History of Drugs in Ancient Greece

In the attempt to understand the evolution of human beings in the use of psychoactive substances, Ancient Greece emerges as an essential milestone. During classical Greece, the distinction between medicine and drug was not as clear-cut as it is today; the term phármakon encompassed both the concept of remedy and that of poison. This leads us to question whether these substances differ so much from today’s substances that the division between drug and medicine is necessary today.

Today on the Cannactiva blog we invite Jorge Melero and Jorge Escohotado, partners of La Emboscadura, the monographic publishing house of Antonio Escohotado, author of the famous General History of Drugsto talk about the history of drugs in Ancient Greece, a culture where the concept of pharmakon predominates.

Opium in Ancient Greece

Opium was a substance especially consumed at that time, and its derivatives are also widely used for medical purposes today, and even for recreational purposes if we are talking about substances such as heroin or fentanyl. Therefore, it is no coincidence that opium already has its place in the Hippocratic treatises: “the black seed variety(hypnotikon mekonion) is recommended for all kinds of “uterine suffocations” (Escohotado, 1998, p. 101).

However, its use was not limited, as in today’s medicine, to pain relief, but also contemplated other kinds of applications: “opium was considered an ideal medication to deal with the consequences of wanting to be chaste while the sting of lust is throbbing” (Escohotado, 1998, p. 101). In fact, we owe precisely the Latin word opium to these Hippocratic writings: “it comes from that treatise specifically, where the opos (“juice”) of poppy is mentioned as indicated for such purposes” (Escohotado, 1998, p. 101), although curiously it is this same school that has applied this drug the least, honoring its maxim of “curing by letting the physis work alone and with a minimum of pharmacopoeia” (Escohotado, 1998, p. 101).

Opium became a central element of Greek medicine, perfectly representing the concept of lay pharmakon , “equidistant equally from panacea and simple poison” (Escohotado, 1998, p. 103). Used by all medical schools, its importance grew especially after the decline of Athens, it became the most studied medicine in the Mediterranean basin, and was a constant in Greek medicine for more than five centuries. Curiously, in all that time, no social problems related to its consumption are reported. Administering opium, whether to oneself or to others, was not seen as a threat to social order: “Absolutely no one thinks that anyone degrades himself or threatens civil order by administering opium or administering it to others” (Escohotado, 1998, p. 103).

The Mysteries of Eleusis

However, the use of drugs was not limited to medicine; many were used in a religious context.

The Mysteries of Eleusis were probably the most famous of the ancient world, it is difficult to determine their beginnings, some estimate that they date from the fifteenth century BC, but we know for sure that they predate the Iliad and the Odyssey (Escohotado, 1998). They were visited by such prominent figures as Plato, Aristotle, Pausanias, Pindar, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Cicero, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius (Marin-Gutierrez, 2008). These Mysteries were dedicated to the Greek goddesses Demeter and Persephone, according to legend, Demeter, the goddess of grain and fertility, instituted these mysteries as thanks for having found her daughter Persephone, who had been kidnapped by Hades, the god of the underworld. During the search for her daughter, Demeter neglected the earth, which caused the first winter. When she was finally reunited with Persephone, the earth bloomed again, marking the beginning of spring.

The mysteries were celebrated annually and consisted of a series of initiation rituals that included two main phases: the Small Mysteries and the Great Mysteries. The Small Mysteries were celebrated in spring and consisted of fasts, purifications and sacrifices; the Great Mysteries, celebrated in autumn, culminated in an initiatory ceremony at night (Marín-Gutiérrez, 2008).

During the ceremony associated with the Great Mysteries, the Athenians made a pilgrimage to Eleusis to ingest on an empty stomach the so-called kykeon, a hallucinogenic drink: “A preparation called kykeon or ciceon, a special hallucinogenic drink, was ingested. The participants had amazing visions” (Carod-Artal, 2013, p. 35).

The Eleusinian Mysteries were surrounded by an obligatory secrecy. “The aspirants to initiation swore by their life to keep the details of the experience in absolute secrecy, and so they did” (Escohotado, 1998, p.113). This discretion prevailed under penalty of death, “the laws of Athens made it a crime to speak of what happened in the telesterion of Eleusis” (Hofmann, 2013, p.6). The Homeric Hymn to Demeter recited in these rituals, tells that the goddess taught her Mysteries to the princes of Eleusis, Triptolemus and Eumolpus, but regarding these ceremonies she affirms: ”it is not licit to neglect nor to scrutinize for curiosity nor to reveal, because the great reverence due to the gods mutes the voice.This secrecy has caused the multitude of theories that exist in this regard to be no more than lucubrations that cannot be confirmed, however, the constant references in ancient literature to the intoxicating power of the tares (Lolium temulentum), which has no pharmacological effects of its own, suggest that this hallucinogenic component of the kykeon is due to the rye ergot that parasitizes this plant, which produces lysergic acid amide (LSA), a compound with potent psychoactive effects and precursor of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), discovered by Albert Hofmann.

Recent botanical research has shown that the Greek mainland contains the least toxic variety of ergot fungus known on the planet, and it is likely that some pharmacopoles used the various ergot-parasitized plants to obtain highly active drugs. (Escohotado, 1998, p. 99).

The theory of the presence of tares in kykeon has been endorsed by a multitude of scientists, including the father of LSD himself, Albert Hofmann, who demonstrated the existence of LSA in ergot (Hofmann, 1978), and subsequently theorized about its place in the sacred drink:

Eleusis was the supreme experience in the life of an initiate. It was so in both a physical and mystical sense: trembling, vertigo, cold sweat, and then a vision that turned whatever had been seen before into a kind of blindness; a feeling of awe and awe before a radiance that provoked a profound silence, for what had just been seen and felt could never be communicated: words were not up to such a task. Such symptoms correspond unequivocally to the experience produced by an entheogen (2013, p. 3).

The importance of these mysteries in the history of Western thought is undoubtedly vital. Perhaps it is no coincidence that pre-Socratic philosophy was born so close to these rites. The philosopher Terence Mckenna proposed the risky theory that the ingestion of psilocybe mushrooms was a crucial factor in the evolution of Homo antecessor to Homo sapiens (Rodriguez et al., 2012). What is certainly a fait accompli is that thinkers of the stature of Plato and Aristotle, who have radically marked Western thought, were strongly influenced by these rites. It is not in vain that a philosopher of the stature of Hegel dedicates a poem of the same name to Eleusis at the end of his work Writings of Youth , and here are some verses that may be enlightening:

Alliance without seals or promises
to live only by free truth and never, never,
at peace with the precept that regulates opinions and affections.
(…)
Drunk with enthusiasm I would now capture
visions of your environment,
understand your revelations,
know how to interpret the elevated meaning of your images,
hear the hymns of the divine banquet,
your high judgments and advice… (Hegel, 1978, p. 214)… (Hegel, 1978, p. 214)

Dionysus and wine

The use of wine in Ancient Greece and the Dionysian cults had a fundamental role in both social life and religious rituals. As for wine, it was seen as a phármakon (remedy) that not only provided pleasure, but also had a sacred and therapeutic purpose. Plato, in his dialogue Laws, states, through Socrates, “Let us not vilify the gift received from Dionysus, pretending that it is a bad gift and not worthy of a state accepting its introduction!” (2014, p. 671). This respect for wine was deeply rooted in Greek culture, which used it in religious ceremonies, banquets and as part of their daily life.

Among the Greeks there was a recurring concern about this phármakon, the debate revolved around the possible negative effects that wine could have on the life directed to the knowledge that Platonic philosophy proposes (Escohotado, 1998). Therefore, it is in wine that we begin to observe an incipient moral component associated with the phármakon.

Alcohol becomes the seed that will germinate in an abandonment of the dual conception of substance as poison and remedy, leaving aside moderation and proportions. Thus, a moral debate begins around the substance, discussing its intrinsic goodness or badness, whether it is good or bad at all, no longer considering prudent or excessive consumption. Interestingly, it is one of the most widely consumed substances today, has a generally legal status in the Western world and is one of the least marginalized drugs.

As for the Dionysian cults, these rituals were a way of channeling and domesticating hysteria through official rites. As Nilsson observes in his History of Greek Religiosity: “The Greeks took the dangerous sting out of the Dionysian cult by including it in the regulation of official rites” (1969, p. 31). This institutional control allowed the excesses of the Dionysian cult to be kept within acceptable limits, providing an outlet for social and personal tensions. “The orgiastic drunkenness is recognized and domestic at the same time transforming itself into a religious rite, and the vanity of a political power bent on mere repression will be regularly abolished in the common festive ecstasy” (Escohotado, 1998, p. 108).

Secrecy also played a crucial role in these cults. A dialogue between Pentheus and Dionysus in Euripides’ play illustrates the esoteric nature of these rituals:

Q.: What form do your orgies take?

D.: It is forbidden for uninitiated mortals to know.

Q.: And are they of any benefit to those who sacrifice in them?

D.: It is not lawful for you to hear them, but they deserve to be heard (Escohotado, 1998, p. 110).

In short, wine in Ancient Greece was not only a common beverage, but also a substance deeply intertwined with culture, religion and artistic inspiration. The Dionysian cults, with their ritual use of wine and their secrecy, exemplify how the Greeks integrated these elements into a coherent system that celebrated both reason and ecstasy.

Conclusion

The use of drugs in Ancient Greece offers a historical perspective on how some of the psychoactive substances that we now consider drugs and medicines were integrated. The Eleusinian Mysteries and Dionysian cults are examples of rituals that sought spiritual purification and divine connection through substances.

It highlights the secrecy that protected these practices and that is still maintained today, as can be observed in the ceremonial use of psychedelics in modern spiritual communities. It also contrasts that the use of psychoactive substances in Ancient Greece, in a controlled and ritualized way, did not generate social conflicts, showing a cultural acceptance that allowed handling these substances with reverence and regulation.

In alcohol we also see the first significant change in the perception of drugs, introducing moral debates about their effects and their role in everyday life. This change reflected a growing concern about the possible abuses and social consequences of excessive consumption, establishing a basis for current debates about regulation and ethics in the use of psychoactive substances.

Jorge Melero and Jorge Escohotado (Los Emboscados), in Madrid on 28/12/2024

References

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