However, a website called The Mandrake Connection (which may have been the source for the TV producers) lays it out. The Discovery program didn't, in the part I watched, get into details about the conspiracy. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you." He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. "Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. As opposed to what the Christian Bible proclaims - that Jesus died on the cross, was buried and then rose from the dead as the resurrected Christ - some people apparently believe that his death on the cross was all a hoax, pulled off with an elaborate trick using this herb/drug mandrake, which was historically administered with a vinegar potion.īefore I explain the theory, take a look what is written in Matthew 28 about the resurrection, where Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, discover that the body of Jesus is not in his tomb: The 15-minute segment I watched dealt with the mystery of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection.
Last night, after getting home from a Super Bowl party, I was flipping the dial and came across a Discovery Channel program called, "Jesus: The Complete Story," which apparently first ran in 2001. (I'm not kidding.) I guess the inspiration for the strip came from its creator ingesting mandrake and then hallucinating.
Its hero - to be played in an upcoming movie by the extraordinarily creepy illusionist Chris Angel of cable TV fame - is a magician who hypnotizes people who then have hallucinations. It's a very old strip, going back 75 years. a plant with a forked root, resembling a man, thought to have magic powers a narcotic prepared from its root.īefore I came across one of the strangest conspiracy theories, which claims that Jesus did not die when he was crucified, but instead was high on an anaesthetic herb called mandrake that makes a person who takes it appear to be dead, the only connection I had to the word mandrake was from one of those "who reads this stuff?" comic strips which is never, ever funny, called Mandrake the Magician. It will be of assistance for a suggested scientific study of potential aphrodisiac effect of mandrake fragrance.N. Fifty-five principle odoriferous constituents were identified in rather bizarre chemical composition of mandrake aroma. It seems that the Scripture clearly connects the fragrance of mandrake with sexuality, which is the only known account of direct link between odor and human sexual response. Sufficient evidence was found to conclude that the appearance of this plant on the Biblical scene is not due, as was commonly believed, to alleged magic power of its root, but to the unique fragrance furnished by the fruits of mandrake. A detailed study of Pentateuch text and the various commentaries allowed us to re-evaluate the role of mandrake in Biblical events. 30:14-16) and its Biblical use is generally attributed to its supposed fertility power. For thousands of years, this plant was revered by many cultures, which ascribed to it mysterious and demonic qualities. 243-251 ISSN: 0013-0001 Subject: history, ethnobotany, volatile compounds, odors Abstract: Mandrake (Mandragora officinaruim), nearly forgotten today, is one of the most famous plants known to humanity.
Source: Economic botany 1994 v.48 no.3 pp. The fragrance of Biblical mandrake Author: Fleisher, A., Fleisher, Z.