The Magical and Ritual Use of Cannabis in Ancient Cultures
In April 2018, archaeologists announced several fascinating discoveries regarding the history of cannabis use and its spread across the Middle East and ancient Europe. Previous archaeological finds in the region indicated that human civilizations began using cannabis as incense about 5,000 years ago. Additionally, preserved fibers of ancient cannabis have been found in burial mounds and settlement ruins dating back ten thousand years. Earlier this year, scientists also uncovered new similar finds in France, suggesting the widespread use of cannabis in both Europe and the Middle East.
Ancient Evidence and Scientific Research
On April 20, the journal Science published an article titled “Cannabis, Opium, and Their Use in Middle Eastern Cultures.” The article stated: “Many archaeological finds and documentary sources indicate that the use of psychoactive substances has accompanied human civilization since prehistoric times. It is certain that 10,000 years ago, humanity already knew how to produce alcohol, as confirmed by finds in the ruins of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and other ancient cultures of the Middle East. Many cultures in this cradle of civilization experimented for centuries with local psychoactive plants, such as blue lotus, as well as exotic imports from Central Asia and India, including cannabis and opium derived from certain poppy species.”
These facts have allowed archaeologists to reinterpret the culture and development of ancient peoples, finding new ways to understand certain customs and rituals. Cannabis may have been used not only in rituals and medicine but also recreationally by cultures such as Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Syria, and the peoples of Anatolia.
Modern Analysis and New Discoveries
Recent archaeological finds regarding ancient cannabis use have been discussed on resources like Bizbiz.com: “Many discoveries made over the past 20 years show that numerous peoples and cultures of the ancient Middle East used cannabis and other psychoactive substances, as evidenced by preserved, dried remains of these substances. New deep analysis technologies have shown that many artifacts, both from recent finds and museum archives, contain traces of fats, resins, and other organic compounds indicating the processing and use of psychoactive plants.”
Archaeologist Dianna Stein from the University of London believes that scientists could have found ample evidence of cannabis use in ancient rituals much earlier if they had access to modern chemical and molecular analysis technologies. According to Stein, traces of substances on ancient pottery clarify the possible contents of strange drinks depicted on seals from Anatolia, Persia, Syria, and Mesopotamia. Other popular motifs, such as images of battles or a person competing with themselves, may symbolize the “inner conflict” that the human psyche can overcome when consuming large doses of cannabis or similar psychoactive substances.
“Given the prevalence of cannabis use in the region, I believe that the images found on seals and obelisks were not just metaphors but attempts by ancient people to convey their experiences with psychedelic states,” Stein notes.
Debate Among Scholars
Not all archaeologists and historians agree with Stein’s conclusions. Dr. Glenn Schwartz of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore says, “It’s clear that for thousands of years before the modern international black market for drugs, many peoples and cultures freely used psychoactive substances for religious, medical, and even recreational purposes.” However, he also cautions that Stein may be too quick to see evidence of widespread cannabis or opium use in every new find. Most renowned scholars who have reviewed Stein’s work share a similar viewpoint.
Stein is confident that focused research will allow archaeologists and historians to reconstruct the ancient culture of cannabis use by analyzing accumulated historical texts and archaeological sources. She suggests that many features of religious traditions and cultural customs of various ancient peoples may have been based on the use of cannabis and other psychoactive plants to achieve entheogenic effects. While humanity is now largely separated from such rituals, some modern alternative religious communities and nature-based shamans are trying to revive this “entheogenic religion” culture, centered on intense and “supernatural” experiences from hallucinogenic substances.
On the other hand, Dr. Andrew Lawler, a respected expert in ancient world archaeology, argues that the relatively rare finds of cannabis use are more likely the behavior of small groups rather than evidence of a widespread entheogen culture. He points out that written sources do not mention the use of psychoactive plants resembling cannabis or opium, though they do reference alcohol, wild herbs, or possibly mythical plants. The author of this article, who has written four books on the history of cannabis, disagrees, noting that many linguistic experts recognize that terms like “kunnubu,” “bhang,” and “kanna” refer to what we now know as cannabis. The term “kaneh bosm” also appears several times in the Talmud, which, along with the widespread presence of cannabis in the region, points to its real identity as the “plant of healing and knowledge.”
The Etymology and Spread of Cannabis
By the first century BCE, the word “kunnubu” and its variants began to appear in written sources as a source of healing oils used in therapy for various ailments. Some specialists hypothesize that the plant, not formally described in appearance, was indeed cannabis, particularly the indica variety. People were already widely using cannabis and its extracts for therapeutic and religious purposes centuries before the term “kunnubu” appeared in the Talmud and the Old Testament.
The earliest confirmed mention of the term comes from ancient Syrian culture, which borrowed the word “konaba” or a similar term from nomadic cultures of eastern Iran and Scythian Asia. Over time, the word evolved as it spread to ancient Germany (“ganabas”) and then into English and other European languages as “cannabis.” The term is also similar to the ancient Greek “konabos,” meaning noise, possibly describing the effects of cannabis.
Herodotus, the ancient philosopher and scientist, wrote about the Scythians’ tradition of burning a certain bush, which produced intoxicating smoke. While he did not name the plant, the evidence suggests he was describing cannabis and its early recreational use. Another term, “azala,” found in Middle Eastern and North Indian sources, may refer to cannabis oil or early cannabinoids like THC, considered magical at the time.
Cannabis in Ancient Medicine and Rituals
In his work “Science and Secrets of Early Medicine,” Jürgen Thorwald claims that “kunnubu” referred specifically to cannabis indica, which had a stronger psychoactive effect than wild plants. The Assyrians borrowed the term and the culture of cannabis use from their Mesopotamian neighbors, who used the plant’s oils as sedatives, painkillers, and sleep aids since ancient times. Linguist and historian Erica Reiner suggests that the term’s root may be linked to the names of ancient deities, whose supernatural powers were associated with the plant’s effects.
Some words have changed little over the centuries, like the term for sunflower, which is similar in many languages. Others, like “kunnubu,” have mysterious origins that etymologists have tried to unravel for centuries. The name for cannabis may trace back to ancient Mesopotamian sources, where it was called “the incense of Sim Ishtar” or “kunnabu incense” in Akkadian. These documents describe the plant as a bush with several sexes, supporting the idea that it was cannabis. The plant’s name also links it to the goddess Ishtar, as confirmed by other historical finds showing cannabis mixtures used as aphrodisiacs in temple rituals.
Mentions of “kunnubu” appear in sacred texts from Uruk and Babylon. Archaeologist Mark Lissen notes that a text from the TU 44 collection describes “kunnubu” oil as part of an incense blend, even listing its price. However, the entheogenic properties of the widely available plant were known only to a small group of initiated priests who prepared special incense from it.
One ancient text describes a ritual: “Drink an offering of beer, wine, or the finest milk. Place the sacred censer and burning torch by the drum, illuminating it before the gods… The ritual must not be shown to outsiders, except those being initiated into the cult. Violators will be cursed by all the gods, and their days will be short and full of suffering. Only the wise, knowing the secret, and the chosen student may see this instruction and perform the secret ritual. Those not initiated must not learn it, as decreed by the Great Gods Anu, Enlil, and Ea.”
Further recipes for incense made from “kunnubu” were found in the library of the legendary Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (669–631 BCE). These texts describe in detail the technique for collecting plant resins, similar to traditional hashish-making methods, and instructions for extracting liquid oil, the ancestor of modern cannabinoid extracts. Other documents mention the purchase of large quantities of “kunnubu,” possibly for ritual use. French archaeologists in the 1920s translated “kunnubu” as cannabis or hashish oil in early versions of these documents.
Babylonian sources, such as tablets depicting gods and incense burners, bear inscriptions like: “Let the gods taste the aromas of noble herbs—the food of noble immortals. Pure intoxicating wine, untouched by mortal hands or lips.” Historian Thomas MacKenzie believed this indicated the incense’s unusual nature, likely causing trance states in priests, allowing them to “see the gods.” MacKenzie’s ideas were first mentioned by François Lenormant in 1874, who wrote that Chaldean magi used plant mixtures to enter trance and ecstasy, enabling communication with the gods and prophecy. These mixtures, with hallucinogenic properties, were used as tinctures or incense, depending on the ritual’s requirements.
Documents from Ashurbanipal’s father, Esarhaddon (681–669 BCE), indicate that the herbal mixtures used by Assyrian priests were perfected by ancient peoples, suggesting that the use of “kunnubu” blends dates back to the very origins of the empire’s religion and culture. One recipe, described in a letter from the high priest Neralsharani to Esarhaddon’s mother, lists the main ingredients for incense offerings as water, honey, aromatic plant oils, and “kunnubu” extract.
Cannabis Imagery and Further Evidence
Dianna Stein also suggested that preserved Assyrian and Babylonian images of the sacred tree of life may actually depict cannabis. The author of this article has discussed the visual similarity in his books “Sex, Drugs, Violence, and the Bible” (2001) and “Cannabis and Its Connection to Soma” (2010).
Another interesting mention of ancient cannabis use appeared in Wine Spectator magazine, which reported the discovery of bottles of cannabis wine estimated to be about 2,000 years old. In 2015, during excavations near the town of Sébazat in central France, archaeologist Hervé Delhous found a clay vessel in a tomb dated to the 2nd century BCE. Analysis revealed not only traces of wine but also plant material containing THC, indicating that the ancient Gauls likely used cannabis for recreational or religious purposes, similar to cultures in India and the Middle East. Dr. Nicolas Garnier, another researcher, suggested that cannabis-infused wine may have been used medicinally as a powerful, easy-to-make painkiller. Modern medical cannabis extracts are also made with alcohol, as it better absorbs hydrophobic cannabinoid molecules. “Such tinctures have been used in Europe since at least the 19th century, when cannabis was recognized as a medicine,” Garnier explains. However, it’s possible the find was a one-time experiment buried with its creator.
The joint use of cannabis and alcohol is discussed in “Cannabis and Its Connection to Soma,” including the discovery of many examples of medicinal cannabis wine from ancient China, its use in Jewish and Zoroastrian rituals, and a little-known legend that Christ’s followers may have used a pain-relieving drink to ease the Messiah’s suffering on the cross (see an 1860 article in the Boston Medical Journal for more on this hypothesis).
Cannabis in Other Ancient Cultures
Mentions of other mystical healing plants and their extracts appear in other Middle Eastern cultures. In ancient Egypt, a substance called Nepenthe (not related to the scientific name for pitcher plants) played a similar role. Like “kunnubu,” it was used as an offering to the gods and considered a universal healing agent. The Greeks, upon contact with late Egyptian empires, became interested in Nepenthe. In his Odyssey, Homer described it as a potion that relieved pain and fatigue. Seven centuries later, Roman historian Diodorus Siculus noted that Egyptian women healers still used a powder called Nepenthe, whose recipe came from the sages of Thebes, to “ease bodily and spiritual pain.”
Many academics agree that Homer’s Nepenthe refers to cannabis, based on the described effects. While some historians, starting with French pharmacist Joseph Virey (1775–1846), suggested it could be opium or hashish, most experts agree that ancient texts do mention cannabis and some form of its preparation for therapeutic use. Many works from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the 1877 British book “Customs and Culture of Ancient Egypt,” openly state that Nepenthe was either cannabis resin or a primitive alcohol tincture containing its active compounds.
Archaeologists studying Egyptian civilization in the early 2000s found shards of ancient amphorae containing cannabinoids. In 2004, a team led by Manfred Roche published findings from excavations at Sarum/Al-Kom Al-Ahmar in central Egypt, along the Nile Valley. Amphorae from the 6th dynasty to the Roman occupation contained traces of wine with plant material identified as cannabis.
The Gauls likely learned about cannabis from Persian traders, who may have imported the plant and its wine tincture, or from Scythian nomads, one of the first cultures to use cannabis in rituals and medicine (as evidenced by recently discovered golden cups for drinking cannabis infusions).
Cannabis in Medieval and Islamic Cultures
In the Middle Ages, people in the Arab world commonly used cannabis in the form of hashish. Respected academics and philosophers often consumed hashish and wine with hashish to “stimulate their spirit and thinking.” The combination was praised for balancing the effects of both substances. The philosopher Ibrahim al-Mimar wrote a short epigram about his love for hashish and wine:
He mixes hashish with wine
And lost his head, thinking he had died
He wondered: How could this happen?
When he sobered up, my friend answered me:
Be kind to your brother when he mixes wine and hashish
Support him under the influence of the sinful substance.
“Death” here likely refers to the metaphorical death of the ego, which can occur after consuming a large amount of cannabis. A 19th-century work, “The History of Ancient and Modern Wines,” notes that hashish wine continued to be used in the Islamic world up to the time of writing. Jewish historical sources also indicate that Arabs had long consumed cannabis mixed with wine, even before Islam and its prohibition on intoxication. In the 11th century, Jewish doctor Setius Simeon, living in Byzantium, described a recipe for preparing cannabis: “The dried leaf is added to food or drink, producing a mild intoxication and improved well-being. Some Arabs add it to wine for an even longer and stronger effect.”
Early 19th-century historian James Henderson wrote in 1824 that “Jews and Armenians living in Ottoman territory prepare wine for Muslims containing hashish or Indian cannabis flowers. It awakens the spirit and energy in a person.”
Another source, “All Year Round,” notes: “The best Persian wineries are in the country’s mountains, along the ridge from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea. Sixty-five grape varieties are grown by Jews, Armenians, and Zoroastrians. The product is widely consumed by Muslims, who, despite the Prophet’s words, love to circumvent the sacred ban on intoxication. Locals say the Prophet forbade Muslims from making wine, but said nothing about drinking it. In Isfahan and Tehran, wine drinking is so ingrained that many locals drink it with aromatic herbs like cinnamon. Some merchants even enhance their product by infusing it with Indian cannabis flowers to extract its intoxicating juices.”
Original author: Chris Bennett