Source: cannasos.com
While many countries in the world still criminalize the use of cannabis, the ancient world had no such rules or restrictions. Ancient Egypt was one of the first civilizations to grow and use cannabis in medicine, religion and culture.
We know this for a fact because of the papyrus scrolls found in ancient tombs, paintings on the walls of Karnak and Abu Simbel temples, and references by historians who passed through ancient Egypt and described the ubiquitous use of hemp in everyday life back then.
Evidence shows that for thousands of years cannabis has been part of the religion and culture of that ancient civilization. It was only after the decline of Egypt as an ancient superpower that the role of cannabis in people’s lives diminished and faded.
Cannabis in Medicine
In the absence of social stigma and legal prohibition, cannabis flourished in ancient Egypt and it was widely used in medicine in ways that we haven’t fully uncovered yet.
One of the oldest and best persevered medical scripts, the Ebers Papyrus, mentions hemp in different prescriptions to treat everything from inflammation to glaucoma.
The 10-page scroll was written around 1550 BC but is believed to be a copy of earlier texts and describes a recipe for treating asthma by heating herbs on bricks for the patient to inhale.
Other scrolls like the Ramesseum III Papyrus (1700 BC), the Chester Beatty Medical Papyrus VI (1300 BC), and the Berlin Papyrus (1300 BC) all describe hemp as a medicine to treat various ailments such as:
- Inflammation
- Excessive menstrual bleeding
- Glaucoma and cataracts
- Hemorrhoids
- Depression
- Pain caused by injuries
Despite its widespread use in medicine, it’s believed that cannabis was mostly used to alleviate pain and symptoms that caused suffering or discomfort, rather than as a treatment in itself. Some ancient texts mentioned that hemp was used to treat cancer, but again that probably meant it was taken by patients to reduce the pain and not as a cure.
Hemp in Daily Life
But it wasn’t all about ingesting weed and numbing the pain back then. Hemp had other uses as well. It was used to make ropes, textile, and paper by the ancient Egyptians.
There’s evidence of hemp found in tombs of the pharaohs. Ropes made of hemp were also used to pull the giant blocks of limestone while building the pyramids.
The Egyptians also had an ingenious use for hemp back then to blow up rocks in quarries. They fitted chunks of dry hemp in cracks between rocks and then soaked them with water. When the hemp became wet, it expanded and split the rocks. That was long before dynamite was used to blow up rocks and slabs of marble.
Hemp was also an integral part of making sails and linen. In fact it was so popular in those days that when Egypt became part of the Roman Empire, Rome imposed a hefty tax on cannabis production which no doubt was met with a rebellion by the Egyptians.
High Mummies
This is no joke, but many of the mummies of ancient Egyptians were found to have cannabis inside of them, including Ramses II who ruled between 1279 – 1213 BCE.
This took the archaeologists by surprise and started a debate on whether the weed was ingested or was it part of the mummification process. While the venerable pharaoh may have taken cannabis as medicine in the last days of his long life, we’re inclined to believe it was taken for more recreational purposes. Especially since we know that the Egyptians were aware of the pain-relieving aspects of cannabis.
But it wasn’t just the people who appreciated cannabis, the gods too had an affinity for the plant. Goddess Seshat, the goddess of knowledge, wisdom, and writing was depicted in leopard skin with a weed-like leaf over her head. Which goes to show that the relationship between weed and wisdom was discovered thousands of years ago with the blessing of the gods.
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