malabathron or malobat(h)rum iden-
tified as either Cinnamomum tamala
Nees., or C. iners Blume, or C. zeylanicum
Blume, or other related species, mala-
bathron is either the leaf of the “true”
cinnamon (generally labeled as simply
C. verum), from which a distilled oil
is extracted, or else the Chinese
patchouli-plant, Pogostemon patchouli
Lab. [or Pellet.], which also yields a
steam-distilled oil. S 15.1.57;
P M 1.2.11; D-
, MM 1.12.1–2 (malabathron is
said to be an “Indian spikenard,”
which he says is wrong, since one is
easily misled by the “similarity of its
scent to that of Cretan spikenard”); P 12.129; P Geography 7.2.15–16;
Miller 1969: 74–77 (inclining against a Chinese or Philippine source); Usher 1974: 473
(patchouli, “.. .often associated with fabrics from the East, where the plant is used as an
insect repellant in cloth”); M.G. Raschke, “New Studies in Roman Commerce with the
East,” ANRW 2.9.2 (1978) 604–1361 (see “The Spice Trade,” pp. 650–655 with nn.
1002 – 1127: extreme skepticism about all “Far Eastern spices,” except for pepper, in the
classical world); J.W. Purseglove et al., Spices 2 vv. (1981) 1.100–173 (“Cinnamon and
Cassia”, esp. 126–129: “Cinnamon leaf oil (from C. verum)”); André 1985: 151– 152
(favoring patchouli); Casson 1989: 241 (reasonably suggesting that it was imported into
the Mediterranean world by the Augustan era, probably from Sri Lanka and southern
India, perhaps from points further north and east); Durling 1993: 283.
See also: A, A, A S, A (P.),
B, D (P.), E, F “ ,” I
A, K, K, M , M (P.),
N (P.), P B, P, P
(P.), Z, Z M.
mastic(h) (Grk.: mastikhe ̄) brittle, pale-yellow, clear gum of some Pistacia sp., often
chewed, cf. terebinth. D, MM 1.70; G, Simples 7.12.6 (12.68–69 K.);
Langenheim 2003: 385–390; BNP 8 (2006) 451, R. Hurschmann (who identifies as
Pistacia lentiscus L.). (Mastic is still produced on Khios.)
See also: A S, A C, A (P.),
B, D (P.), K (P.), L, P
(M.), T, T, T.
melothesia system of correspondences between various parts of the human body and
the 12 zodiacal constellations in connection with the planets, which were held to govern
the specific body parts.
D (A.), H T, H C (P),
M, P. M. 3.149, P (T), D P.
Methodists sect of medical practice (so labeled from their “method” of grouping dis-
eases into either “chronic” or “acute” classes) founded either by T or by
T T; they sometimes claimed an intellectual heritage stemming
Malabathron, Mount Athos
GLOSSARY