English abstracts

(Abstracts for lectures to be delivered in Hungarian)

Conference 14-16 Octobre 2021, Budapest

THE ARCHAEOBOTANY FROM RECENTLY DISCOVERED NAQADA III SETTLEMENT AT SOUTH ABYDOS (SAEEDCS)*
Alaa Talaat Shams
Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MOTA), Cairo, Egypt
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The settlement date mainly to Naqada IIIA2-Naqada IIIB/C. It is situated around 300m to the south-west of the Seti I temple. It lies 1250 m to the south-east of the royal tombs at “Umm-el-Qaab” and is on the western edge of the El-Arab Village, it covers an area of around 150m x 200m and located about 75m to the local north of the Early Dynastic cemetery at South Abydos. During field work at the settlement, samples are taken for archaeobotanical analyses. All samples are processed using the barrel flotation method and then air-dried. We started to put the plan to study plant remains from the site and I will focus on the methods that I used in this stage: what we do ? and how we do that? In the next season I will sort plant remains using a binocular microscope (magnification 10X-20X) and counte.
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* (SAEEDCS) is the abbreviation of the project full title “South Abydos Excavation Early Dynastic Cemetery and Settlement

PLANTS AND SIGNS: HEALING WITH PLANTS ACCORDING TO THE IATROMATEMATICA SCIENCE DURING THE ROMAN AND LATE ANTIQUE EGYPT
Andreozzi, Riccardo
University of Pisa and University of Mainz, Germany
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During the period of the 1st to 3rd century AD, the Hermeticism became widespread in the Roman Empire, and the texts of the Corpus Hermeticum took shape. Their attribution to the god Thot, but also the contexts and characters of these writings openly recall the Egyptian environment where they grew. Among the treatises of the Corpus, the works on astrological medicine, or iatromathematica, deserve particular attention. The latter discipline aims to explain the disease as the negative influence of a celestial body and to heal it by deleting its harmful effects. The iatromathematica constitutes a coherent set of knowledge in which the microcosmos and the macrocosmos are deeply connected: every part of the body, every plant, every stone, every animal finds its position in a precise pattern of correspondences with the celestial world. Within this frame, the contribution purposes to analyse the role of plants in the writings of “astrological botany”, which relate each plant to a different celestial body, such as decans, zodiac signs, planets, or fixed stars. The aim is to investigate the reasons for the choice of some of these plants in the treatment of individual diseases, the motive for their connection to individual stars, and, if possible, the relationships with the previous pharaonic tradition, but also with its most recent innovations (such as the introduction of new plants in Egypt during the Graeco-Roman time), also highlighting the Egyptian background of the formation of these texts. Furthermore, it will be underlined the connection, hitherto little or not at all recognized, of this type of writings with the Demotic, Greek, and Coptic herbaria that Roman Egypt has preserved, noting the singular coincidence of the common presence of some plants in both of these genres, and the significance of the iatromathematica in the formation or transformation of late herbaria

PULSES IN EGYPTIAN MEDICINE. FROM PHARAONIC ERA TO COPTIC TIMES
Bebel-Nowak, Agata
University of Warsaw, Poland
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Plants were always present in our daily lives, religion and medicine. The same can be said about the lives of ancient Egyptians: they developed great skills in the use of plants. Since the earliest times Egyptian plants found use as building material, decoration, in diet, cosmetics, perfumery and medicine.
Most of ingredients of pharaonic medicaments were plant-based and the majority of plants used in Egyptian medicine is still in use in modern herbal medicine. The sources from we can gain our knowledge on Egyptian plant-based medicaments are mostly textual (pharaonic medical papyri and Coptic prescriptions).
Aim of this paper is to show the role of pulses (for example: beans, chick-pea, lentils) in Egyptian medicine. Popular opinion among the researchers is that pulses, within cereals, are considered to be one of the staples of Egyptian diet. But Egyptian data tells another story: remains of pulses are not a common finding during archaeobotanical research, they were not depicted in tombs (in contrast to pulses which are depicted very often in daily-life scenes), and they were mentioned in texts only few times (mostly medical and economic texts). The paper shows that pulses, even if rarely, played some role in Egyptian medicine: one can find several prescriptions with pulses as medical ingredients.

THE ‘LEGEND OF THE LADY OF THE LAKE’: DID A CONNECTION EXIST BETWEEN MEDICINE AND PHARMACY AS PRACTISED IN ANCIENT EGYPT AND MEDIEVAL WALES?
Prof.  David, Rosalie
KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology, The University of Manchester, UK.
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The ‘Legend of the Lady of the Lake’, one of the most popular and important medieval Welsh legends, occurs in many collections of Welsh literature. The legend relates how an ‘otherworld’ woman emerged from a lake and met a young man from a local family whom she married. Eventually, following a dispute with her husband, she returned to the lake but came back periodically to meet her three sons to teach them about the medical properties of plants and herbs that grew in the neighbourhood.
Welsh literary sources from the 14^th century C.E. onwards mention specific locations for these events – a beautiful lake (Llyn y Fan Fach) and the surrounding farming district of Myddfai, situated in what is still a very remote area of central Wales in the United Kingdom. Aside from the legend, it is noteworthy that a household-dynasty of herbal medical specialists – the ‘Physicians of Myddfai’ – practised for generations in later medieval and early modern Wales. Several descendants of the same family continue in this profession even today.
This legend does not occur in isolation, however; versions, some entitled the ‘Fairy Bride’, are known throughout northern and western Europe. The Welsh texts provide details of over 200 treatments for a variety of medical conditions which, according to the legend, were transmitted by the Lady to her sons. These include rules for hygiene, uroscopy, craniotomy, children’s diseases, and a long list of plant and animal pharmaceutical remedies. Parallels have been identified with Latin and European sources.
There has been speculation that some aspects of this Welsh medieval tradition may in fact reflect concepts found in ancient Egyptian and Classical medical practices: this paper will consider whether any such links can be identified.

VEGETAL MEDICAMENTS BETWEEN EGYPT AND HATTI
De Pietri, Marco
University of Pavia, Italy
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It is already known, thanks to Elmar Edel’s studies on this topic, that after the Battle of Kadesh and during the later so-called Pax Hethitica period, the Hittite court requested several times medical assistance to the Pharaoh. Many letters exchanged between the Egyptian and the Hittite courts mention the dispatch from Egypt to Ḫatti of physicians appointed to heal the health of Hittite people, mainly for eye diseases and, once, for a case of sterility. In 2019, at the Current Research in Egyptology conference at Alcalà de Henares, Elena Urzì and I have shown how Egyptian physicians prepared medicines sent to the Hittite court; in the conclusion of the proceedings, we stated as follows: “E. Edel’s hypothesis about the equation šamma = pXr.t […] needs further research in order to better clarify the still quite obscure identification of šammu(m) […] this will definitely be the topic for another contribution).” In that contribution, we followed Edel’s idea of interpreting the Akkadian term šammu(m), literally ‘plant’ (possibly etymologically connected to the Egyptian sm.yt/sm.w), with the Egyptian pXr.t, ‘medicament’. I would like to contribute in this venue with a further analysis on this topic, trying to pinpoint some clues (based on the analysis of Egyptian and Hittite medical documentation) for a possible identification of these healing plants. To fulfil this goal, I will briefly summarise all the attestations of plants sent from Egypt to Ḫatti (and vice versa), from the 18th to the 19th dynasty, exploring texts of different genres: the Annals of Thutmose III, the El-Amarna letters, the later Egyptian-Hittite correspondence, until an ostracon from Deir el-Medineh mentioning a “blossom from Ḫatti”, indicated in the Egyptian text with a term which could be etymologically connected to other Near Eastern languages (including Hittite).

A POWERFUL SMELL, SUPERNATURAL VIRTUES. THE RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM OF THE hdn-PLANT
De Maré, Charly
Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium – École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, Paris), France
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Plants played an important role in the religious conceptions of the ancient Egyptians. Some were reputed to have magical properties that were used in medical and ritual texts, highlighted in myths and associated with deities. Amongst these, the hdn-plant was very popular in religious texts from the Pyramid Texts to the late periods. However, up until now, the rich theological background that surrounds it has been little addressed. The question seems to deserve a clarification based on textual and iconographic sources.
As early as the Pyramid Texts, the plant is distinguished by its strong odour, which led to its eponymous goddess. In the Coffin Texts, it is part of the mythical family of cosmogonic plants involved in the birth of light. Associated with Sia in the Litany of Re, it is reputed to provide knowledge. This extraordinary plant is also deeply linked to Thoth, through its role as scribe and ritualist. Used in the exit rites of several funerary and cultic rituals, it is notably well known as forming the broom of the jnt-rd ceremony in the daily ritual. Indeed, since its offensive smell frightened away pests, its stems were rubbed on the sacred ground to ward off evil forces. According to recent publications, it also gives its name to processional festivals celebrated in honour of Hathor at Karnak (New Kingdom) and Lahun (Middle Kingdom) and participates in the ritual pacification of the dangerous goddess.
What can we learn from the attestations and representations about the supernatural virtues attributed to the hdn-plant? Which botanical identification is likely and how could its physicochemical properties have contributed to these beliefs? How did an umbelliferous plant with an unpleasant smell become an indispensable tool for interacting with the gods?

MEDICINAL PLANTS AND THEIR PROPERTIES IN THE FIRST TURKISH MEDICAL TEXTS WRITTEN IN ANATOLIA
Demir Öztürk, Nuray
Şehit İlhan Varank Science High School, Turkey
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Medicine is an important branch of science and all societies are struggling with all kinds of diseases. But humanity has not only been benefited it throughout the ages but has also been contributed to it. The power of medicine in both treating diseases and protecting people from diseases in the most effective way comes often from the plants – they provide the greatest support to it. The use of plants for treatment from nature goes back to ancient cultures. Considering the whole history of humanity, it can be seen that the belief in the therapeutic power of plants is mentioned in all scriptures.
Turks, have been very interested in medicine since their time in Central Asia, and although the number of them is very low, they have included both medical and plant-related issues in the ancient texts they wrote. The interest in medicine and plants continued in Anatolia, which means that the Turks started living in another geographical region, and they created their first medical texts in Anatolia by adding the new information they encountered there to the ancient knowledge, they brought from their old cultures. These first texts, which were initially translated from Arabic and Persian and then copied in Turkish, were created with the concern of understanding above all. They contain detailed information about plants as well as everything else. Most of the time, they used – in addition to the Turkish name of the mentioned plant – the Arabic and Persian name, thus attempting to fill in the gaps that would leave room for doubt about the plant in question.
In this study, the names of plants mentioned in the first Turkish medical texts written in Anatolia (14-15th centuries) are included. Based on the texts about the mentioned plants, subjects such as what kind of diseases they were healing according to the medical understanding of that period and how the usage should be are also mentioned. Based on this information, the plants that can be considered as alternative for today’s medicine and that are about to be forgotten will be examined with reference to the texts and the implications of the effective therapies, which were used as a rich source for the medical world at that time.

THE SCENT OF PLANTS IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Goldsmith, Dora
Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
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The ancient Egyptian written record contains a large number of references to the scent of plants. Orchards and vegetable gardens were filled with fragrant trees, flowers and herbs to satisfy the gods with their aroma and to contribute to the pleasant olfactory landscape of the city. The scent of all manner of flowers, fruits, vegetables and fresh herbs was offered to the gods, kings and high officials as a gift under the expression ‘garden fragrance’ (sTi SA). It is the scent that was being offered as an object in its own right, not the substances emitting the odors. The strong aroma of blossoming vegetation after the inundation of the Nile was often described in synesthetic compositions. Olfaction was coupled with vision in literary works to create a synesthetic literary metaphor to describe how the scents of fresh plants ‘shine’ (THn) in the field or the temple when presented as an offering. The importance of the scent of plants is reflected in everyday life in personal names, such as ‘Green Scent’ (sTi wAD), or the fact that the only non-royal who was described as having a pleasant smell was the gardener. The fragrance of fresh plants also played an essential role in funerary practices in the form of mummy garlands covering mummies from head to toe. The ancient Egyptians associated the scent of fresh flowers, herbs and fruits with the force of nature that has life-giving qualities through its rebirth every year after the inundation of the Nile. Through their strong fragrance and vibrant colors, fresh plants were believed to assist the rejuvenation of the deceased. Flower bouquets were also called anx in Egyptian, which means ‘life’.

PLANTS FOR POSITIVE PURPOSES IN COPTIC MAGICAL TEXTS
Hevesi, Krisztina
Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
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Plants have always had a crucial role in ancient Egyptian medical and magical texts. Similarly, they were often included among the ingredients of mixtures and offerings in Coptic magical sources. However, not all of them can be identified with certainty, the occurrence of some plants shows a continuity compared to the ancient texts.
Without doubt, the attestations of plants with different attributes would deserve a thorough study, since they allude to distinctive features that are apparently important from the point of view of magical practice and could tell us more about ritual traditions. References to specific plants, appearing only rarely in Coptic magical texts indicate that these might have served a particular purpose as well. Are certain plants typically related to certain purposes?
How did these correlations change in different texts? The aim of my presentation is to analyze the role of especially those plants that are often attested in Coptic magical sources, examine their connotations and their ritual use. Furthermore, the investigation will also outline a few similarities as well as differences between earlier and later Coptic magical manuscripts in order to touch upon the transmission or change of ritual traditions. Nevertheless, a wide variety of subjects can be traced in Coptic magical material, I will mainly focus on texts with positive, curative contents.

MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANTS IN ANCIENT ANATOLIA
Laflı, Ergün
Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi, Edebiyat Fakültesi, Arkeoloji Bölümü, Tınaztepe/Kaynaklar Yerleşkesi, Buca
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Turkey is one of the countries with richest plant diversity in the Mediterranean. A number of human races and tribes have settled here during different periods bringing in different cultures and customs. As a result of this we come across a great accumulation of knowledge of traditional medicine in the country. Within these lands that many ancient civilizations flourished, domestication of many food and medicinal plants started. Dioscorides (1st century A.D.) from Anazarba or Asia minor; the Mediterranean part of Turkey; used the healing properties of different plants from Anatolia thus establishing it as a science. In 78 A.D. he wrote the monumental volumes of “Materia Medica” which included 950 drugs out of which 600 were of plant origin. A recent survey of traditional and folk medicine in Turkey has revealed that most of these plants are still in use by the local inhabitants.Therefore, Materia Medica may be assumed to be the oldest comprehensive document on Anatolian folk medicine. This knowledge is surviving until now and an array of herb shops are found in the markets of the modern cities. The number of flowering plant taxa distributed in the country is estimated to lie around 10,000. These taxa are distributed in different phytogeographical regions and include nearly 3.300 endemics.
In this paper concentration will be given to the medicinal and aromatic plans in ancient Anatolia.

MEDICINAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE KYPHI AND OF THE ORTHODOX HOLYCHRISM
Maravelia, Alicia,¹ Filianos, Markos^2
1Hellenic Institute of Egyptology & People’s University of Athens, Greece  ²Hellenic Institute of Egyptology, Greece
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The use of aromatics and incense in divine worship and in Medicine is very ancient. The present work is based on our recent paper concerning the comparative study of the ancient Egyptian kyphi and of the Orthodox Holy Chrism [Maravelia & Filianos 2020]. Kyphi/kApt, a special mixture of floral aromatic substances, was used as burning incense and medicament during a very long period of the ancient Egyptian culture. We have already studied and examined the suggested ingredients according to their geographic– or trade–origin, their botanical des­cription, their che­mical composition and their medicinal uses, as well as the mode of its preparation, after having reenacted it in vitro. On the other hand, the Holy Chrism/Ἅγιον Μύρον, used in the Holy Orthodox Church for christening the newly–baptized babies (in earlier eras also for anointing Orthodox Kings), is prepared in a ceremonial ritual every 10-20 years, using a long list of floral and a few faunal substances, taking place mainly at the premises of the Ecumeni­cal Patriarchate of Constantinople, but in the Patriarchate of Moscow too. Interestingly the Holy Chrism is also used with medicinal and therapeutic intent.

MYTHS AND FACTS ON CALOTROPIS PROCERA: AN OVERVIEW
Munguía Girón, Francisco José
UNED, Spain
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This proposal is focused on Calotropis procera (giant milkweed) of the Asclepid family, one of the plants used as a source of medicines and curative preparations since remote times. It was attested in North Africa, the Near East, and India, as it has cardiotonic, antibacterial, antiparasitic, and even oncological therapeutic properties. The dried plant and roots have been used as a tonic, anthelmintic and expectorant and in traditional medicine it has been used to treat asthma, leprosy, intermittent fevers or joint pain, and besides for sexual dysfunctions and as an aphrodisiac. Currently it has different uses depending on the region where it is grown and range from medicinal, artisanal to even ritual use.
One of the main components of Calotropis plants are cardiotonic glycosides, which have constituted, apart from their therapeutic effects, a defense mechanism of the plants themselves against herbivores and a means of protection for insects that feed from them. One of them is a lepidopteran, the Danaus chrisippus butterfly (African monarch or plain tiger), which accumulates these glycosides in its chitinous structures of the thorax and abdomen, causing immediate vomiting in birds that try to devour them.
Curiously, this butterfly is the most common represented in the funerary repertoire of the tombs of Ancient Egypt, especially in the scenes of hunting and fishing in the marshes. This has led to a strong debate among specialists, some leaning towards a decorative aspect and others towards a clearly symbolic meaning. In our study, we have analyzed a significant number of tombs with this lepidopteran, representative from various periods from the Old Kingdom to the XVIII Dynasty, concluding that the symbolic aspect is outstanding. This symbolic interpretation is based on several facts, such as the constant presence of this species compared to others that also inhabit the marsh areas, its depictions on the papyrus thickets where also Calotropis plants grow, or the plant’s association with the goddess Hathor, the main goddess in ancient Egypt connected to fertility and regeneration.

SOMA – A MYSTERIOUS INTOXICATING AND HEALING PLANT OF THE VEDAS
Renner, Zsuzsanna
Hungarian National Museum, Semmelweis Museum of the History of Medicine, Budapest, Hungary
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Soma is a mysterious plant of the Vedas known as haoma in the Iranian Avesta. The juice squeezed from it, used for oblations, was considered a drink of divine immortality that gives strength and power and cures diseases. Its pressing and offering were among the most important Vedic rites, and the power of Soma as a deity rivalled that of Indra. What could have been the celestial plant living in the mountains, whose sap enabled Indra, the king of the gods, to perform his most celebrated heroic deeds? This question has long been of concern to researchers, but it has not been possible to name any single plant that would have matched all the data and relevant Vedic passages. Presumably, the authors of the Vedic hymns may have meant different plants by soma in different epochs and changing geographical environments. In my paper, I review the effects of soma (intoxicating, hallucinogenic, healing) and the most likely candidates for the soma plant based on Vedic texts. This investigation also sheds light on the nature of healing with the soma plant.

THE EDIBLE PLANTS FOR HEALING IN COPTIC DOCUMENTS
Sohair Ahmed,¹ Mona Sawy^2
1Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt  ²Georg August University of Goettingen, Germany
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Plants are the main source of diet which used many times as medicaments in all ancient times. The Ancient Egyptians were familiar with different types of plants and their pharmaceutical properties. Such natural therapies attested in many medical sources and sometimes connected with physical, spiritual, and magical therapies.
In this presentation, we will highlight the medical use of vegetables such as lettuce, garlic, onions, and fruits such as figs, sycamore, grapes and pomegranate. And of course the cereals.
We will primarily focus on the medical sources dating from the 6th to 12th centuries CE, from excavation ruins and monastic libraries.
The edible plants used in healing were sometimes eaten as raw or cooked or crushed to be oil or drink, sometimes applied as ointment. Some medical recipes prescribed specific types of food that were used for various diseases.
An extra emphasis will be placed on medical prescriptions, dosage, and the appropriate way to use the medicament in the right way to gain the desired result.
This paper is an attempt to localize groups of plants used for specific internal and external diseases and the appropriate way to use them.

EFFECTS OF PELARGONIUM SINOIDALES BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE SUBSTANCES ON SALIVA RedOx HOMEOSTASIS IN PERIODONTITIS PATIENTS
Skesters, A., Silova, A., Kulbachna, A., Kustovs, D., Lece, A.
Riga Stradins University, Scientific Laboratory of Biochemistry, Latvia
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Periodontal disease is highly prevalent that affects 10–15% of the world population. Development mechanisms of periodontitis (P) are not well understood. The disorder is probably multifactorial, and it is characterized by the generation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. Traditionally periodontitis treatment includes use of antibiotics and synthetic antiseptic that is accompaned by systemic side-effects and increased bacterial resistance. Pelargonium sidoides well know for its antibacterial and antiviral activity, and is used in ethnomedicine of acute respiratory infections.
Aim of investigation was to detect changes of RedOx homeostasis in saliva Periodontitis patients (Pp) after long treatment with Pelargonium sidoides root extract (PSRE) and proanthocyanidins from Pelargonium sidoides root crudum extract (PACN).
Whole saliva was collected in sterile tube. Determination of total antioxidant status (TAS), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) was performed on RX Dayton analyzer using diagnostic kits. Malondialdehyde (MDA) and HNE Adducts were determined using ELISA kits and micrroplate reader SPARK.
The results showed that in all patient groups, including the planned placebo group, TAS was higher compared to controls in healthy subjects. SOD activity was lower compared to patient groups, but GPx did not differ in patient groups. Oxidative stress markers MDA and HNE among control and testing groups were similar. After long treatment of periodontitis-affected areas, changes in salivary biochemistry were as follows: exposure to both drugs reduced oxidative stress markers, while possible remission of inflammation resulted in decreased SOD and, consequently, GPx activity. It should also be noted that the TAS indicator returns to normal.
Conclusion: Although in vitro PACN shows higher antioxidant activity, an in vivo study showed that RedOx homeostasis is better normalized by PSRE.
Thus, our finding suggest that PSRE and PACAN from Ps root exstract are good candidates for the treatment of periodontitis.
The authors declare that there are no conflict of interests.

“REMEDY PREPARATION” SKILLS OF EGYPTIAN PHYSICIANS: PLANTS TRANSFORMATIONS, VEHICLES AND GALENICS
Sridi, Yasmine
University of Liège, Belgium
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My lecture is part of the research axis of “Herbal medicine and present-day medicine”: it intends to analyze the “remedy preparation” skills of Egyptian physicians in the light of the knowledge and practices of modern herbalism. Herbal medicine has multiple ways of extracting the active substances of medicinal plants and of applying the resulting preparations:
Firstly, I will focus on the extraction of active principles: nowadays we can resort to various methods using infusion, tincture, tonic wine, or medicinal oil. We note that extraction is always done with a solvent, a carrier substance, that must be chosen based on its physicochemical affinity with the active principle required: hydrophilic, lipophilic, etc. However, we realize that – without knowing or even being aware of the biochemical composition of the plants they used – Egyptian physicians had already set up a number of these processes: water (dew), alcohol (wine, beer), oil, but also milk and honey. A study of lists of remedies, the Ebers papyrus for example, will make it possible to systematize the transformations applied to the plants. So, I will present the numerous vehicles – mw, Hnq.t, irp, mrH.t, irt.t, bi.t – and their uses.
Secondly, I will present how these active substances were administered: today’s herbal medicine has recourse to an arsenal of galenic forms such as capsules, ointments, cataplasms, inhalations, … Once again, an analysis of Egyptian medical texts allows great understanding of the possible applications of the various remedies and, by extension, great skills in their preparations. To become aware of this reality, archaeological reconstructions will demonstrate the “very modern” character of these medicinal preparations. The Ebers papyrus and the remedies which were explained in it will also be the ground material for this part of my lecture.

PLANTS FOR HEALING IN PAPYRUS BROOKLYN 47.218.75+.86
Unger, Juliane
University of Heidelberg, Germany
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The talk aims to give an overview of the plants and plant-based products used in the yet unpublished medical papyrus Brooklyn 47.218.75+.86, recto. The text is of special interest on the one hand for its date in the 26th dynasty, from which not many medical papyri have yet been published, and on the other hand for the focus of its prescription. A considerable number of them is directed at the treatment of ailments afflicting the back of the ancient patient – a subject yet unattested in Egyptian medical texts. Further remedies are prescribed for afflictions of the lower abdomen, the urinary tract, against intestinal worms and the influence of evil spirits. Another medical text dating slightly later and focusing on gynaecological ailments was written on the verso of this papyrus, but its poorer state of preservation does not allow for drawing extensive conclusions.
Apart from statistics on the employment of plants in this papyrus and (as far as possible) some thoughts on their medicinal properties and efficacy, examples will be given for healing plants that have not yet been attested in other Egyptian texts as well as possible ways for their identification, showing that each newly published text can still greatly broaden our knowledge of ancient Egyptian medicine and pharmacology and may also shed some light on the transfer of medicinal knowledge between Egypt and its neighbours.

“YOU CANNOT JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER”: CONSIDERATIONS ON SOME PLANTS IN THE PHARAONIC MEDICAL LITERATURE
Urzì, Elena
Università degli Studi di Parma, Italy
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Egyptian pharmacopoeia consists of many ingredients still unclear, especially vegetal components. Albeit scholars do not know exactly the species of many plants, the application of some of them can be recognised as ritual, to the detriment of medical use. Generally, two are the clues suggesting a correlation with magic:
1) in formulas reporting mythological events, the ingredients are quoted both in the myth and in the final rubrum (e.g. Eb. 811, same types of rushes are mentioned both in a mythological episode and in the final remedy);
2) the link between vegetal species and gods: plants are used in replacement of the deity whom they are related to (e.g. Bln 111, the bdd.w-kA-plant, connected to Seth’s testicles, is used to chase away demons).
In both the circumstances, vegetal ingredients have very impersonal names: in order to recognise potential connections with gods, one has to consider all the textual typologies where a plant’s name appears. Conversely, some plants with divine names do exist (e.g. “Protection of Isis” or “Feather of Nemty”): they are indeed rare examples and we have no other mentions beyond the medical literature. Quite the opposite, these components seem not to have any correlation with the magical-ritual sphere. We could be tempted to suppose that these names were the real nomenclature of the plants, but, given the absence of herbals specifying possible synonyms, in order to define the specific plant species, one could also have to take into account a popular denomination (e.g. nowadays St. James-wort in place of Jacobaea vulgaris Gaertn., 1791).
This paper aims at analysing individual case studies in order to speculate on the real use of this typology of ingredients and to try to understand how the ancient Egyptians took advantage of magic in medical practice.

THE MAKING OF aNTJW OINTMENT IN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN TEMPLES. A (NOT SO) PRACTICAL GUIDE
Vadas, Réka
Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
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antjw-myrrh was one of the most common aromatic substances of ancient Egypt. In temple rituals, it was used in different consistencies, as an incense for purification and as an oil or ointment for anointing the statue of the deity. Before and after rituals, they were stored in the temple laboratories which were one of the several types of sacristies characteristic of the Graeco-Roman Period. The inscriptions of these chambers include several recipes, and the most complex of all concerns the making of antjw ointment.
Was this recipe a practical guide? Is there a clear structure hiding underneath the lengthy and complicated text? Could one make this ointment following the prescribed steps and methods? The lecture tries to answer some of these basic questions that most would probably raise facing the problematics of understanding the hieroglyphic text which was inscribed on the walls with the intention that only a small group of priests could ever see it.

GREEN OSIRIS, THE FLORA CONNECTION
Veiga, Paula
University of Lisboa Centre for History, Portugal, and University Ludwig-Maximilians, Munich, Germany
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This presentation discusses ancient Egyptians’ ability to explain the efficacy of some plants by associating them with the body of the god Osiris. The textual association of an arm, a leg, a fluid, a hair, or other Osiris’ body part with a determined plant is now a new angle of study. This proposes a discussion on why these plants were so frequently referred to in medical and magical prescriptions, by looking into their textual, iconographical, and symbolic association with Osiris, and providing a probable explanation.
Osiris, who gathered epithets such as god of the deceased, in their renewed self, but also as god of agriculture, ensuring prosperity both in life and afterlife, is, in the latter, an inspiration that looks forward to proving ancient Egyptian approach to disease. Using both physical ingredients and prophylaxis (magic, prayer, liturgies, hymns, spells, coffin, and tomb iconography) ancient Egyptians may have used Osiris’ body parts to acknowledge the efficacy of some medical ingredients.
The answer to the proposed questions is that religious beliefs may have served the purpose of contemporary scientific knowledge, filling the gaps in an era with no technical instruments, providing an alternative to pinpoint the existence of substances and microorganisms.
While specimens collected in situ prove these plants existed in the territory and were used as nourishment and as medical ingredients, their mythological, funerary, and ritual records establish a bridge between their coming to existence and their medical uses.
Ancient Egyptian knowledge’s profusion taught at Alexandria, the centre of learning at the end of Egyptian international influenced times, which faded in the early centuries of the Christian Era, provided the basis for the Greek diffusion of medical knowledge. Latin names of plants (flora), and Greek words in medical practice were pre-empted by Egyptian understanding.

SEDATIVE PLANTS IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Venice Ibrahim Shehatta Attia
Conservation, restoration researches & training department, Projects Sector, Egyptian Ministry of Tourism & Antiquities, Cairo, Egypt
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Archaeological evidences  proves that humans were taking drugs from blue water lilies, cannabis, opium, ‘magic mushrooms’ and others – dates back to as far as 10,000 years ago. There is also a lot and versatile evidences showing several kinds of sedative (narcotic) plants that were used in ancient Egypt.
Egyptologists confirm making it clear that uses of narcotics varied from practical daily life uses (mood boost) to religious use (incense offered to the Gods), besides being mainly and widely used medically as a treatment of various ailments. Some references points to the existence and uses of sedative plant flowers in ancient Egypt such as: those found inscribed in the Pyramid texts,  also traces of  Hemp and Cannabis material is said to being found in the tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten (1353 BC), depictions on wall paintings showing Egyptian individuals inhaling Egyptian blue lilies scent and giving them as offerings to their Gods, etc.
Ancient Egypt is known for the richness of its documentation of various daily life events, religious believes, but there is a paucity of information concerning sedatives (narcotics). Their physicians undoubtly knew the fact that blue water lily, cannabis, datura, mandrake and poppy were pain killers. There is no unequivocal evidence that they knew the narcotics in these plants and the differences between their constituents, but for sure they knew how and when to use them, and the almost perfect amounts or doses needed as a medication and away from their harmful poisonous effect. It is clear that they had natural hints, spontaneous knowledge of how to use such plants with which they could control pain.

TREATMENT OF WOMEN IN EGYPT: ANCIENT AND MODERN HERBAL APPROACHES
Vymazalová, Hana
Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
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The ancient Egyptian medical texts provide us with specialised cases focusing on the female part of the population. They mention various types of problems related to women’s diseases but also conception, pregnancy and birth. The texts show that the ancient healers combined rational methods of treatment using herbal medicines, with magical practices, incantations and the manufacture of protective amulets. The paper intends to compare the preserved ancient texts with methods of herbal treatments used in Egypt today.

THE POMEGRANATE IN ANCIENT GREECE: ITS SIGNIFICANCE AND USE IN ART AND RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM IN MYCENAEAN AND ARCHAIC GREECE
Webb, Dr Virginia
independent researcher, Great Britain
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As a fruit with a suggestive shape and contents the pomegranate takes on a wide range of meanings. Its appearance in the Ancient World embodies fertility and feminine powers. In Ancient Egypt and the Near East, and in the wider Mediterranean world – influenced by these centres – plastic forms, jewellery, vase and wall painting persistently employ the fruit as the carrier  of such meanings.  Later it is adopted by the Christian church, and by Islam, and becomes a powerful symbol of world domination, and the membership of the church. But in this talk I want to concentrate on its use and meaning in Mycenaean and Archaic Greece, the sources of its derivation, and specifically its importance in female jewellery, faience and clay containers, and in the worship of certain goddesses. Finds made at the Heraion of Samos, and the temple of Hera in Southern Italy at Foca del Sele, show that objects in clay and wood, glass and faience, in the shape of the pomegranate were offered to the deity, and at Foca del Sele the Catholic congregation still worships ‘La Madonna del Granata’. I shall hope to show in my talk how far back such usage goes and from where the influences come.