A Survey of Birds and Fabulous Stones

Bibliographic Data

ID8934953
AuthorsChristopher J Duffin (0000-0001-9838-2753, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume123
Issue2
Pages179-197
Publication date2012-06-25
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueFolklore (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0015-587X • E-ISSN: 1469-8315
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0015587x.2012.682477
OpenAlexW2058082593
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited17

The records of fabulous stones associated with birds are here examined systematically for the first time. Some were purported to be obtained from within the bird and others obtained from the nest. Zahir mora, the Adjutant Bird Stone, was used against snake bite, whilst Alectorius (the Cock Stone), Aetites (the Eagle Stone) and Vulturis (the Vulture Stone) shared a multiplicity of medicinal applications. Quirin (the Hoopoe Stone), Chloritis (the Wagtail Stone) and Corvina (the Crow Stone) supposedly possessed occult powers. The Penguin Stone, Ostrich Stone and Pigeon Stone were probably gastroliths. Acknowledgements It is a pleasure to thank Renzo Console for his assistance with some of the early Latin texts consulted for this paper. The British Library, the Geological Society of London and the Wellcome Library kindly gave access to the many volumes consulted during the preparation of this paper. The Wellcome Library kindly gave permission to reproduce the figure of the Eagle Stone amulet. I am grateful to Dr Bruce Marcot (Portland, Oregon) for permission to use his photograph of the Greater Adjutant Bird, and to Dr W. D. Ian Rolfe for his constructive comments at the review stage. Notes [1] Zingerle (1874 Zingerle, Ignazvon. 1874. Älterer tirolischer Dicter, Vol. 1, Innsbruck: Wagner'schen Universitäts-Buchhandlung. [Google Scholar])—the lines (7841–43) read "etleich die legent des withopfen herzen des nachtes auf die slafenden leut." [2] Isidore (Lindsay 1911 Lindsay, Wallace Martin. 1911. Isidori Hispalensis Episcopi Etymologiarum Sive Originum. Libri XX, Vol. 2, Oxford: Clarendon Press. [Google Scholar]): "Vpupam Graeci appellant eo quod stercora humana consideret, et foetenti pascatur fimo; avis spurcissima, cristis extantibus galeata, semper in sepulcris et humano stercore commorans. Cuius sanguine quisquis se inunxerit, dormitum pergens daemones suffocantes se videbit. Tucos, quos Hispani ciculos vocant, a voce propria nominates." [3] Philip de Thaon (c. 1211), lines 2598–2604: "Que huppe at tel nature: Ki del sanc urne uindreit Quant il se dormireit, Diable i vendreient, Estrangler le voldreient, Ço li sereit avis, Dune fereit mult halz criz." [4] One commentator identifies "Phene" as a type of vulture (Beck 2005 Beck, Lily. 2005. Pedanius Dioscorides of Anazarbus De Materia Medica. Altertumswissenschaftliche Texte und Studien 38, Hildesheim: Olms-Weidmann. [Google Scholar], 106). No stone is mentioned in Dioscorides's text, although he does indicate that a draught obtained from the stomach of this bird is used to treat kidney stones. Other commentators identify this bird either as Falco ossifragus (Linnaeus 1758 Linnaeus, Carolus. 1758. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Tomus I, Holmiae: Laurentii Salvii. [Google Scholar]), a Sea Eagle, or Pandion haliaetus (Linnaeus 1758 Linnaeus, Carolus. 1758. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Tomus I, Holmiae: Laurentii Salvii. [Google Scholar]), the Osprey or Fish Eagle (Gunther 1968 Gunther, Robert Theodore. 1968. The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides illustrated by a Byzantine A.D. 512, Englished by John Goodyer A.D. 1655, Edited and first printed A.D. 1933, London: Hafner. [Google Scholar], 105; Osbaldeston and Wood 2000 Osbaldeston, Tess Anne and Wood, Robert P. 2000. Dioscorides De Materia Medica. Being an Herbal with Many Other Medicinal Materials Written in Greek in the First Century of the Common Era, Johannesburg: Ibidis Press. [Google Scholar], 204). [5] Philes Cap. 5: 150–1: "Hoc dissecto aliquis inveniet calculos, qui tormenta levant infirmitatis oculorum." See Du ̈bner 1857, 6

Archaeology · Biology · Eagle · Geography · Nest (protein structural motif · Vulture · Zoology · Ancient Near East History · Bird parasitology and diseases · Ecology

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