Image: Heraklas Plinthios Brokhos Jaw Sling

Description: The Plinthios Brokhos, a string figure described by Greek physician Heraklas in his first century monograph on medical knots and slings. It is the oldest known written description of a string figure.[1] This example was produced using the English translation of the Greek instructions given in Cyrus Day's Quipus and Witches' Knots. The purpose described for the sling was to set and bind a fractured jaw. In practice, the four loops would be made longer in order to be tied atop/behind the patient's head with the chin in the center of the figure.[2]NOTE: The pictured example is formed in a doubled loop of cord for size and visibility reasons, a simple single loop is described in Day's book.

↑ Miller, Lawrence G. (1945). "The Earliest (?) Description of a String Figure". American Anthropologist, New Series 47 (3): 461-462.

↑ Day, Cyrus L. (1967) Quipus and Witches' Knots, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, pp. 86–89, 124–126
Author: David J. Fred (Dfred)
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