Un inedito contenitore di lýkion da Pompei
In: Archeologia Classica: 54, 2004
Permalink: http://digital.casalini.it/2996936
A small black-glazed medicine bottlefrom a residual digging context from the Triangular
Forum of Pompeii, bears the stamped inscription λύκιον. This is the name af an ancient collyrium,
well known from 55 small jars bearing the stamped name, found in many spots in the middle-eastern Mediterranean.
The jar from Pompeii (datable between the
3rd and 2nd
centuries B.C.) presents, beneath the
inscription, a monogram which is not easy to explain. The author proposes, as one possible
interpretation of this part of the epigraph, that it is an adjective specifying the type of λύκιον
contained in the bottle: διάσμ(υρνον), "prepared with myrrh".
This word is known only from
literary sources (such as Galenus) and ostraka, but the Latin stamps of the Gaulish eye doctors
attest the existence of an eyewash called
collyrium diasmyrnes,
which seems to be the translation
of λύκιον διάσμ(υρνον).
The stamp also bears two little figures representing two
omphaloi.
This reference to the
Apollinean cult, also attested on other , λύκιον-bottles guarantees the product's quality, certified by
the symbols of the
father of Asklepios.