Opium may have been a daily habit for Ancient Egyptians
Ancient Egyptians may have used opium plot. Based on recent examinations, archaeologists now say that the drug may even constitute a near-daily recreational habit. Opium might even have been widely used across all socio-economic classes 3,000 years ago. The evidence is detailed in a study recently published in the Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archeologyand offers insight into the daily lives of ordinary Egyptians and royalty.
“Our findings, combined with previous research, indicate that opium consumption was more than accidental or sporadic in ancient Egyptian cultures and the surrounding lands. [It] was, to some extent, a part of everyday life,” Andrew Koh, a researcher at the Yale Peabody Museum, explained in a university release.
Koh and his colleagues think historical revisions are likely needed after examining an alabaster vase that is about 2,500 years old. The relic is one of fewer than 10 similar, intact examples found at excavation sites around the world. Made from calcite, the artifacts have been discovered at various archaeological sites, including the famous tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. In this particular case, the container has inscriptions engraved in four languages: Egyptian, Akkadian, Elamite and Persian. The different sentences are written to Xerxes I, ruler of the Achaemenid Empire from 486 to 465 BCE. As king, Xerxes I oversaw Egypt, as well as large portions of Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Eastern Arabia, Central Asia, and the Levant.
“Scholars tend to study and admire ancient vessels for their aesthetic qualities, but our program focuses on how they were used and the organic substances they contained,” Koh said, adding that such discoveries help reveal information about ancient daily life.
Koh first became interested in this specific vase after spotting unknown dark brown aromatic residue inside the vessel. Subsequent chemical analysis confirmed the presence of noscapine, thebaine, papaverine, hydrocotarnine, and morphine, all clear biomarkers of opium. In their study, the authors noted that their discovery is just the latest in a long list of similar artifacts. Opium-filled ships like these weren’t just for royalty, either. Archaeologists had previously identified opium residue in jugs belonging to the tomb of a merchant family dating from the New Kingdom (16th to 11th centuries BCE).
“We have now discovered opiate chemical signatures that Egyptian alabaster vessels attached to elite societies in Mesopotamia and rooted in more ordinary cultural circumstances within ancient Egypt,” Koh said. “It is possible that these vessels are easily recognizable cultural markers of opium use in ancient times, just as today’s hookahs are linked to the use of shisha tobacco.”
As further possible evidence, the study authors cited a nearly 100-year-old analysis by chemist Alfred Lucas. In 1922, Lucas was a member of the team led by Howard Carter that discovered the tomb of King Tut in the Valley of the Kings. Lucas carried out a brief chemical study of similar alabaster vessels in 1933 and detailed their sticky, dark brown organic matter. Although he could not identify the aromatic remains, Lucas concluded that most were not perfumes or similar scented products.
“We think it is possible, even likely, that the alabaster pots found in King Tutankhamun’s tomb contained opium, part of an ancient tradition of opiate use that we are only now beginning to understand,” Koh said.
In the future, Koh hopes to perform the same analysis on the historical objects, all of which are now housed in the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, Egypt.
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