Myrrh, the bitter tree resin once worth an Egyptian royal expedition
Myrrh starts as a wound. Slash the bark of certain thorny Commiphora trees and they bleed a waxy gum that hardens into glossy yellow lumps. Egyptian kings sent ships for it, Nabataean caravans grew rich taxing it, and churches still burn it today, all for a resin whose name simply means bitter.
Harvesters cut the trees repeatedly so that resin seeps from the sapwood and quickly congeals. Fresh gum is yellowish, clear or cloudy, and darkens with age as white streaks appear. The main source, Commiphora myrrha, grows wild in Somalia, Yemen, Oman, Eritrea, Ethiopia's Somali Region and parts of Saudi Arabia; Arabian myrrh traded as meetiga is gummier and more brittle than the Somali kind and lacks its pale markings. The English word traces back through the Hebrew mor to a Semitic root, m-r-r, meaning bitter.
Its history is long. King Sahure of Egypt's 5th dynasty recorded the earliest known voyage to Punt, in the Horn of Africa, which returned loaded with myrrh, frankincense and exotic animals including cheetahs and baboons. Centuries later the historian Diodorus Siculus described Nabataean caravans hauling it from southern Arabia to Petra, whose place on the Incense Route let them control and tax the trade across the Mediterranean.
Religious texts are full of it. In Exodus, Moses is told to put 500 shekels of liquid myrrh into the sacred anointing oil, and it was part of the consecrated incense burned in the Jerusalem temples. The Gospel of Matthew lists it among the magi's three gifts; Mark says Jesus was offered wine mixed with myrrh at the crucifixion; and John describes about 100 pounds of myrrh and aloes used at his burial. Orthodox, Catholic and Anglican churches still burn it with frankincense, and a hadith urges believers to perfume their homes with myrrh smoke.
Medicine borrowed it too, as an antiseptic in mouthwashes and toothpastes and in salves for bruises, sprains and toothache. Claims that it helps coughs, ulcers, arthritis or cancer still lack good scientific support, though some of its compounds appear to act on the brain's opioid pathways. Unrelated products share its name: the myrrh beads worn around the hips by married women in Mali are made from crushed seeds of a West African tree.
Source: Myrrh
