Folio 90v of the Naples Dioscurides with
illustrations of the Mandrake, Naples Dioscurides
is an early 7th-century Greek herbal
Robert Bateman:
'Three Women Plucking Mandrakes', ca. 1870
link
illustrations of the Mandrake, Naples Dioscurides
is an early 7th-century Greek herbal
Robert Bateman:
'Three Women Plucking Mandrakes', ca. 1870
link
Medieval engraving of anthropomorphized
mandrake roots: male and female
Johann Prüß: 'Hortus sanitatis', Straßburg, 1497
link
Mandragora, from Tacuinum Sanitatis, 1474
According to the legend, when the root is dug up
it screams and kills all who hear it...we all know that!
'A furrow must be dug around the root until its
lower part is exposed, then a dog is tied to it after
which the person tying the dog must get away.
The dog then endeavours to follow him, and so
easily pulls up the root, but dies suddenly
instead of his master. After this the root
can be handled without fear
Josephus (ca. AD 37 Jerusalem – ca. 100)
link
Mandragora, from Tacuinum Sanitatis, 1474
According to the legend, when the root is dug up
it screams and kills all who hear it...we all know that!
'A furrow must be dug around the root until its
lower part is exposed, then a dog is tied to it after
which the person tying the dog must get away.
The dog then endeavours to follow him, and so
easily pulls up the root, but dies suddenly
instead of his master. After this the root
can be handled without fear
Josephus (ca. AD 37 Jerusalem – ca. 100)
link
4 comments:
Wonderful illustrations, thank you for sharing x
...and thank you for your comment! Welcome to the Polar Bear!!
Thank you for beautiful illustrations about the Mandrake Roots, (Mandrágora in Spanish) I recently posted the etymologic significance of the word Mandrágora in my blog, for this reason I found your site. I liked also your description about snow. I’m from a tropical country in South America, I don’t meet snow personally, we have just two climate differences around the year: sun or dry season and rainy season. Regards, Maria
Hi María! It sounds so interesting about your blog! Thanks for telling me about it.
You've never seen snow? Snow is strange and magical. One Christmas when I returned at my hometown I met a guy at the railway station...he had never seen snow (either) and he asked me if it was snow comeing down from the skye. Yes, it was...and he was so fascinated that he tried to catch the snowflakes in the air.
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