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RECREATION DRUGS IN ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME
opium poppies
Ancient Greek Olympic athletes took psychedelic mushrooms for a competitive edge. Cannabis was mentioned by the Greco-Roman era physician Galen. Archaeologists in Israel unearthed remains of a teenage girl with the remains of a fetus in her abdomens dated to the 315 A.D. With the remains was ash containing THC (an active ingredient in cannabis). The archaeologists speculate that maybe cannabis was given to the girl as pain relief.
The Greek scholar Theophrastus (371-287 B.C.) wrote about the use of opium poppy juice and mentioned opium in connection with myths of Ceres and Demeter. The founding fathers of medicine, Hippocrates, Galen and Dioscorides, also wrote about opium. Poppies were also pictured on Greek coins, pottery and jewelry, and on Roman statues and tombs (where poppies symbolized a release from a lifetime of pain).
Ceramic jugs, dated to 1,500 B.C., shaped like an opium capsules and containing stylized incisions were unearthed in Cyprus and believed to have held opium dissolved in wine that was traded with Egypt. Ivory pipes, over 3,200 years old and thought to have been used for smoking opium, were found in a Cyprus temple.
In ancient times, opium was used in religious rituals, as ingredient in magic potions and as a painkiller, sedative and sleeping medicine. The potion "to quiet all pain and strife and bring forgetfulness to every ill" taken by Helen of Troy in Homer's “ Odyssey” is believed to have contained opium.
Earliest Evidence of the Opium Trade — from Cyprus
The oldest chemical evidence for the ancient drug trade comes from traces of opium found in Cyprus. Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: Scientists based at the University of York and the British Museum analyzed the residue found inside a small late Bronze Age jug from Cyprus and discovered the presence of opium alkaloids. The “base-ringed juglet” owned by the British Museum had long been assumed to be connected to the opium trade because the head of the jug, like other similar examples from the region, resembles the poppy flower. This was very much a “best-guess,” however, and it was not until Professor Jane Thomas-Oates of the University of York was able to analyze the contents of the jug that the suspicion was confirmed. The discovery offers evidence that there was a flourishing trade in opium in the Eastern Mediterranean as long as 3,600 years ago. [Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, October 6, 2018]
This doesn’t mean, however, that the opiate jug was used to transport and preserve narcotics. The presence of oil residue in the jug suggests that, rather than containing pure opium, the jug held poppy seed oil or aromatic oils used for perfume or body oil. Even so, there are numerous literary and artistic sources that confirm that opium was known to ancient physicians.
What’s surprising about the recent discovery in the UK is that it demonstrates and confirms the existence of an ancient form of branding. Not only did these distinctive looking juglets contain poppy-based products, but the containers were deliberately fashioned in order to communicate their purpose. Whether or not the oils contained therein served an analgesic purpose, they are one of the earliest forms of pharmaceutical marketing.
Opium in the Greco-Roman Era
The juglet from Cyprus (right) resembles the shape of an inverted opium poppy seed head (left)
At the time of Christ opium was widely used. There are numerous accounts of opium cultivation, opium use in medicine and even opium addiction. The founding fathers of medicine, Hippocrates, Galen and Dioscorides, all wrote about opium.Marcus Aurelius took opium to sleep and deal with the stress of prolonged military campaigns. The Romans reportedly used toxic does of opium to poison their enemies.
Some scholars have suggested that the "vinegar mingled with gall" offered to Christ on the cross contained opium because the Hebrew word for gall (“rôsh” ) means opium. Homer and Virgil wrote about opium. Poppies were pictured on Greek coins, pottery and jewelry, and on Roman statues and tombs (where poppies symbolized a release from a lifetime of pain). Alexander the Great introduced the drug to India and Persia in 330 B.C.
Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: The dangers of poppy juice use were well recognized in ancient times. While there’s scant discussion of opiate addiction, ancient doctors were well aware that, used incorrectly, opium could cause a whole host of problems, most notably death. Perhaps it’s for this reason that wine (alcohol) was more commonly prescribed as a means of dulling pain. [Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, October 6, 2018]
Uses of Opium in the Greco-Roman Era
By 300 B.C., opium was used by Arabs, Greeks, and Romans as a sedative and soporific. The founding fathers of medicine, Hippocrates, Galen and Dioscorides, all wrote about opium. Hippocrates dismissed the magical attributes of opium but acknowledged its usefulness as a narcotic, a styptic (a substance that can stop bleeding when is applied to a wound) and a treatment for internal diseases, female ailments and epidemics. In the A.D. second century, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius took opium to sleep and deal with the stress of prolonged military campaigns. The Romans reportedly used toxic doses of opium to poison their enemies.
Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: A number of ancient Greek gods associated with sleep — most prominently, Hypnos (Sleep) and Nyx (Night) — are portrayed adorned with poppies. The use of poppies as a kind of sleeping aid is found in mythological stories. According to legend, when Persephone was abducted and taken to the underworld, her grief-struck mother Demeter consumed poppies in an effort to sleep. The poppy became one of her emblems and appears on ancient coins from the Cyclades. [Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, October 6, 2018]
This leads us to one of the most interesting uses of ancient narcotics: to ease the passage of death. According to the fourth-century B.C. philosopher and “father of botany” Theophrastus, the Mantineian physician Thrasyas prescribed a combination of hemlock and poppy juice in order to produce a painless death. Poison was regularly used as a form of execution. The medical historian John Scarborough has suggested that the recipe for hemlock was well known by ancient Athenians. Apparently the people of the Island of Keos lived so long that they would end their lives by ingesting hemlock or poppies.
The use of end-of-life narcotics to ease the passage of death is found even in the Bible and among early Christians. According to the New Testament, Jesus was offered wine laced with myrrh during his crucifixion (Mark 15:23). There are a variety of possible interpretations as to why the wine had myrrh in it, but one is that the myrrh is meant to dull the pain of his slow death. Certainly there were early Christians who read the verse this way. The third-century North African Tertullian writes disapprovingly of an imprisoned Christian who was drugged up with doctored wine during his torture and death. Another Christian martyr-bishop named Fructuosus was offered “spiced” wine by his friends before his execution.
Ancient Romans Kept Poisonous, Narcotic Seeds in Bone Vials
In 2024, archaeologists reported that Romans stored poisonous, narcotic seeds in hollowed-out animal bone vials, arguing this represented the first-ever evidence of the seeds' use in Roman times. Jennifer Nalewicki wrote in Live Science: Archaeologists found the carved-out animal femur, or thigh bone, which likely came from a goat or sheep, at Houten-Castellum, a rural Roman-period settlement in what is now the Netherlands. Prior to this discovery in 2017, there had been no physical evidence of this plant being used by people in the Roman Empire, according to a statement. [Source Jennifer Nalewicki, Live Science, February 8, 2024]
The tiny seeds come from the black henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), a highly poisonous plant from the nightshade family. Henbane has long been prized for its medicinal properties and hallucinogenic effects, according to a new study, published in the April 2024 of the journal Antiquity. Researchers have found similar seeds scattered at archaeologist sites across Europe dating back to 5500 B.C. However, it's often challenging to determine whether the presence of black henbane at these sites indicates it was used or appeared naturally, as the plant grows like a weed. "Since the plant can grow naturally in and around settlements, its seeds can end up in archaeological sites naturally, without intervention by humans," study lead author Maaike Groot, a zooarchaeologist at the Free University of Berlin, said in the statement.
Archaeologists determined that the seeds were deliberately placed inside the bone, which measured 2.8 inches (7.2 centimeters) long. To ensure their safekeeping, someone had sealed the vessel using a plug made out of black birch bark. Researchers dated the bone to sometime between A.D. 70 and 100, based on the styles of ceramics and a wire brooch found in the same muddy pit. This is the first known instance of the seeds being deliberately stored for later use. "The find is unique and provides unmistakable proof for the intentional use of black henbane seeds in the Roman Netherlands," Groot said.
The seeds support earlier Classical literature claiming that black henbane was used during the Roman period — although these sources suggest it was used medicinally and wasn't considered a recreational drug, according to the study. For instance, Roman author and naturalist Pliny the Elder (who lived from A.D. 23 to 79) wrote that the seeds could cause "insanity and giddiness," according to the study. "Our study contributes to the discussion of how to distinguish between a weed naturally ending up in archaeobotanical assemblages and a plant intentionally used by people," Groot said. "We argue that future finds of black henbane should be studied by taking into account the context of the find and its relation to other medicinal plants."
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons, The British Museum, opium jug from the University of York
Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Greece sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Hellenistic World sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; BBC Ancient Greeks bbc.co.uk/history/; Canadian Museum of History, Perseus Project - Tufts University; perseus.tufts.edu ; MIT Classics Online classics.mit.edu ; Gutenberg.org, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Live Science, Discover magazine, Natural History magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, Encyclopædia Britannica, "The Discoverers" and "The Creators" by Daniel Boorstin. "Greek and Roman Life" by Ian Jenkins from the British Museum, Wikipedia, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP and various books and other publications.
Last updated November 2024