What is it good for? Think Gene reports:
In a new study appearing online in The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org), an international team of scientists, including researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, describe how burning frankincense (resin from the Boswellia plant) activates poorly understood ion channels in the brain to alleviate anxiety or depression. . . . .
To determine incense’s psychoactive effects, the researchers administered incensole acetate to mice. They found that the compound significantly affected areas in brain areas known to be involved in emotions as well as in nerve circuits that are affected by current anxiety and depression drugs. Specifically, incensole acetate activated a protein called TRPV3, which is present in mammalian brains and also known to play a role in the perception of warmth of the skin. When mice bred without this protein were exposed to incensole acetate, the compound had no effect on their brains.
Frankincense comes from trees (as shown above) which "originated in the Dhofar valley . . . and were of great economic importance to such figures as the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon.
The Queen of Sheba reigned over the Hadramut Kingdom which included Dhofar. Recent evidence also shows that frankincense was exported to China during the Ming Dynasty!
The frankincense trade peaked at the time of the Roman Empire, in the first century BC. The Emperor Nero burned it by the ton at religious ceremonies and frankincense was also found in Tutankhamun's tomb. This frankincense trade lasted for some fifteen hundred years and declined partly through the drop in demand for religious use and the fall of the Roman Empire and partly because of the ridiculous taxes levied along the strictly controlled trade route.
There is nothing about this non-descript tree in Oman to suggest that it is the source of a substance which, for at least five millennia, was one of the most prized substances in the civilized world, valued as highly as gold and the gift of kings.Frankincense was and still is very far from being just a lovely fragrance; not is its extraordinary symbolic value confined to its healing powers, which range from treatment of psychological conditions such as depression and claustrophobia to physical ones such as eczema and abscesses. The best quality frankincense is grown in what is now the Dhofar region of Oman centered around the town of Salalah as mentioned above. The Roman historian Pliny described it as "brilliant white and gathered at dawn in drops or tears in the shape of pearls".
These 'pearls', these small pieces of resin were so prized that Alexander the Great planned to invade Arabia in order to control the trade in incense at its point of origin, a plan thwarted only by his death.
This frankincense was used in staggering quantities - according to ancient documents, the annual consumption of incense in the temple of Baal at Babylon was 2½ tons. Some 2,000 years ago, Dhofar was reported to export 3,000 tons of the incense every year!
Scribal points to the first commenter to tell us what myrrh is. And the laurel wreath goes to HA HA HA who defined it as a valalabal bomb (translated from Arlingtonese as "a valuable balm.") It's made from the resin of the myrrh tree found in places like Ethiopia and Yemen, so another point to CG Hill for elaborating.
itsa valalubal bomb!
Posted by: HA HA HA | June 07, 2008 at 08:48 PM
Yes, but what kind of valalubal bomb is it? Be resinable. And is it available in Gilead?
Posted by: gail | June 07, 2008 at 10:17 PM
If I remember correctly, myrrh was one of the higher-priced resins, mostly because you had to venture into places like Yemen to find it.
Posted by: CGHill | June 07, 2008 at 10:52 PM
A bomb? Right, that's disgusting, out!!!
Posted by: Scott P | June 08, 2008 at 12:26 PM
So the the "Magi" (Hippy slang for pushers) gave the baby Jesus Prozac... hmmm.. That certainly shines a new light on the story.
Posted by: Jake | June 09, 2008 at 09:06 AM