232 HAUPT— MANNA, NECTAR, AND AMBROSIA. 



solid or liquid fats charged with odors. PHny's statement (13, 2) 

 that scented unguents were unknown at the time of the Trojan war 

 is incorrect. Fats and oils absorb odors. Perfumes are extracted 

 from flowers by the agency of inodorous fats (enfleiirage). One of 

 the most precious unguents was the nard-ointment, and according to 

 Pliny (12, 43) nard-oil had a red color (color rufus). Also the 

 color of myrrh, which was used as a perfume (Ps. 45. 8 ; Prov. 7, 17 ; 

 Cant. I, 13; 5, 5) and as an antiseptic for embalming (John 19. 39), 

 varies from pale reddish-yellow to red or reddish-brown. Achilles's 

 mother, Thetis (JHUC 306, 34) injected ambrosia and red nectar 

 (Gr. nekfar crythron) through the nostrils of his slain friend Pa- 

 troclus to preserve his body (//. 19, 40). According to Herodotus 

 (2, 86) the Egyptian embalmers removed the brains through the 

 nostrils by means of a bent iron implement, injecting drugs, while 

 the intestines were drawn out through an incision in the left side, 

 whereupon the abdominal cavity was cleansed with date-brandy 

 (JHUC 287, 33) and filled with myrrh, cassia, and other materials, 

 and the opening sewed up ; finally the body was steeped for 70 days 

 in a solution of natron, i.e. native carbonate of sodium, which is 

 found in some of the lakes of Egypt. On the other hand, the body 

 of Alexander the Great is said to have been embalmed with honey 

 (EB119, 306'^). 



At the command of Zeus, Apollo bathed the body of the Lycian 

 prince Sarpedon, who had been slain by Patroclus, in a river and 

 anointed it with ambrosia (//. 16, 670.680). Hera cleansed (Gr. 

 katheren) herself with ambrosia and anointed herself with fragrant 

 ambrosian oil (//. 14, 170; cf. Judith 16, 8). This was no soap, as 

 has been suggested, but a scented massage cream. Massage, which 

 is the oldest of all therapeutic means, is alluded to in Homer: in the 

 Odyssey heroes returning from battle are rubbed and kneaded by 

 female massers. Massage is derived from Arab, massada (cf. Syr. 

 ftiesdsa, touching, groping; Heb. masds, to grope; Ass. masdsii and 

 pasdsu, to rub; JBL 39, 159). In Est. 2, 12 massage is called 

 tamriiqim, rubs : the oil of myrrh had an antiseptic effect and purified 

 the skin ; the balms or sweet odors perfumed the body ; the rubs made 

 the skin white and soft, and improved the figure {Est. 22) . Shampoo 



