Anise and Ancient Egyptian Pharmacopoeia

Győry, Hedvig and Héthelyi B., Éva (2020) Anise and Ancient Egyptian Pharmacopoeia. In: Aegyptus et Pannonia VI. Health and Life in Ancient Egypt. Mummies in Focus Proceedings of the Conference held 27-29th August 2019, Budapest. Magyar-Egyiptomi Baráti Társaság, Ókori Egyiptomi Bizottság, Budapest, pp. 185-250. ISBN 9786150103617

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Abstract

Today one of the best known commercial spicies is the fruit of the umbelliferious plant, anise (Pimpinella anisum L.) used for culinary, liguor, cosmetic or medicinal purposes. Its sweet flavour and essential oil are much appreciated. Called "vansoun" in Arabic, it is cultivated all over the Mediterranean, and also in Hungary — from the time of the Roman occupation. However, it has been cultivated since pharaonic Egypt, and ancient Egyptians used it to various purposes. But when did they start to eat it, and can we identify it with an ancient Egyptian name, namely the ineset (j7s1)-plant? The ancient Egyptian way of using the ineset is discussed here, based on written pharaonic sources and concepts, and compared with the knowledge concerning anise that is found in Classical medical literature. As aniseed is often administered in popular medicine, ethnopharmacy and ethnobotany provide copious comparative material to study the possible role of aniseed in traditional treatments and prescriptions. The results of modern scientific analyses are also discussed, both from literature and based on self produced essential oil (Clevenger steam distillation and GC/MS method), to investigate the phytochemical properties and composition of the fruit of the anise and to determine whether the ancient Egyptian usage of the ineset-plant could fit into the picture we have of aniseed.

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