Olive oil or olea europaea has been used for thousands of years. Notable physicians who wrote ancient medicine books which influenced our healing wisdom have documented the botanicals and natural ingredients they use to make medicines. They also wrote recipes and applications on how they will be consumed by an ill person. Olive oil, which is an abundant and known oil during that time was not only regularly used for food but also in medicine, that’s why you’ll see some recipes of medicine in ancient medical books that are made of olive oil. Below are ancient olive oil medicinal recipes that can be found in the book of Dioscorides.
1. Poison medicament
when olive oil is being given to treat poisons, olive oil must be taken immediately and vomited up again. It was believed that a half-pint of olive oil can purge.
To prepare olive oil as a poison medicament, the poisoned person must take olive oil as a drink with the same amount of barley water or with water.
2. deworming, purging
For those who are troubled with griping, and need to expel worms from their body, six glassfuls of olive oil that are boiled with rue must be taken as a drink. For a more heating and violently dispersing effect, older olive oil must be used. This is administered to obstruct the intestines.
3. eyesight sharpening
Olive oil can also be used to concoct a good ointment to sharpen eyesight. If there is no old oil at hand, new oil must be mixed. You can do this by pouring the olive oil into a jar, then boiling it until it’s similar to the thickness of honey.
These recipes are probably rampantly used during those times. However, due to the advancement of medical knowledge, these recipes may no longer be used to treat or cure some illnesses. They may have therapeutic effects, however, we can’t verify their efficacy as research on this is lacking.
Understand the roots ❤
References:
- TA Osbaldeston, RPA Wood., The Herbal of Dioscorides the Greek (Modern English Version) 2000
Oil Therapy 