as the ‘tears of Horus’, the god of the Sun and Moon. It is thought that the Egyptians came by both land and sea to collect these resins before 2000 BC and trade reached as far as Rome and China. Descriptions of this trade are detailed in later scripts of Greek, Roman and Indian authors. With domestication of the camel in 1100 BC, trade in frankincense and myrrh greatly increased as the camels could take the odiferous resins across the Arabian landscape.
Great quantities of these incenses were burnt at ceremonies. During the Roman rule these resins were demanded in tax from the people of Arabia for use in Roman ceremonies. In Jewish ceremony, frankincense is one of four ‘sweet scents,’ and formed part of the meet offering. It was also presented with the shew-bread every Sabbath day. Religious use of incense was also common in ancient Persia, Babylon and Assyria. The incense was brought by the Arabs every year as a tribute to Darius, the King of Persia in the 5th Century. The Parsis, who fled Persia to escape persecution at the hands of Arab conquerors in the 8th Century, brought the resin with them to India. Modern Parsis of Western India still preserve the ritual of burning the incense. Christian churches adopted various uses for the incenses from preceding cultures.
Medicinal Uses
Frankincense and myrrh were commonly used throughout history as medicine. The Papyrus Ebers, the oldest preserved medical document that comes from Egypt around 1550, describes how the resins were used for mummification and for treating wounds and skin sores.
Historically, frankincense was taken orally as a stimulant. Early century healers used it as a cure for hemlock poisoning, tumors, ulcers, vomiting,