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alabastron
All four [Gospels] contain a story of a woman who [anoints] Jesus with an [alabaster jar](1). In all four, the container used by the woman was called, in the original Greek, an alabastron.
An alabastron was a small vase or vial carried by women throughout the Mediterranean region in late antiquity(2) to hold perfume or scented ointment.(3) The oldest examples of alabastra available to us are of Egyptian origin, whose designs were adapted by the Greeks and other cultures throughout the region. Alabastra are often discovered at burial sites, which once led scholars to believe they were used exclusively in funerary rites, but they have since been discovered in many household contexts(4).
The word alabastron itself refers to the material from which many of the objects were made (alabaster), but they were also produced in glass, ivory(5), and metals such as silver(6), so the term may have been a generic reference to all such vessels. During the Roman period, when Mary Magdalene would have lived, alabastra made of alabaster and other materials became rare, and glass was used most frequently(7). This makes it highly unlikely that Mary Magdalene ever used an actual "alabaster jar" as tradition would have it.
Images of alabastra:
Footnotes:
1. Mary Magdalene is never named as the woman who performs the anointing(s) in the Gospels. Please see entries on [anointing], [Mary of Bethany], and [Luke's sinner] for more information about how Mary Magdalene came to be associated with this story.
2. Many alabastra bear two pierced lugs, one on either side, made for carrying the vessel on a string. Although they were frequently used by women to carry oils, cosmetics, and perfumes, the objects were in use over a broad period of time in the region and there is some evidence that these vials were carried by men at times as well. See the Museum of Classical Archaeology, University of Natal, Durban: "Attic Black-figure Alabastron," http://www.classics.und.ac.za/projects/museum2/new_page_11.htm.
3. In the original Greek versions of the Gospels, the unguent carried in the alabastron was muron. This word has been translated as "ointment," "perfume," "oil," and more specifically, "myrrh," but modern concordences (such as Strong's; word 3464) concede that it was a term probably of foreign origin and therefore not translatable directly. The substance contained in the alabastron may have been pourable but very viscous, resulting in the necessity to break the vessel (Mark 14:3).
4. The Getty Museum, http://www.getty.edu/art/collections/objects/o15065.html
5. About Turkey's Lydian Treasure: Alabastron, http://www.about-turkey.com/karun/alabastron.htm
6. The Semitic Museum at Harvard University, "Materials & Wares: Alabastra & Unguentaria," http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~semitic/Cesnola/MatWaresAlabUng.html
7. ibid.
Entry history:
©2005, Lesa Bellevie and Magdalene.org. Please do not reproduce without permission.
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