Tumgik
#silphion
briery · 4 months
Photo
Tumblr media
A closer look reveals the delicate fronds of Ferula drudeana propagated at Istanbul’s Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanical Garden. The Ferula genus of flowering plants includes carrots, fennel, and parsley.
25 notes · View notes
ancientorigins · 2 years
Text
A Turkish professor has announced that he has identified silphion, an ancient aphrodisiac and ‘cure-all’ plant thought to have gone extinct almost 2000 years ago.
144 notes · View notes
justinempire · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
An illustration depicting silphium’s (also known as silphion) heart-shaped seed pods.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/silphium
♥ The Ancient Origin of the Heart-Shaped Valentine ♥
This very rare coin is a silver hemidrachm struck in Cyrene (modern Libya) around 500 to 480 BC. Both sides of the coin show the now extinct* heart-shaped silphium fruit. The silphium plant, a large relative of the fennel plant, was abundant and a lucrative cash crop in ancient Cyrene, which is why it appears as the symbol of the city on its coinage.
Since it allegedly went extinct, silphium is a bit mysterious to us. We do know that it was greatly prized for its medicinal and culinary properties. It was  used as an herbal birth control method, thus forever associating the shape of its fruit with passionate love and thus, matters of the heart. Ancient writings also help tie silphium to sexuality and love. One such reference appears in Pausanias’ Description of Greece in a story of the Dioscuri staying at a house belonging to Phormion, a Spartan: “For it so happened that his maiden daughter was living in it. By the next day this maiden and all her girlish apparel had disappeared, and in the room were found images of the Dioscuri, a table, and silphium upon it.”
Pliny reported in his Natural History that the last known stalk of silphium found in Cyrene was given to the Emperor Nero “as a curiosity,” because it was nearly extinct by then.
*There is some debate about whether or not this plant is really extinct. You can read about that on the Silphium Wikipedia page.
https://archaicwonder.tumblr.com/post/110934369471/the-ancient-origin-of-the-heart-shaped-valentine
2 notes · View notes
weebitmuddled · 1 year
Text
none of the articles I’ve seen on Silphion/Silphium has mentioned its use as an abortifacent, which is probably wise from a conservation standpoint, but also sad because it played a huge part in the ancient’s lives and family planning.
5 notes · View notes
thejaymo · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
This miracle plant was eaten into extinction 2,000 years ago—or was it?
Silphion cured diseases and made food tasty, but Emperor Nero allegedly consumed the last stalk. Now, a Turkish researcher thinks he’s found a botanical survivor.
The whole thing is amazing
6 notes · View notes
vergess · 2 years
Note
BRO I CANT REBLOG THE BIRTH CONTROL PLANT POST
I MUST ADD THIS INFORMATION TO ONE OF MY SIDE BLOGS ASAP
I adore this plant
I am so excited it’s still around
Yeah, I turned off reblogs because it is a brand new discovery still under review, and I didn't want to contribute to any misinfo if the discovery is incorrect.
However, there's a much more robust post on the same subject available here, and it's rebloggable! Enjoy!
3 notes · View notes
finitevariety · 2 years
Text
silphion to emperor nero
Tumblr media
(ish) 
Tumblr media
2 notes · View notes
sunnixsunshine · 6 days
Text
Tumblr media
His name is Stupid and he’s very dumb
4 notes · View notes
xtruss · 3 months
Text
Miracle Plant Used in Ancient Greece Rediscovered After 2,000 Years
— By Giovanni Prete | January 3, 2024
Tumblr media
Ancient Greek Plant Silphium. Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Eckard Wolff-Postler cc By 3.0
The “miracle” plant Silphium consumed by Ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians, which was thought to have become extinct two thousand years ago, has recently been rediscovered in Turkey by a professor, who thinks he’s found a botanical survivor.
The plant, which the Ancient Greeks called silphion (Silphium), was a golden-flowered plant. It was once the most sought-after product in the Mediterranean even before the rise of Athens and the Roman Empire.
It is believed that the plant with yellow flowers attached to a thick stalk was crushed, roasted, sauteed, and boiled for medicinal purposes, food, and even contraception. During the reign of Julius Caesar, more than a thousand pounds of the plant were stockpiled alongside gold in Rome’s imperial treasures, and silphion saplings were valued at the same price as silver.
However, just seven centuries after the adored plant was first documented growing along the coast of Cyrenaica in what is now modern day Libya, silphion disappeared from the ancient Mediterranean world.
Roman chronicler Pliny the Elder in his Natural History claims that “just one stalk has been found” of the plant in the first century A.D., “and it has been given to Emperor Nero.” This was the last documented account of the silphion.
Inspired by ancient accounts, botanical explorers throughout the Middle Ages perpetually sought the plant across three continents although in vain. Consequently, historians believed the disappearance of silphion to be the first recorded extinction of any species, plant, or animal.
Despite the plant having been perceived to be extinct for centuries and having completely disappeared from the history books, a researcher at Istanbul University, Mahmut Miski, suspects he has re-discovered the ancient plant. He believes the Ferula Drudeana that grows on Mount Hasan is the elusive ancient plant—nearly a thousand miles from where it once grew.
According to a report by National Geographic, the researcher found it has similarities with the silphion plant which line up with old botanical texts and images of the plant on Ancient Greek coins.
Tumblr media
Ancient Silver Coin From Cyrene Depicting Silphium. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The researcher has noticed that both plants have the same thick branching root and yellow flowers. In addition, both have powerful medicinal purposes. Ferula Drudeana has anticancer compounds and anti-inflammatory properties much like those known to be found in silphium.
Even though Ferula Drudeana is found hundreds of miles from where it originated, according to Miski, it has been found in two locations in Turkey, which were once home to Ancient Greeks thousands of years ago. One of these locations is Cappadocia.
Analysis Shows Similar Medicinal Compounds As The Ancient Plant
Miski, who specializes in pharmacognosy, the study of medicines derived from natural sources, first encountered the modern plant he now believes to be silphion while conducting postdoctoral research. He had received a grant to collect specimens of Ferula, which is in the same family as carrots, fennel, and parsley, and has the reputation for yielding many novel disease-fighting compounds.
While Miski was studying the plants on Mount Hassan, he determined it had thirty secondary metabolites that have medical purposes. Among the compounds are many have cancer-fighting, contraceptive, and anti-inflammatory properties. Miski believes that future analyses of the plant will reveal the existence of dozens of yet-to-be-identified compounds of medical interest.
On Mount Hassan, Miski also encountered caretakers of the plants who informed him sheep and goats are fond of the leaves, as is mentioned in Pliny’s record of the ancient silphion.
According to Pliny’s records, sheep and goats would graze in pastures where silphion grew. The sheep would fall asleep after consuming it, and it caused goats to sneeze. His text reads: “The juice of this plant is called ‘laser’ and it is greatly in vogue for medicinal as well as other purposes, being sold at the same rate as silver. For these many years past, however, it has not been found in Cyrenaica.”
According to a 2021 study published in the journal Plants by Miski and his team, Ferula drudeana had similarities with the silphion as described in ancient text and depicted on Cyrenaican coins: from thick branching roots to celery-like leaves.
Tumblr media
A Coin of Magas of Cyrene c. 300–282/75 BC. The Reverse Side Depicts Silphium. Credit: Wikimedia CommonE
However, similarity in appearance wasn’t the only compelling link. It is said that the first silphion appeared after a “heavy spring downpour,” which, in those days, was called “black rain.”
According to Miski and his team, “We find it stated by the most trustworthy among the Greek writers…that this plant made its appearance near the gardens of the Hesperides and the Greater Syrtis immediately after the earth had been soaked on…by a shower as black as pitch.” This event took place seven years prior to the foundation of the city of Cyrenae.
Miski observed that when rains came to Cappadocia in April, Ferula Drudeana would spring from the ground, growing up to six feet in just a month.
Moreover, as ancient silphion resisted cultivation, it had to be harvested in the wild. It is said that Cyrenaic nobles entrusted its cultivation to desert nomads. Two attempts reported by Hippocrates to transplant it to mainland Greece failed. Similarly, Miski found that Ferula Drudeana is difficult to transplant. He found that the only way it could be done was by using cold stratification, a process of subjecting seeds to both cold and moist conditions. By utilizing this technique, Miski and his team were able to grow Ferula in a greenhouse.
One of the main reasons Ferula had not immediately been identified as silphion is mainly because of its location. However, as Miski had discovered, the region in Turkey where Mount Hasan sits was home to ancient Greeks thousands of years ago, and these people could have easily transported the plant.
Erica Rowan, an associate professor in archaeobotany at Royal Holloway University of London, finds Miski’s speculations plausible. “The ancients were very good at transporting things,” Rowan points out. “There’s no reason why people from Cyrenaica couldn’t have brought the seeds to Cappadocia and planted them. They’re similar enough with a Mediterranean climate. And this Ferula species does look like what’s shown on the coins.”
3 notes · View notes
catilinas · 2 years
Text
silphium rediscovery Real??????
306 notes · View notes
briery · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media
Noted food historian Sally Grainger prepares an ancient Roman dish using Ferula drudeana during an experiment at Istanbul’s Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanical Garden. “Silphion is a fascinating plant, and I can understand why the Romans craved it,” she says.
50 notes · View notes
andronetalks · 7 months
Text
Miracle Plant Used in Ancient Greece Rediscovered After 2,000 Years
Greek Reporter By Giovanni Prete August 13, 2023 The “miracle” plant Silphium consumed by Ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians, which was thought to have become extinct two thousand years ago, has recently been rediscovered in Turkey by a professor, who thinks he’s found a botanical survivor. The plant, which the Ancient Greeks called silphion (silphium), was a golden-flowered plant. It was once…
Tumblr media
View On WordPress
7 notes · View notes
wilfofficial · 1 year
Text
Honestly this news has made my week. My month even. The sun is shining and the garden is blooming. I might yet taste Silphion 💖
19 notes · View notes
zoethebitch · 2 years
Text
nooooo someone posted an article about silphion being rediscovered in Turkey and I tried to read the article and it was pay walled so I found an archive of it on archive.today and read it and then went back to tumblr to reblog the post and my dash refreshed
12 notes · View notes
vizthedatum · 9 months
Text
How many kisses would it take? An earnest plea. Feed me silphium, and make love to me.
Something better than hing?
I would not have thought of it lest for the use of asafoetida in everything.
Did it have to smell so bad but make everything taste so good?
I guess that is how it is with food.
But what’s this? Something else that could be better?
Ancient and possibly extinct, but somehow cooler.
Silphion, silphium, laserwort - its mericarps that gave rise to the expression of love.
After all, contraception is something that man cannot be sick of.
Did it disappear due to human greed?
Or was it deemed too dangerous when control and power lie in the breed?
Or perhaps it was the incompetence of harvesting
Or early climate change that led to its ultimate cutting.
But please, someone worthy take me to Turkey forthwith
And acquire some Ferula drudeana fairly and justly with grit.
How many kisses would it take? An earnest plea.
Feed me food with silphium, and make love to me.
- Rose the artist formerly known as she her Pri
2 notes · View notes
clouds-of-wings · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media
@mardigrasdeathpostage
This is a great opportunity to post something I photoshopped a few months back. I finished it, then stared at the screen and sighed, remembering the old times, when I shopped respectable things.
Here it is side by side with BA's original cover:
Tumblr media
and on its own:
Tumblr media
(All stock photos mine except for the writing.)
Anyway, maybe you can imagine the characters as antipasti. They're all Catholics and the part of the plot we're currently at takes place in Rome, so it kinda fits.
--
In DETAIL:
Johanna, the fiery and determined crusader, would be particularly spicy and crunchy I think, maybe peppers filled with some kind of cheese, as in the picture above. The peppers would not be grilled or treated in any other way that breaks down their molecular structure. Johanna has no problem with being challenging to chew. And if she brings tears to your eyes, well, tears can be cleansing, so this pain benefits you in the end. Her sidekicks Mare and Agnes are stuffed olives that have a little bit of the same spicy cheese.
Helena, Johanna's sister and the wife of her enemy Seth, would be a savoury vegetable that has been infused with rosemary and some type of honey, given that she's very pleasant and eager to please. She would not be too sweet, but strive to be perfect. She is served with mozzarella, an inoffensive and yet very tasty cheese.
Sophia, their mother, is a rare, unknown vegetable in a sophisticated and unique herb mixture that quite possible includes Silphion. Satan is a spicy hard cheese that unexpectedly harmonizes very well with her (as proven by the song Astral Sophia).
Apollonius is semi-divine, so naturally I imagine that he contains a lot of garlic. I would pick an eggplant fried in garlicy oil for him. Eating him sends you to heaven, but then you feel a little nauseated from the ungodly amount of fat eggplants tend to suck up when you fry them, even if you take care to dehydrate them with salt before and soak off some fat with paper towels after. Ecstatically pleasant, yet treacherous... but you keep coming back because there's nothing else like it. Feta cheese just magically manifests next to him.
As for the Antichrist himself, I invoke the famous tumblr post that states: "Do not be salty. Be marinated. Show that you've been swimming in a complex mixture of feelings for a long time." I also think he should be a tomato that has been dried by the unforgiving heat of the sun for a long, LONG time. Possibly because someone put him there and then forgot about him. So a marinated, and very salty, dried tomato. That's our troubled hero Seth.
5 notes · View notes