Levant bole is an earthy

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

brought from the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...

, and historically used in

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

for the same purposes as

Armenian bole Armenian bole, also known as bolus armenus or bole armoniac, is an earthy clay, usually red, native to Armenia but also found in other places. The term Armenian was later referred to a specific quality of the clay. Originally used in medication, it ...

. It was indeed so similar to Armenian bole that some believed them both to be the same, or at least mixtures of each other. Levant bole was used in several compositions, particularly diascodium, to give it color. Chambers discusses two other similar boles: * Lemnian or Terra Lemia from the island of Lemnos, also called Sigillata * Samnian or Terra Samia from the island of Samos {{Cyclopaedia 1728, title=Bole

See also