LiTERATiRE. — Geikie, Holy Land and the Bible ; G. M. Mackie, Bible Manners and Customs ; Trench, Sotes on the Parabks (Parable of the Pounds). MOEISON BrYCE.
NARD (Heb. j^i, from Skr. mdadurtha, probably tlirough Persian ; Gr. vdpSos, Arab, sumbul-i-hindi [ = Indian spike]). — The chief ingredient in the costly unguents used in the East, and from thence imported to Rome. The word is foiand in the OT (Ca P-413"), and twice in the Gospels (Mk U^-*, Jn 12^"'), occurring in both cases in the account of the anointing of our Lord, in a house at Bethanj', by a woman wliom St. Jolin identifies as Mary the sister of Lazarus.* In classical literature there are freqiaent references to nard. Theophrastus speaks of it as a root (dc Odor. 28), and says it came from India (Hist. Plant, ix. 7. 2). Dio- scorides, a physician who flourislied about A.D. 100, also tells us that it came from India, being found in the Ganges district, and that it had many shaggy (iroXvKonos) spikes gi'owini: from one root (i. 6. 77). Athena^us (xv. 691 B). Horace {Od. ii. xi. 16, IV. xii. 16), Ovid {Ars. Am. iii. 443), and Tibullus (ii. 2. 7) make references to it. But our cliief authority is Pliny the Elder {Xat. Hist. xii. 26, 27, xiii. 2). He speaks of its gieat value,t
' XTk. connects this incident closely with the last Passover, but Jn. makes it clear that it happened on the night before the triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
t Mk. and Jn. mention 300 denarii (about £10) as the cost per
its adultei'ation, and the means by which genuine nard may be distinguislied from spurious. Genuine [sinccriiiii) nard is known by its lightness, its red colour, its sweet smell, and its peculiar taste (gustu nucciine siccantc os, sapore iucundo). He also speaks of the use of alabaster boxes to pre- serve it. (See Alabaster).
It was formerly supposed by Linnseus and other botanists that nard was an Indian glass ; but Sir W. Jones and Dr. Rojle, director of the Govern- ment Botanical iTardens at Saharunpore from 1823 to 1831, have conclusively proved tliat it is to be identified with Xardostachys Jatamansi, a plant of the order Valerianace*, found at great altitudes in Xortli India. This plant bears small spikes of purple flowers, each with four stamens. The part used for nuiking the perfume was the root and lower portion of tlie stems, which are sliaggj' ' like tufts of ermine,' and to which the skeletons of former leaves adhere, giving them a bristlj' appear- ance. It is probably these stems, rather than the flower heads, which Pliny calls S2iica;. The epithet TTiaTiKT) ajqjlied in Mk. and Jn. to vdpSos may possibly be an attempt to reproduce spicata, which, in vulgar Latin, may have become spi'itn (see Swete's St. Mark, ad loc, and art. Spikenard in present work).
Literature. — Besides the authorities quoted in the article, see Asiatic Researches, ii. 405-417 : W. Dvmook, PharnMcooraphia Indica (1S91), ii. iSS-iSS : Tristram", Xatural Historii of the Bible, p. 4So ; articles ' Spikenai-d ' in Encuc. Brit.^. Smith's DB (by Houston), Hastings" DB (by Post),"^ Encyc. Bibl. (by Thistleton-Dyer and M'Lean). H. \V. FULFORD.
NATHAN.— A son of king David, named in our Lords genealogy, Lk 3^^
NATHAN AEL ( = eec5ajpos, 'Gift of God' [Heb. '7N:r:j >su 1^ 1 Ch 2'^ etc.]; cf. Adcodatus, Dco- datns, Dcusdcdit). — "We know nothing about him except what is told us in Jn 1*'^^ 21'-. On the question of his identity with Bartholomew, see art. Bartholomew, i. \\ 173'. The place at which Nathanael was found by Philip and brought to Jesus is not mentioned ; but it is not improbable that Nathanael was returning from listening to the preaching of the Baptist. He may have been baptized by him. The very detailed account of the calling of Xatlianael leads one to suppose that it was an important event, such as the calling of one who Avas afterwards to be an Apostle. In any case, the local knowledge shown in v.^^- is very real, and, so far as it goes, it tells in favour of Johannine authorship ; for St. John would possess this knowledge, and a later writer would not, and would not care to invent such details. Philip, like Xathanael, was a Galilsean, the one of Beth- saida, the other of Cana (21-) : they were there- fore neiglibours, and eWdently friends. Like Andrew and John, Philip no sooner finds, or is found by, Ciirist, than he seeks to make Him known to others. The plural, ' HV have found him.' etc., seems to imply that Philip, with Andrew and Peter and John and James, was now a disciple of Jesus. These five formed tiie begin- ning of the Christian Church. The order of the words in the Greek is noteworthy : ' Him of wliom wrote Moses in the law ' comes first, ' and the prophets ' being added as an afterthought ; and the whole of this comes with emphasis before the verb, ' we have found.' It looks as if Nathanael and Philip had at times discussed the OT descrip- tions of the Messiah. At this time Philip would know nothing of the virgin birth at Bethlehem : he quite naturally describes Jesus as He was
pound of the unguent. Pliny (xii. 26) sa.vs that the 'spicae' were worth 100 denarii a pound, and in xiii. i mentions the price of a similar unguent as rising to 300 denarii per pound.