Myth and Facts on Calotropis Procera: an Overview

Munguía Girón, Francisco José (2022) Myth and Facts on Calotropis Procera: an Overview. In: Aegyptus et Pannonia VIII. : Acta Symposii anno 2021. Magyar-Egyiptomi Baráti Társaság, Ókori Egyiptomi Bizottság, Budapest, pp. 43-62. ISBN 978-615-6571-02-1

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Abstract

The article is focused on Calotropis procera (Aiton) Dryand. (Sodom apple), plant used as source of medicines and curative preparations since remote times. Currently it has different uses depending on the region where it is grown and range from medicinal, artisanal to even ritual use. Main components of the plants are cardiotonic glycosides, which have constituted, apart from their therapeutic effects, a defense mechanism of the plants themselves against herbivores and a mean of protection against insects that feed from them. One of the latter ones is a lepidopteran, the Danaus chrysippus butterfly (African monarch or plain tiger), which accumulates these glycosides in the chitinous structures of the thorax and abdomen, causing immediate vomiting in birds that try to devour them. This butterfly is the most often represented in the funerary repertoire of the tombs of Ancient Egypt, which has led to a strong debate on the interpretation among specialists. In our study, we have analyzed a significant number of tombs illustrating this lepidopteran, and representative from various periods of the ancient Egyptian history, from the Old Kingdom to the 18th Dynasty, concluding that the symbolic aspect is outstanding. We based our interpretation on the constant presence of this species compared to others that also inhabit the marsh areas, its depictions on the papyrus thickets where also Calotropis plants grow, or the plant’s association with the goddess Hathor.

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