Altered States: An inquiry into the possible use of narcotics or alcohol to induce dreams in Pharaonic Egypt
Kasia Szpakowska (Department of Classics & Ancient HistoryUniversity of Wales Swansea)
A Delta-man in Yebu (Occasional Volume of the Egyptologists’ Electronic Forum, no.1; Boca Raton: Universal Publishers), 225-37 (2003)
Abstract
I have often been asked whether the Egyptians used drugs to induce dreams. This paper aims to address that question primarily as it relates to dream reports recorded prior to Egypt’s Late Period. As I have noted elsewhere, the nature of references to dream reports changed substantially after that time, and deserve to be investigated separately. The current enquiry will explore the mystical nature of drunkenness, the relationship of the goddess Hathor to ecstatic dreams, and the known dream experiences. The first step in this inquiry is to consider what drugs could have been known and used during that time for other than medicinal purposes.
The two most obvious candidates, opium ( Papaver somniferum , probably ancient Egyptian Spn(n) )and cannabis ( Cannabis sativa , probably ancient Egyptian SmSm.t ), can be eliminated, as little or no physical evidence remains of their use. Certain fibres in textiles or rope have been classified as hemp, but this identification has yet to be substantiated by rigorous analysis. The presence of opium is highlydisputed as well, and although it may have been referred to in medical texts, there is no evidence of its use in a religious context. Recent articles by the botanist William Emboden and W. Benson Harer M.D. have identified the blue water lily ( Nymphaea caerulea ), a plant native to Egypt, as a potentialcandidate. This plant has commonly been confused by lay people and scholars alike—excluding botanists, but including Egyptologists—with the “Indian lotus,” which belongs to the genus Nelumbo, and was not introduced into Egypt until the 6th century B.C.
Kasia Szpakowska (Department of Classics & Ancient HistoryUniversity of Wales Swansea)
A Delta-man in Yebu (Occasional Volume of the Egyptologists’ Electronic Forum, no.1; Boca Raton: Universal Publishers), 225-37 (2003)
Abstract
I have often been asked whether the Egyptians used drugs to induce dreams. This paper aims to address that question primarily as it relates to dream reports recorded prior to Egypt’s Late Period. As I have noted elsewhere, the nature of references to dream reports changed substantially after that time, and deserve to be investigated separately. The current enquiry will explore the mystical nature of drunkenness, the relationship of the goddess Hathor to ecstatic dreams, and the known dream experiences. The first step in this inquiry is to consider what drugs could have been known and used during that time for other than medicinal purposes.
The two most obvious candidates, opium ( Papaver somniferum , probably ancient Egyptian Spn(n) )and cannabis ( Cannabis sativa , probably ancient Egyptian SmSm.t ), can be eliminated, as little or no physical evidence remains of their use. Certain fibres in textiles or rope have been classified as hemp, but this identification has yet to be substantiated by rigorous analysis. The presence of opium is highlydisputed as well, and although it may have been referred to in medical texts, there is no evidence of its use in a religious context. Recent articles by the botanist William Emboden and W. Benson Harer M.D. have identified the blue water lily ( Nymphaea caerulea ), a plant native to Egypt, as a potentialcandidate. This plant has commonly been confused by lay people and scholars alike—excluding botanists, but including Egyptologists—with the “Indian lotus,” which belongs to the genus Nelumbo, and was not introduced into Egypt until the 6th century B.C.
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