The Magic Tumbler for the Plague: Alicorn and its Medical-Occult Uses in 16th-17th Century Jewish Literature
Alicornand its Medical-Occult Uses in 16th-17th Century Jewish Literature
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35699/1982-3053.2020.21725Keywords:
Alicorn Cup, Unicorn, PlagueAbstract
Several 16th-17th century Jewish medical and religious sources from Land of Israel mention a substance called “alicorno”. The current study discusses the identification of the substance, its origins and medical usages according to the Jewish literature. “Alicorno” which are the tusks of the narwhal were believed to be the horn of the unicorn. They were perceived as having magical properties and were believed to have the power to cure a wide variety of illnesses, particularly to neutralize poisons. Responsa and medical sources from Eretz Israel region mention the two main usages of the narwhal – as a goblet with supernatural qualities for drinking water or potions and as a medical powder originating from a shaved bone.
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References
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SHEMESH, Abraham O. Medical Materials in Medieval and Modern Jewish Literature: Pharmacology, History and Halakha. Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University Press, 2013.
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TERANI Moses ben Yosef. Mabit Responsa. Venice: Kalioni, 1629.
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BEN NACHAMAN, Moses. 1928. Chiddushei Ramban on Tractate Rosh HaShanah. Jerusalem: Or Olam.
BENAYAHU, Meir. 1991. Yosef My Chosen. Jerusalem: Yad Harav Nissim, 1991.
BUCHMAN, Yael. Aspects of Material Culture, Realia and Medicine in the Works of Rabbi Hayyim Vital (1543-1620). PhD. Thesis. Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University, 2002.
BUCHMAN Yael. Life in the Shadow of the Plague. Jerusalem and Eretz-Israel 2 (2004), p. 51–75.
BUCHMAN, Yael; AMAR, Zohar. Practical Medicine of Rabbi Chayyim Vital (1543-1620): Healer in the Land of Israel and Vicinity. Jerusalem: Unit of the History of Medicine, Bar Ilan University, 2007.
DENIS, Alfred Godley (Trans.). Herodotus. The Histories. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1926.
DIMITROVSKY, Ḥaim. Z. A Dispute Between our Master Rabbi Yosef Karo and Rabbi Moses ben Joseph of Trani. Sfunot 6 (1962), p. 71-123.
DUFFIN, Cristopher. J. 'Fish', Fossil and Fake: Medicinal Unicorn Horn. In: DUFFIN, Cristopher J.; GARDNER-THORPE Cristopher; MOODY Richard T. J. Geology and Medicine: Historical Connections. London: The Geological Society, 2017. p. 211-260.
FOTHERINGHAM, Brian. The Unicorn and Its Influence on Pharmacy and Medicine. Pharmacy History Australia 10 (2000), p. 3–7.
FRAZER, James. Lectures on the Early History of the Kingship. London: Macmillan, 1905.
FRAZER, James G. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. New York: Macmillan, 1943.
HAMARNEH, Sami. Sources and Development of Arabic Medical Therapy and Pharmacology. Sudhoffs Archive 54 (1970), p. 30-48.
HARARI, Yuval. Jewish Magic Plates in the Modern Period: From the Islamic World to Israel. Pe'amim 110 (2007), p. 55-84.
HARARI, Yuval. Early Jewish Magic: Study, Method, Sources. Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik, Yad Yitzhak Ben-Zvi; The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2010.
HASSELQUIST, Fredrik. Voyages and Travels in the Levant in the Years 1749, 50, 51, 52: Containing Observations in Natural History, Physick, Agriculture and Commerce: Particularly on the Holy Land and the Natural History of the Scriptures. London: L. Davis and C. Reymers, 1776.
HAY, Keith A.; MANSFIELD Arthur W. Narwhal, Monodon Monoceros Linnaeus, 1758. In RIDGWAY Sam H.; HARRISON Richard J. (Ed.). Handbook of Marine Mammals, Volume 4: River Dolphins and the Larger Toothed Whales. London: Academic Press, 1989. p. 145–176.
HORT, Arthur. F. (Trans.). Theophrastus. Enquiry into Plants. Loeb Classical Library. London and New York: William Heinemann and G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916.
JACKSON, William. The Use of Unicorn Horn in Medicine. Pharmaceutical Journal 273 (2004), p. 925-927.
JOHNSGARD Paul A. & JOHNSGARD Karin. Dragons and Unicorns: A Natural History. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1982.
JONES, Horace Leonard (Trans.). Strabo. Geography. The Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1989.
KARO, Yosef. Avkat Rochel Responsa. Salonica: Mordechai and David, 1791.
KEMP, Betty. Sir Francis Dashwood's Diary of His Visit to St Petersburg in 1733. The Slavonic and East European Review 38[90] (1959), p. 194-222.
LEV, Efraim. Medicinal Substances in Jerusalem in the 10th-18th Centuries. In: AMAR Zhoar; LEV Efraim. (Ed.). Physicians, Drugs, and Remedies in Jerusalem from the 10th to the 18th Century. Tel Aviv: Eretz, 2000.
LEV, Efraim. Medicinal Substances of the Medieval Levant. Tel Aviv: Eretz. 2002.
LEVEY, Martin. Substitute Drugs in Early Arabic Medicine. Stuttgart: Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1971.
MACDONALD, David. W. (Ed.). The Encyclopedia of Mammals. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
MEAD, James.G.; BROWNELL Robert L. Jr. Family Monodontidae. In: WILSON Don E.; REEDER, Dee Ann. M. (Ed.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005.
MILLER, Dean. Legendary Creatures and Monsters. New York: Cavendish Square, 2014.
MOLCHO, Itzhaq R. Rabbi Moses ben Joseph of Trani HaMabit: One of the First Builders of the Galilee and His Time. In: ELMALIACH A. (Ed.). Hemdat Israel. Jerusalem: Misgav la-Dach, 1946. p. 147-156.
MUSAYOF MANUSCRIPT, n. 228, Ben Zvi Institute film no. 2675.
NICHOLS, Andrew G. (Trans. and Commentary). Ctesias. On India and Fragments of His Minor Works. London: Bloomsbury, 2011.
PLUSKOWSKI, A. Narwhals or Unicorns? Exotic Animals as Material Culture in Medieval Europe. European Journal of Archaeology 7[3], (2004), p. 291–313.
SCHOENBERGER, Guido. A Goblet of Unicorn Horn. ˆ 9[10] (1951), p. 284-288.
SCHOLFIELD, Alwyn Faber (ed. and trans.). Aelian. De natura animalium. The Loeb Classical Library. London: Heinemann, 1958-1959.
SHEFER-MOSSENSOHN, Miri. A Historiography of Epidemics in the Islamic Mediterranean. In: Varlik N. (Ed.). Plague and Contagion in the Islamic Mediterranean: New Histories of Disease in the Ottoman Society, Kalamazoo: Arc Humanities Press, 2017. p. 3-26.
SHEMESH, Abraham O. Deceits and Forgeries in Ancient Food Industry According to Rabbinical Literature: Reality and Legal Aspects. Jewish Law Association Studies, XVIII (2008). p. 244–262.
SHEMESH, Abraham O. Medical Materials in Medieval and Modern Jewish Literature: Pharmacology, History and Halakha. Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University Press, 2013.
SHEPARD, Odell. The Lore of the Unicorn. New York: Dover Publications, 2003.
TERANI Moses ben Yosef. Mabit Responsa. Venice: Kalioni, 1629.
ZIMMER, Carl. The Mystery of the Sea Unicorn. National Geographic (March 17, 2014). https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2014/03/18/the-mystery-of-the-sea-unicorn/ (accessed 15.10.2019)
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Published
2020-06-03
How to Cite
Shemesh, A. O. (2020). The Magic Tumbler for the Plague: Alicorn and its Medical-Occult Uses in 16th-17th Century Jewish Literature: Alicornand its Medical-Occult Uses in 16th-17th Century Jewish Literature. Arquivo Maaravi: Revista Digital De Estudos Judaicos Da UFMG, 14(26), 149–162. https://doi.org/10.35699/1982-3053.2020.21725
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