Moly ( ''MAW-lee'') is a magical herb mentioned in book 10 of

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

's '' Odyssey''.

In Greek myth

In Homer's '' Odyssey'', Hermes gave his herb to Odysseus to protect him from Circe's poison and magic when he went to her palace to rescue his friends. These friends came together with him from the island Aeolus after they escaped from the Laestrygonians. According to the ''"New History"'' of Ptolemy Hephaestion (according to Photius) and Eustathius, the plant mentioned by Homer grew from the blood of the

Giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''wiktionary:gigas, gigas'', cognate wiktionary:giga-, giga-) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''gia ...

Picolous killed on Circe's island, by

Helios In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; ; Homeric Greek: ) is the god who personification, personifies the Sun. His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyperion ("the one above") an ...

, father and ally of Circe, when the Giant tried to attack Circe. In this description the flower had a black root, for the colour of the blood of the slain Giant, and a white flower, either for the white Sun that killed him, or the fact that Circe had grown pale with terror. A derivation of the name was given, from the "hard" (Greek ''malos'') combat with the Giant. Homer also describes moly by saying "The root was black, while the flower was as white as milk; the gods call it Moly, Dangerous for a mortal man to pluck from the soil, but not for the deathless gods. All lies within their power". So Ovid describes in book 14 of his '' Metamorphoses'': "A white bloom with a root of black".

Assignment to a real species

There has been much controversy as to the identification, and some authors point out that as a fictional element of the story, it does not necessarily correspond to any real plant. Kurt Sprengel believed that the plant is identical to '' Allium nigrum'' as Homer describes it. Some also believe that it may have been '' Allium moly,'' instead, which is named after the mythical herb. Philippe Champault decides in favour of the '' Peganum harmala'' (of the family Nitrariaceae), the Syrian or African rue (Greek ), from the seeds and roots of which the vegetable alkaloid harmaline is extracted. The flowers are white with green stripes. Victor Bérard (1906) relying partly on a Semitic root, prefers the '' Atriplex halimus'' family Amaranthaceae – a herb or low shrub common on the south European coasts. These identifications are noticed by R. M. Henry (1906), who illustrates the Homeric account by passages in the Paris and Leiden magical papyri, and argues that moly is probably a magical name, derived perhaps from Phoenician or Egyptian sources, for a plant that cannot be certainly identified. He shows that the "difficulty of pulling up" the plant is not a merely physical one, but rather connected with the peculiar powers claimed by magicians. Medical historians have speculated that the transformation to pigs was not intended literally, but instead refers to

anticholinergic Anticholinergics (anticholinergic agents) are substances that block the action of the acetylcholine (ACh) neurotransmitter at synapses in the central nervous system, central and peripheral nervous system. These agents inhibit the parasympatheti ...

intoxication whose symptoms include amnesia, hallucinations, and

delusions A delusion is a fixed belief that is not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence. As a pathology, it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information, confabulation, dogma, illusion, hallucination, or some other m ...

. This diagnosis would make "moly" align well with the snowdrop, a

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

of the region that contains galantamine, an anticholinesterase that therefore might counteract anticholinergics. In 2024, a study suggested the possibility that the plant in question is, in fact, an ethnobotanical complex composed of several phylogenetically close species, which could have been used interchangeably due to their similar properties.

In other works

* In

Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's ...

's '' The Lotos-Eaters'', the moly is paired with the

amaranth ''Amaranthus'' is a cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan group of more than 50 species which make up the genus of annual plant, annual or short-lived perennial plants collectively known as amaranths. Some names include "prostrate pigweed" an ...

(''"propt on beds of amaranth and moly"''). *

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

identified the mythical plant with golden garlic ('' Allium moly''), although the perianth of this species is yellow, not white. *

Thom Gunn Thomson William "Thom" Gunn (29 August 1929 – 25 April 2004) was an English poet who was praised for his early verses in England, where he was associated with Movement (literature), The Movement, and his later poetry in America, where he adop ...

made his poem ''Moly'' the title poem of his 1971 collection. * In John Lyly's play '' Gallathea'', Diana instructs her

nymph A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...

s to "think love like Homer's moly, a white leaf and a black root, a fair show, and a bitter taste."

Footnotes

References

Sources

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External links

{{Greek religion, state=collapsed Objects in Greek mythology Mythological plants Circe Helios in mythology Odyssey Deeds of Hermes Odysseus Mythological medicines and drugs