List of substitutions from the Greek Magical Papyri

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List of substitutions from the Greek Magical Papyri

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PGM XII 401

Interpretations of Herbs and Other Ingredients

Which the Temple Scribes employed, from the Holy Writings, in
translation. Because of the Curiosity of the Masses they [i.e., the
scribes] inscribed the Names of the Herbs and Other Things which
they employed on the Statues of the Gods, so that they [the
masses], since they do not take Precaution, might not practice
Magic, [being prevented] by the Consequence of their
Misunderstanding, But we have collected the explanations from
many Copies, all of them Secret.

A snake's head: a leech
A snake's "ball of thread": this means soapstone
Blood of a snake: hematite
A bone of an ibis: this is buckthorn
Blood of a hyrax: truly of a hyrax
"Tears" of a Hamadryas baboon: dill juice
Crocodile dung: Ethiopian soil
Blood of a Hamadryas baboon: blood of a spotted gecko
Lion semen: human semen
Blood of Hephaistos: wormwood
Hairs of a Hamadryas baboon: dill seed
Semen of Hermes: dill
Blood of Ares: purslane
Blood of an eye: tamarisk gall
Blood from a shoulder: bear's breach
From the loins: camomile
A man's bile: turnip sap
A pig's tail: leopard's bane
A physician's bone: sandstone
Blood of Hestia: camomile
An eagle: wild garlic(?)
Blood of a goose: a mulberry tree's "milk"
Kronos' spice: piglet's milk
A lion's hairs: "tongue" of a turnip
Kronos' blood: ... of cedar
Semen of Helios: white hellebore
Semen of Herakles: this is mustard-rocket
[A Titan's] blood: wild lettuce
Blood from a head: lupine
A bull's semen: egg of a blister beetle
A hawk's heart: heart of wormwood
Semen of Hephaistos: this is fleabane
Semen of Ammon: houseleek
Semen of Ares: clover
Fat from a head: spurge
From the belly: earth-apple
From the foot: houseleek.

[Similar lists can be found in De succedaneis transmitted among
the works of Galen, Claudii Galeni Opera Omnia (Kuehn, ed.), vol.
19, 721-47; adapted version in Paul of Aegina, Paulus Aegineta,
Corpus Medicorum Graecorum IX/2 (Heiberg, ed.), vol. II, 401-8;
and in Dioscorides' Materia Medica.]

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