In the story the Odyssey, Hermes gave this herb to Odysseus to protect him from Circe’s wizardry when he went to her palace to rescue his friends. Homer and Ovid describe Moly by saying: “The root was black, while the flower was as white as milk”.
According to the “New History” of Ptolemy Hephaestion, the plant grew from the blood of the Giant Picolous killed on Circe’s island, by Helios. In this description the flower was white and a derivation of the name was given, from the “hard” (Greek malos) combat with the Giant.
There is a lot of controversy among scientists about the identification of this plant, there are many opinions, however the issue is not solved, some believe that Homer read the name of this magical plant in ancient Egyptian papyrus and the name may be derived from Phoenician or Egyptian, but it is now almost impossible to identify.
Medical historians have speculated that the transformation to pigs (described by Homer) was not intended literally but refers to anticholinergic intoxication. Symptoms include amnesia,
hallucinations and delusions. This description of “moly” fits the snowdrop, a flower of the region that contains Galantamine, which is an anticholinesterase and can therefore counteract anticholinergics.
