The hidden truth of the use (and abuse) of drugs in the ancient world that science is revealing

 

References to drug use in the ancient world that exist are scarce and isolated.

When they appear, drugs are mentioned almost incidentally, and focus on medicinal and religious aspects, quickly leaving aside from any recreational use.

However, there was an international drug trade since 1000 BC, and archeology has been combined with science to clarify an image that seems to have been carefully hidden by ancient writers and their subsequent translators.

There were more than a dozen ways to alter reality in the ancient world of the Mediterranean, but two drugs dominated: opium and marijuana.

A thorough investigation conducted in the last two decades has begun to reveal patterns in the use of these drugs, previously unsuspected even by the classical historians of the twentieth century.

Opium Emergency

One of the first clues that the ancients considered that the poppy was more than a pretty plant comes from its frequent use as a motif in statues and engravings.

Archaeologists have discovered that, as early as 1600 BC, small jars were made in the form of "capsules" of poppy, that bulky a ball that is under the petals of the opium-producing flower.

The shape of these artificial capsules made it reasonable to assume what they were used for, but until recently it was impossible to be sure.

In 2018, the journal Science reported that new techniques for analyzing residues in excavated capsules had revealed that the plant material contained not only opium, but sometimes other psychoactive substances.

These bottles and capsules have been found throughout the Levant, Egypt and the Middle East. Their uniformity suggests that they were part of an organized manufacturing and distribution system.

Happy plant

Even before, opium was grown in Mesopotamia. Some researchers do not doubt that the Assyrians were aware of the properties of the plant.

In fact, the Assyrian name of the poppy can be read (depending on how the cuneiform tablets that mention it are interpreted) as Hul Gil, which means 'Happy Plant'.

Jugs containing opium residues have also been found in Egyptian tombs, which is not surprising since poppy was widely cultivated in Egypt.

In the classical era, the plant extract was known as 'Opium Thebiacum', which comes from the city of Egypt to which the Greeks gave it the name Thebes. Another version was called 'Opium Cyrenaicum', a slightly different version of the plant, grown westward, in Libya.

"Subtle and excellent concoctions"

There is a very suggestive passage in Homer's "The Odyssey", in which Helena of Troy throws a drug into the wine that takes away painful memories and the burning or pain and anger.

"Whoever took it after mixing in the crater, would not shed tears on the cheeks for a day, even if his father and mother had died or killed his brother or son before his eyes with bronze."

Helena, said Homer had "such subtle and excellent concoctions," Polidamna, Ton's wife, a woman from Egypt, had given them to them, "whose fertile the land produces many potions; after mixing them some are good and others pernicious."

The name Ton is significant since the Egyptians believed that the god called Tot had taught mankind the use of opium, according to Galen, the medical researcher of the Ancient Age par excellence.

Eternal dream

For his part, the doctor, pharmacologist and botanist of ancient Greece Dioscorides, author of "De Materia Medica" (the encyclopedia of herbal medicine and related medicinal substances), described the harvest technique:

"Those who produce opium should wait until the spray has dried to cut lightly with a knife around the top of the plant. They take care not to cut the inside.

"On the outside of the capsule, a cut is made down. As the liquid comes out, use your finger to put it in a spoon. Upon returning later, one can harvest more of the residue after it has thickened, and still more the next day".

Dioscorides also warns against overdose. "Kill," he says bluntly. In fact, many Romans bought opium precisely for that reason.

Suicide was not a sin in the Roman world, and many people who suffered from old age and disease chose to float from life in a gentle wave of opium.

It is not very likely that it is a coincidence that the Greek divinities Hypnos - the god of sleep - and Thanatos - his twin brother, the god of death without violence - are represented with crowns or bouquets of poppies.

Opium was a common sleeping pill while writes the Greek philosopher Theophrastus, "from poppy juice and hemlock comes easy and painless death".

In Tablet

The Romans used an opium-based drink called 'crétic wine' to combat insomnia, and also 'mêkonion' of poppy leaves, which was less potent.

Opium could be purchased in the form of small tablets in specialized positions in most markets. In the city of Rome, Galen recommended a retailer located a few steps from the Via Sacra, near the Forum.

In the prosperous Capua, drug dealers occupied a notorious area called Seplasia, after which 'seplasia' became a general term for drugs, perfumes, and ointments that altered the mind.

Cicero makes an ironic reference to that, commenting that two dignitaries: "They did not show the moderation generally consistent with our consuls ... their gait and their behavior were worthy of Seplasia".

SOURCE: BBC