Like everyone else around, we had to go see the newest Harry Potter movie on opening day. It was good to see that splitting the last book in two allowed the filmmakers to include a level of detail that hasn’t been seen since the first two films. I was thinking that it might be fun on this blog to turn to the Hogwarts subjects of Potions and Herbology as they applied to the ancient world.
We have many, many types of herbs, fruits, and vegetables in the Getty Villa gardens, some of them mentioned in the Potter books. I can remember dittany being mentioned in one of the books as an ingredient meant for healing wounds. The Villa herb garden includes Dittany of Crete in the beds. In mythology, Crete was believed to be the birthplace of Zeus, king of the gods. In antiquity, dittany was thought to have healing powers. In particular, women took a draught of dittany during childbirth, believing that the herb was also sacred to Artemis/Diana, the goddess of childbirth. As childbirth was a dangerous process in antiquity, anything that might have had the slightest effect aiding the mother’s survival could have been considered.
Harry’s nemesis, Lord Voldemort had his modern day attribute of his companion snake, Nagini. While there was most likely no cure for the venom of a magical snake, the ancients believed that tarragon was a cure for snakebite. The herb’s roots appeared rather snake-like. In my opinion, the thought process was something akin to the modern practice of Chinese complimentary medicine using plants with shapes that seemed similar to the complaint – like treating like. In this case, the dried root was added to wine as an antidote to snake venom. I haven’t read any source material on the efficacy of the cure, although anyone who has done any casual reading of Roman history will realize that there was a bit of noteworthy poisoning going on in order to gain the Imperial throne. Another antidote for poisoning was thought to be the juice of the citron added to wine.
Adding various ingredients to wine was quite common 2,000 years ago. The wine could be used as a tonic as well as a drink. Their wine had more sediment than wines that are made now and most wines were red. There was no sugar; honey was often used to sweeten the taste of wine and other foods. The taste of honey could be changed depending on where in the garden the beehive was maintained. The nectar in different plants consumed by bees changed the taste of the honey. An interesting fact to note is that despite not having any knowledge of germs or microbes, the ancients knew that adding a little bit of wine to water would have a beneficial effect, the alcohol killing any germs that might be found in a contaminated well.
In the segment involving Snape’s childhood memories, there was a lovely shot of Lily Evans (later Potter) as a little girl levitating a little flower over her palm and making the petals open and close. The flower appeared to be chamomile. In the ancient world, chamomile stems, leaves, and flowers were all used for medicinal ingredients. All the parts could be thrown into the bath to aid with liver, bladder, kidney, and menstrual problems. It was also believed that a crown of chamomile would relieve a headache. Today, chamomile is used as an ingredient in tea to help one relax or sleep.
In Half Blood Prince, the character of Lavender Brown was much-needed comic relief in the midst of teenage angst. The designers used liberal amounts of the color lavender in her costumes. The word lavender comes from the Italian lavare, to wash, and the herb itself was often used to scent fabrics in the drying process. The use of lavender goes back to the Egyptians; some of the unguents and perfumes buried with King Tut included lavender. The Romans also valued honey produced from beehives near lavender. Along with rosemary, lavender was one of the most desirable herbs in a Roman garden. Perfumes made from lavender were quite expensive and considered a status symbol in the Roman world. Dioscorides reported in De materia medica that lavender taken internally relieved indigestion, headache, and sore throat.
Another character with a name taken from the garden was Moaning Myrtle, most likely the first victim of Tom Riddle. In the ancient world, myrtle was considered sacred to the goddess Aphrodite. Aphrodite was born fully-grown from the foam of the sea. In some stories, when she first stepped onto land she covered herself with myrtle branches to hide her body from the stares of curious satyrs. Another episode from myth tells the story of Myrrha, the daughter of Thias, King of the Assyrians and Cenchereis. The mother boasted that her daughter was more beautiful than Aphrodite herself, triggering the wrath of the goddess. Aphrodite caused Myrrha to lust after her father. Confiding in her nurse, Myrrha was able to consummate her illicit desire while disguised. Thias finally discovered the identity of his lover, and in her mortification, Myrrha cried to the gods that she would disappear from shame. Taking pity on her, Zeus turned her into the myrtle shrub. Mrytle leaves were aromatic and often used in funeral rituals to disguise the scent of decay. The shrub had small white flowers of thin filaments rather than petals and once the flowers died, the berries developed, turning from white to deep purple. The ancients used a juice made from the berries to aid intestinal inflammation, and today it is still used for indigestion. The berries and leaves were also used to make a black hair dye. Finally, the ancients used the berries as a breath mint – the taste could be considered similar to black licorice.
Recently there has been some research proposing that plants named for mythological characters like Myrrha, Narcissus, and Daphne (who was turned into laurel) originated in places that were the site of human sacrifice in the Bronze Age. The names for the plants may have been taken from the victims and the stories somehow sprung from there; of course there is no way of knowing for sure. The Trojan War took place in the Bronze Age, and Homer’s tales of The Iliad and The Odyssey came from the oral tradition of passing story from generation to generation until writing developed. Up until the late 19th century and the discovery of the physical site of Troy, most serious scholars believed that the Trojan War was a myth. In any case, the stories associated with various plants as well as their ancient uses continue to fascinate for those who care to dig deeper into the uses of herbs and potions thanks to J.K. Rowling.
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