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Bible Dictionaries
Spikenard
Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary
or נרכּ? . By this was meant a highly aromatic plant growing in the Indies, called "nardostachys," by Dioscorides and Galen; from whence was made the very valuable extract or unguent, or favourite perfume, used at the ancient baths and feasts, unguentum nardinum, unguentum nardi spicatae, [the perfume or unction of spikenard,] which it appears from a passage in Horace, was so valuable, that as much of it as could be contained in a small box of precious stone, was considered as a sort of equivalent for a large vessel of wine, and a handsome quota for a guest to contribute at an entertainment, according to the custom of antiquity:
Nardo vina merebere:
Nardi parvus onyx eliciet cadum.
"Bring you the odours, and a cask is thine. Thy little box of ointment shall produce
A mighty cask." — FRANCIS.
St. Mark, Mark 14:3 , mentions "ointment of spikenard very precious," which is said to be worth more than three hundred denarii; and John 12:3 , mentions a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly; the house was filled with the odour of the ointment; it was worth three hundred denarii. It is not to be supposed that this was a Syrian production, but the true "atar" of Indian spikenard; an unguent, containing the very essence of the plant, and brought at a great expense from a remote country.
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Watson, Richard. Entry for 'Spikenard'. Richard Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/wtd/s/spikenard.html. 1831-2.
