WITHOpiate use may have been much more common in ancient Egypt than we thought, among both kings and commoners.
Detailed chemical analysis of residues found in an alabaster vase dedicated to King Xerxes, who ruled the ancient empire in modern-day Iran from 486 to 465 BC, has revealed traces of the drug. The results provide the strongest evidence yet that opiates were a major part of daily life in ancient Egyptian society, say researchers working in the Yale Ancient Pharmacology Program. They published their conclusions V Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archeology.
“When a rare, elaborate alabaster bearing the name of a king yields the same opium trace found in more modest tombs hundreds of years ago, we cannot dismiss the results as accidental contamination or the experiments of a social elite,” writes Yale University researcher Christopher Renton., one of the study's authors, in an email.
The drug's popularity in ancient Egypt was hinted at in medical texts from Hippocrates to Galen and Dioscorides, as well as in religious symbolism such as the poppy goddess in Crete, but it was difficult to prove.
What alabaster vessels like the one studied were used for has been the subject of much speculation for decades. Some suggest that they stored cosmetics or perfumes, or served to carry secret personal messages between the king and his officials. But the authors of the new study suggest they may instead have a direct cultural connection to the storage, preparation and use of opiates.
The scientists used highly sensitive instruments to identify parent compounds in ancient samples and found noscapine, hydrocotarnine, morphine, thebaine and papaverine, which are known diagnostic biomarkers for opium. Three of these chemicals were apparently recovered from vases found in New Kingdom tombs at Semente, Egypt, which contained the remains of high-ranking officials as well as ordinary people, while the other two chemicals appear to have been found there in a more degraded state.
Read more: “How to Bake the Bread That Fed the Pyramids»
Other clues that these vessels once held drugs come from looting: in 1922, an explorer named Howard Carter found a huge number of large, intricate Egyptian alabaster vessels. in the tomb of Tutankhamun and noted that the looters scooped the organic contents “to the bottom” with their hands, leaving fingerprints. Many of these looted alabasters still contain the same sticky dark brown organic remains with a distinct odor that match the characteristics of the remains found in Xerxes' vessel. Attempts at chemical research in 1933 appear to have yielded inconclusive results, but Yale University scientists speculate that opium taboos may have played a role.
The authors argue that it is unlikely that ointments or perfumes would inspire thieves to take such a step. They suggest that alabaster vessels may have been cultural markers of opiates in ancient Egypt, just as hookahs are associated with the use of shisha tobacco today.
The results suggest a greater understanding of pain and mind-altering experiences in ancient Egypt than previously thought. “If opiate use has spread beyond kings to common people, we must rethink our understanding of Egyptian medicine and the role of opium in its pharmacological complexity,” Renton wrote in an email. “These results suggest that pain management, sedation, and possibly controlled psychoactive experiences play a significant role in everyday life and religious practice.”
If this is true, then the civilization that gave us papyrus and the pyramids may also have pioneered a surprisingly nuanced relationship with drugs.
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