Historians, archaeologists and other pundits still argue hotly about what caused the fall of the great Roman Empire. Some are inclined to blame the lead contained in the food of the Romans and greatly undermined their health. Others sin with barbarians, "dark times", resettlement and numerous wars. And only recently, botanical experts put forward a version that the miracle herb called Sylph is to blame. And a powerful contraceptive, which was created on its basis by the ancient Aesculapians …
About 2,600 years ago, around 630 BC. the Greek island of Tera literally shuddered under the weight of local residents. There were so many islanders that they did not have enough food or water, the dry summer forced the Greeks to think about a new homeland. The elders of the island decided: you need to gather a detachment of brave sons and daughters of the fatherland and send them on a long sea voyage in search of a better home. There was even a competition on Thera to find the most suitable Columbus and their companions. And, I must say, the elders were not mistaken in their choice. With caution going out to sea and heading south, sailors eventually reached the north of Africa - the territory of modern Libya. Here they founded the city and gave it the name of one of the mythical lovers of Apollo Cyrene. It became the capital of the Cyrenaica resettlement republic.
At first, the affairs of the inhabitants of Cyrene were neither shaky nor shaky. But then the Greeks, in the course of exploring their new homeland, found a seemingly unremarkable grass among unfamiliar plants. It was this find that became the guarantee of the well-being of the young state for many years.
Sylphium or laser (Greek silphion, lat. Silphium, silpium, laser), on a dry slope of the Mediterranean coast, was discovered by an unknown Greek woman, whose name has long been forgotten by ungrateful descendants. Outwardly, sylphium looked most like a large dill - so it is not surprising that it was initially used as a culinary seasoning or cooked as a side dish for lamb stew. The plant is mentioned in a collection of recipes attributed to the legendary Roman gourmet Apicius: from it you can learn how to make a fragrant seasoning with sylphium and pine nuts. Apicius himself went broke on expensive dishes and feasts, and then committed suicide due to the fact that he could no longer lead a life "at the level" …
Essential oils were squeezed out of sylphia flowers and used in fragrant tinctures. Later, the oily juice of wild fennel was used in the treatment of cough, sore throat, fever, indigestion, epilepsy, poisonous arrow and many other unpleasant ailments. But the main properties of the miracle plant turned out to be unexpected and piquant. Sylphius became the first natural and at the same time very effective … contraceptive. It was enough to drink a potion "for a new moon" once a month, so as not to worry about the appearance of unwanted offspring. The plant eventually became such a powerful pillar of the Cyrenaica economy that the inhabitants even immortalized its image on gold and silver coins. On the ersatz of silver denarii, a woman with a royal bearing was depicted, touching the sylphia bush or the heart-shaped fruits of the plant. It is the fruits of sylphia,as many historians believe, were the prototype of the modern symbol of love.
The fame of the miracle dill spread at a marathon rate: soon all of ancient Europe, Africa and Asia "got hooked" on the new drug, the universal contraceptive market developed rapidly. The seeds were actively used by the most developed nations at that time: Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and Indians. In a huge plus for those who like to "fool around" was not only a contraceptive, but also an effective stimulating effect.
The Roman poet Catullus referred to Sylphius in his love lyrics, saying that his beloved will receive as many kisses as there are Sylphia bushes growing on the banks of Cyrene.
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At the same time, the sylphium was by no means cheap. About the plant, the Greek playwright Aristophanes wrote in the play "The Horsemen": "Do you remember that the stem of the sylphium was sold so cheaply?" It was considered a gift from Apollo and was sold for its weight in silver. Julius Caesar at the beginning of the civil war took from the public treasury, along with gold and silver, about half a ton of "dill". It was a tribute to the people of Cyrenaica.
With such a huge demand, the miracle plant very soon became not enough. The harvesting was carried out on a coastal area of 10 thousand square kilometers - it would be punishable by a good plantation, but so that the needs of Hellas, not to mention other states, are clearly
insufficient. The citizens tried their best to expand the territory where the sylph could grow, but the efforts were unsuccessful. The capricious plant simply did not lend itself to cultivation.
Apparently, only the climate of a small zone in the Mediterranean Sea was suitable for the wonderful grass. To save the national treasure, the leadership of Cyrenaica went, as they say today, to unpopular measures - they simply sharply reduced the collection of sylphium.
Both local residents and rare foreigners did not disdain smuggling, but the wonder-dill plantation was heavily guarded. The natural scarcity that this measure created in the ancient contraceptive market pushed up the price of sylphium even further. Cyrenaica held firmly to the monopoly.
For several hundred years, the state flourished thanks to the explosive growth of the Sylphium. Fennel seeds gained such widespread fame that they were eventually sold for their weight in silver. Unlike many herbal medicines popular at the time, scientists and doctors spoke about the effectiveness of Sylphium as a contraceptive. The foremost gynecologist of ancient Rome, a physician named Sonarus, wrote that women should drink sylphium juice diluted with water every month to avoid pregnancy. Or alternatively soak a bunch of wool with juice and use as a tampon. While the miracle dill was actively sold throughout the Mediterranean, the birth rate in the Roman Empire fell significantly. And this despite the fact that life expectancy increased, citizens ate better and more varied,and there were not so many wars and epidemics. Historians attribute the decrease in the empire's citizens to the effectiveness of the sylphium.
Unfortunately, modern science is no longer destined to confirm or deny the contraceptive recipe recommended by the ancient Aesculapius. In the first century AD, after fifty years of gradual impoverishment of the sylph plantation, the Roman historian Pliny the Elder made a sad entry in his diaries about the disappearance of the plant. The last remaining stem was cut off and sent to Rome with great honors: “In the memory of the present generation, a single plant was found there, which was
sent to the emperor Nero as a curiosity,” wrote Pliny. Thus ended the 600-year era of reliable birth control.
The reason why the miraculous plant disappeared from the face of the earth is still not known. The most reasonable explanation is that the crops were harvested more often than he had time to grow and give seeds. Livestock also said its "word" ~ protecting the plantation from goat raids was even more difficult than from the intrigues of smugglers. In 74 BC. e. Cyrenaica became a Roman province. From year to year, a new senator was appointed in it, each of whom not only kept order, but was also pretty concerned about how to fill his pockets during his short reign.
And the source of wealth was, of course, the sylphium. It is also possible that the plant's habitat has reduced natural desertification and gradual climate change. And there is a version that the giant wild dill did not disappear anywhere: some argue that Ferula tigitana, which grows in North Africa, is Sylphium. This opinion is contradicted by the fact that it grew even before our era, but none of the ancient Greeks and Romans was particularly interested in its properties.
Since the days of the magic "dill" science has researched many herbal remedies that are effective in the problem of contraception, and not very much. In the following centuries, peppermint and a plant known as Queen Anne's lace were used extensively. One of the types of dill, called in Greek "asafoetida", or smelly ferula - because of the sharp garlic smell, has survived to this day and even became part of the famous Worcestershire sauce. And modern laboratory tests have proven that plants from the umbrella family, when used correctly, can provide no worse birth control than hormone-based contraceptives.
Today scientists call the disappearance of sylphium one of the first blunders of humanity in ecology. If the properties of the plant were really that high, then its use could easily and safely solve the problem of birth control. But greed and shortsightedness did their job: the first herbal contraceptive was preserved only in the works of ancient scientists.
Svetlana KONDRASHOVA