Nepenthes (mythology)

Nepenthes ( ancient Greek νηπενθές ) refers to a medicine (pharmakon) in Greek mythology , which Helena had received from an Egyptian queen and which, mixed with wine, is supposed to eliminate suffering, chase away fear and make all illnesses forgotten. The word means "against sorrow" (ne = not, penthos = sorrow, suffering) and was used between 1200 and 700 BC. The Odyssey is mentioned as follows.

“But the lovely daughter of Kronion invented a new one: behold,

she threw into the wine what they drank a remedy
against grief and resentment and the memory of all suffering.
Try one of the wine mixed with this flavor;
Then that day no tear wets his cheeks,
If his father and mother had died too,

His brother and his most beloved son would also have been
killed with a sword before him , so that his eyes could see.
See how healing was the artificially prepared spice,
which Helene once gave to Thon's wife Polydamna
in Egyptus. There the fertile earth produces

various kinds of juices, mixed well with harmful ones;
There everyone is a doctor, and is more experienced than any
human being; for verily they are of the lineage of Paeons. "

- Homer : Odyssey 4.219-232 (translation by Johann Heinrich Voß )

There is a presumption that Nepenthes referred to an actually existing opiate or a preparation of it (cf. Laudanum ) or to cannabis .

Nepenthes can also be found elsewhere in literature, as a drink called Nepenthe , which the Greek progenitor of doctors Asklepios around 1200 BC. BC to achieve insensitivity to pain during surgical interventions, and for example in Edgar Allan Poe's " The Raven ":

" Poorest", I called, "look, God sends his angels to you and donates
Nepenthes, in which now Lenor's memory ends with difficulty [...] "

Today Nepenthes is the scientific generic name of pitcher plants , of which around 100 species are known - all of which are tropical carnivorous plants.

Individual evidence

↑ Homer : Odyssey 4,219.
↑ Angelo Maria Ricci, Dissertationes homericas , Lipsia, Gotthilp, 1784, p. XLVIII, p. 380
^ Philip Robson (1999). Forbidden drugs . Oxford University Press. P. 161. ISBN 978-0-19-262955-5 .
^ Rudolf Frey , Otto Mayrhofer , with the support of Thomas E. Keys and John S. Lundy: Important data from the history of anesthesia. In: R. Frey, Werner Hügin , O. Mayrhofer (Ed.): Textbook of anesthesiology and resuscitation. Springer, Heidelberg / Basel / Vienna 1955; 2nd, revised and expanded edition. With the collaboration of H. Benzer. Springer-Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 1971. ISBN 3-540-05196-1 , pp. 13-16, here: p. 13.

[1] Homer : Odyssey 4,219.

[2] Angelo Maria Ricci, Dissertationes homericas , Lipsia, Gotthilp, 1784, p. XLVIII, p. 380

[3] Philip Robson (1999). Forbidden drugs . Oxford University Press. P. 161. ISBN 978-0-19-262955-5 .

[4] Rudolf Frey , Otto Mayrhofer , with the support of Thomas E. Keys and John S. Lundy: Important data from the history of anesthesia. In: R. Frey, Werner Hügin , O. Mayrhofer (Ed.): Textbook of anesthesiology and resuscitation. Springer, Heidelberg / Basel / Vienna 1955; 2nd, revised and expanded edition. With the collaboration of H. Benzer. Springer-Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 1971. ISBN 3-540-05196-1 , pp. 13-16, here: p. 13.