Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Medical Ethics-Law and History

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Antik Çağ'da Tedavi Edici Parfüm Üretme Sanatı: Susinum Örneği
The Art of Medicinal Perfume Making in Antiquity: A Case of Susinum
Rana BABAÇ ÇELEBİa
aİstanbul Medipol Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Tıp Tarihi ve Etik ABD Doktora Programı, İstanbul, Türkiye
Turkiye Klinikleri J Med Ethics. 2023;31(3):184-90
doi: 10.5336/mdethic.2023-96647
Article Language: TR
Full Text
ÖZET
 İnsanlık var olduğundan beri, parçası olduğu doğada keşfettiği güzel kokulara ilgi duymuştur. Başlangıçta avcılık-toplayıcılık yaparak hayatta kalmaya çalışan insan, çevresindeki aromatik bitkisel materyali, koruduğu veya yaktığı ateş üzerinde (duman olarak ''per-fumun'') tüketmiş, bu şekilde hem hastalık yapan kötü ruhları ve zehirli canavarları kovmuş hem de bolluk-bereket ve korunma yakarışlarını gökyüzünde yaşayan ruhlara göndermeyi amaçlamıştır. İlerleyen zamanda tarım toplumlarının ortaya çıkması ile kullandığı ve değer verdiği bitkisel aromatik maddelerin kokularından daha uzun süre faydalanabilmek, yanında taşıyabilmek ve bu kokuları bir sonraki hasat mevsimine kadar saklayabilmek amacıyla, muhtelif sıvılarda (su, yağ, fermente içkiler vb.) özütlemeye başlamıştır. Toplumsal hayat daha örgütlü hâle geldikçe, insanoğlunun edindiği bilgiler ve bu bilgiyi sonraki nesillere aktarma biçimleri de daha sistematik bir şekle bürünmüştür. Antik Çağ toplumlarının bilginlerinden bugüne ulaşan metinler sayesinde, eski çağ uygarlıklarının aromatik ham maddeleri nasıl parfüme dönüştürdüklerini, bu önemli dinî, tıbbi ve ticari ürünün o insanların günlük yaşamlarındaki yerini daha iyi anlıyoruz. Ayrıca tıp tarihi açısından parfümün o dönemde hastalıklardan koruma veya hastalıkları tedavi etme amaçlı kullanımı da yine aynı Antik Çağ kaynaklarının karşılaştırmalı olarak incelenmesi ile karşımıza çıkan bilgiler arasındadır. Bu makale, Antik Çağ parfüm kültürü hakkındaki bilgi birikimimiz üzerine genel bir değerlendirme sunmayı ve zamanın değerli bir parfüm ve ilaç reçetesi olan Susinon'u sunmayı amaçlamaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Antik Çağ; parfüm; tıp tarihi; Susinon; Susinum
ABSTRACT
 Since the dawn of time, human beings have been attracted to pleasant scents that they discovered in nature. In the beginning, man, who tried to survive by hunting and gathering, consumed the aromatic plant material in his environment through the fire he burned or found and protected (per-fumun as smoke), thus both expelling evil spirits and poisonous monsters that caused disease and sending his pleas for abundance, prosperity and protection to the spirits in the sky. Later, with the emergence of agricultural societies, they began to extract the fragrances of the herbal aromatic substances they used and valued in various liquids (water, oil, fermented beverages, etc.) in order to benefit from them for a longer period of time, to carry them along and to preserve these fragrances until the next harvest season. As societies became more organized so did their knowledge and the way they passed down this knowledge to the next generations. Thanks to the texts that have survived from the scholars of ancient societies, we better understand how ancient civilisations transformed aromatic raw materials into perfume and the place of this important religious, medicinal and commercial product in the daily lives of these long lost civilizations. Furthermore - from the perspective of the history of medicine- we cross examine these formulas with the ancient physicians's texts to learn how they made use of these perfumes to protect themselves from disease or cure illnesses. This paper aims to give an overview of the state of our knowledge on the perfume culture of the ancients and present the case of Susinon as a prized perfume and medicine.

Keywords: Antiquity; perfume; history of medicine; Susinon; Susinum
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