Moly

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Hermes protects Odysseus (drawing by Annibale Carracci , around 1595)

Moly (from the Greek  μῶλυ mōly or mṓly = mṓlyza , "garlic") denotes in Greek mythology and in ancient medicine a plant with a white flower and black rhizome that has a magical effect or is effective against charm.

The plant is mentioned for the first time in the Odyssey . Odysseus reported there, as Hermes him as protection against witchcraft of Kirke have given:

So said Hermeias, and gave me the healing plant,
Which he tore from the ground and showed me their nature:
Its roots were black and the flower bloomed milk-white;
Moly is called by the gods. Mortal people
Is it hard to dig; but the gods can do everything.

The white-flowering plant described with a round black root or a black rhizome the size of an onion, which Dioscurides and Galen characterized as onion-like, is mentioned by Pliny , who refers to Pseudo-Theophrastus.

Gold leek ( Allium moly )

The Italian botanist of the Renaissance realized probably true in a Allium species such as these in Greece as in all of Europe are the major means of averting enchantment ( molyein "remove, turn away"; namely spells), and held Allium magicum L. (witches Leeks) or Allium Moly L. (gold leeks) for it. However, since these species bear yellow or reddish flowers, but Homer calls the flowers milk-white, according to Sprengel Allium nigrum L. (black leek) agrees better with both Homer's description and that of Theophrastus .

Black leek ( Allium nigrum )

An interpretation as a snowdrop ( Galanthus nivalis ) is also possible. At times, the steppe rue ( peganon agrion ) was considered synonymous with Moly (also called leukóïon ágrion around 512 AD ). According to Exactly, for the plant referred to by Homer, the Allermann's armor ( Allium victorialis , "mountain garlic") comes into consideration (for later depictions also Colchicum species such as the autumn crocus ).

Attempts to recognize the misinterpreted plant in the white water lily or black hellebore etc. are unfounded.

literature

  • Hugo Rahner : The soul-healing flower. Moly and Mandragore in ancient and Christian symbolism . In: Eranos-Jahrbuch , Vol. 12, 1945, pp. 118–239.
  • Mechthild Siede: Moly. In: Real Lexicon for Antiquity and Christianity . Volume 24, Hiersemann, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-7772-1222-7 , Sp. 1105-1112.
  • Jerry Stannard: The plant called Moly. In: Osiris. Commentationes de scientiarum et eruditionis historia rationeque. Volume 14, (Bruges) 1962, pp. 254-307.
  • August Steier : Moly . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XVI, 1, Stuttgart 1933, Col. 29-33.
  • Helmut Genaust: Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names. 1976; 3rd, completely revised and expanded edition. Springer / Birkhäuser, Basel etc. 1996, p. 390 f.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helmut Genaust, 1996.
  2. ↑ Homer , Odyssey 10, 305; later in Ovid , Metamorphosen 14, 292 and Libraries of Apollodorus , Epitome 7, 16
  3. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 10: 302-307; Translation by Johann Heinrich Voss
  4. ↑ Pliny the Elder , Naturalis historia 25, 26
  5. ^ Hugo Rahner : Greek Myths and Christian Mystery. Translation of Greek myths into Christian interpretation (Rhein-Verlag, Zurich 1957) by Brian Battershaw. Burns & Oates, 1963; Reprint Biblio and Tannen, New York 1971, p. 186 f.
  6. ^ Samuel Hahnemann : Apothekerlexikon . 1st department, 2nd part, Leipzig 1795, p. 416: Hexenlauch
  7. ↑ Kurt Sprengel : History of Botany . First part. Brockhaus 1817. Page 37 books.google , p. 427 books.google and p. VI.
  8. ↑ Thomas Richter: The snowdrop between Mary symbolism and modern indication. In: Tempora mutantur et nos? Festschrift for Walter M. Brod on his 95th birthday. With contributions from friends, companions and contemporaries. Edited by Andreas Mettenleiter , Akamedon, Pfaffenhofen 2007, ISBN 3-940072-01-X , pp. 359–362, here: p. 359.
  9. ↑ Jerry Stannard: The plant called Moly. 1962, pp. 261-266.
  10. ↑ Christina Becela-Deller: Ruta graveolens L. A medicinal plant in terms of art and cultural history. (Mathematical and natural science dissertation Würzburg 1994) Königshause & Neumann, Würzburg 1998 (= Würzburg medical historical research. Volume 65). ISBN 3-8260-1667-X , p. 68.
  11. ↑ Helmut Genaust, 1996.