Drug use in HBO's Rome

[sweeteviljesus]

Were pipes, marijuana and opium use known in Egypt circa 50 BCE? This is frequently shown in the series Rome on HBO. Is that accurate? I have heard that the Scythians used to inhale hemp smoke by burning it in a closed tent circa 100 BCE, but I didn’t know that pipes were used then.

Thanks,
Rob

[Push_You_Down]

in one of those HBO “behind the scenes” bits they show inbetween shows and movies they actually have a segment on the drug use on “Rome”. Of course they say its accurate.

[garygnu]

Opium was eaten at that time, and according to Wikipedia: “Herodotus described Scythians inhaling the fumes of burning leaves to induce intoxication. The substance they enjoyed was probably cannabis, as that was smoked in Africa and Asia since ancient times.”
Pipes may have existed in Africa at the time, but I’m dubious of Romans smoking from pipes, especially opium.

[ivylass]

What about Egyptians? Cleopatra (yes, I know she wasn’t Egyptian, but she was Pharoh, so bear with me) is shown with Antony smoking on something. And the first time we saw her, she evidently went cold turkey.

[pravnik]

Egypt looks like it may have been party central for the ancient opium trade. Found this from the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education:

The ancient Egyptians cultivated opium poppies, however the use of opium was generally restricted to priests, magicians, and warriors, and was associated with religious cultism. Thoth, the Egyptian god of letters, invention and wisdom was said to have instructed mortal beings about opium preparation, while the goddess Isis was to have used opium as a headache remedy for the god Ra. In fact, the terms “opium thebaicum” and “thebaine” (an opium alkaloid) are derived from Egyptian “Thebes” (an ancient Egyptian city on the Nile River close to modern day Luxor). Opium became a well known drug of Egypt, with its various preparations being concentrated in certain geographic regions(I-3,5,6-8).

Link

Opium was apparently known to the Romans; an article titled “The Opium Addiction of Marcus Aurelius” from Journal of the History of Ideas describes a later emperor’s opium addiction, saying “the testimony of his physicians and his own notebooks suggest that a wall of narcotics insulated the emperor from family disorders and all but public calamities.” He seems to have died (directly or indirectly) from opium.
Link, but only to the first page

[Blind_Guardian]

Cannabis was apparently also known in North Africa in ancient times, so it’s plausible that it may have been available in Egypt, though I’m not sure what the preferred method of using it would have been.

@D. Brendan Nagle

"…[A] Carthaginian war ship of the time of the First Punic War [was] found, along with the remains of a sister ship off the coast of Sicily in 1971-1973. The hold…contained a cache of cannabis sativa. The discoverers of the ships speculate that it was used to help the rowers endure the stress of their long hours at the oars.

Source: The Ancient World: A Social and Cultural History, 4th ed.