Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam here. If you've heard of frankensense and mirr, it's probably thanks to the biblical account of the birth of Jesus. According to the Book of Matthew, chapter two, wise men followed a bright star in the east of Bethlehem to where Jesus had been born and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and mir during the Christmas season. Depictions of this event are ubiquitous and American culture decorating
churches and shopping malls alike. But don't let the shiny tinsel and festive candy canes distract you from our question today, what exactly are frankensense and mirror? Both frankensense and mirr are derived from tree sap or gum resin and are prized for their alluring fragrances. Frankensense is a milky white resin extracted from species of the genus Boswellia, which thrive in arid, cool areas of the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa,
and India. The finest and most aramatic of this species is boss Whelia sacra, a small tree that grows in Somalia, Oman and Yemen. These plants, which grow to a height of about sixteen feet or five meters, have papery bark, sparse branches of paired leaves, and flowers with white petals and a yellow or red center. Mirr is a reddish resin that comes from species of the genus Comophora, which are native to Northeast Africa and the adjacent areas of
the Arabian Peninsula. Come afore Miura, a tree commonly used in the production of mirror, can be found in the shallow, rocky soils of Ethiopia, Kenya, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Somalia. It boasts shiny branches with sparse leaves that grow in groups of three, and it can reach a height of nine feet or about three meters. The process for extracting the sap of these trees is essentially identical. Harvesters make a longitudinal cut in the tree's trunk, which pierces gun
resin reservoir is located within the bark. The sap slowly oozes out from the cut and drips down the tree, forming tear shaped droplets that are left to harden on the side of the tree. These beads are collected after two weeks. People in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsul had produced frankinsense and mur for some five thousand years. For much of this time, these Aramedic resins were the region's most important commodity, with a trade network that reached
across Africa, Asia, and Europe. Today demand for frankinsense and murr has subsided a bit, but numerous Chinese, Greek, Latin, and Sanscrit texts remind us of their past importance. Frankin sense and mur were desired for personal, religious, and medicinal use. In a time before daily bathing, people would use the sweet smoke from the resins to make themselves smell better.
Egyptian women would mix frankinsense ash into their eyeshadow. These substances were also widely used in religious ceremonies and burials. According to the Greek writer Herodotus, the Egyptians used both frankinsense and mur in preparation of animal sacrifices and human mummies. Jews incorporated them into their religious ceremonies by the third century b C. And Christians by the fourth century CE.
The residents also had medical uses, and the Papyrus Ebers from fiftd b c. E. Priests recommended both resins for the treatment of wounds. Other ailments they were once reported to cure included hemlock, poisoning, leprosy, worms, snake bites, diarrhea, plague, scurvy, and even baldness. The high demand for franken sense and murr created a booming trade in the Middle East, lasting
several hundred years in the first century CE. Around the height of this trade, plenty of the Elder claimed that Arabia produced approximately one thousand, six hundred and eighty tons about fifteen hundred metric tons of frankincense and around four hundred and forty eight tons or four hundred metric tons of murr each year. One of the most important trade
centers surrounded an oasis in modern day southern Oman. This outpost exported franken sense across Mesopotamia, India, and China for about three hundred b c E to the third century c E. The ruins of the settlement remain as a UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Land of Frankincense. Clearly, frankinsense and mirr were widely available when the wise men visited the baby Jeesus around five b C, and would have been considered practical gifts with many uses. The expensive
resins were symbolic as well. A frankincense, which was often burned, symbolized prayer rising to the heavens like smoke, while mirr, which was often used in embalming, symbolized death. So scholars think that frankinsense was presented to the infant Jesus to symbolize his later role as a high priest for believers, while murr symbolized his later death and burial. Frankinsense and mirr may not be as popular as they once were, but they're still used today in some ways that you
might not expect. Their common ingredients in modern perfumes and cosmetics, continuing a tradition that's lasted thousands of years. Scientists are finding new uses for the substances as well. A recent study suggest that frankinsense or its extracts may help in treating asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, Crown's disease, and osteoarthritis. Researchers have also discovered possible benefits of mirror in the treatment of gastric ulcers, tumors, and parasites. Today's episode was written by
Clute Pumfrey and produced by Tyler Clay. For more on this and lots of other spicy topics, visit our home planet, how Stuff Works dot com