H. (1959), "Egypt and Egyptian Antiquities in the Renaissance",Studies in the Renaissance6: 17.
  13. ^Dannenfeldt (1985), 165.
  14. ^Pringle (2001), 197.
  15. ^Dannenfeldt (1985), 164.
  16. ^Dannenfeldt (1985), 166.
  17. ^Dannenfeldt (1985), 167.
  18. ^R.J. Forbes (1958),Studies in Early Petroleum History,Leiden,Netherlands: E.J. Brill, pp. 166–167,retrieved10 June2010
  19. ^Dannenfeldt (1985), 170–171.
  20. ^Dannenfeldt (1985), 173–174.
  21. ^Dannenfeldt (1985), 174–175.
  22. ^Dannenfeldt (1959), 18–19.
  23. ^Dannenfeldt (1985), 176–177.
  24. ^Dannenfeldt (1985), 177.
  25. ^Dannenfeldt (1985), 178.
  26. ^Daly, Nicholas (1994), "That Obscure Object of Desire: Victorian Commodity Culture and Fictions of the Mummy",Novel: A Forum on Fiction28.1: 25.
  27. ^Dannenfeldt (1985), 178.
  28. ^"Powdered Mummies - Stories | EMD Group".
  29. ^Arthur H. Church (1901),The Chemistry of Paints and Painting,236.

Additional sources

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