The Rules of Drug Taking: Wine and Poppy Derivatives in the Ancient World. VII. A Ritual Use of Poppy Derivatives?

Abstract

Besides fertility, poppies have been used to symbolize sleep, night, and death. Consistent with the agrarian origin of their ritual use, poppies also became a symbol of reincarnation. Several literary and icono-graphic sources, in particular of the early Roman imperial age, are here interpreted as evidence that poppy derivatives were ingested during mystery rites. The reversible narcotic effects of poppy derivatives should have allowed a “realistic” representation of death and reincarnation, as intended by the Orphic belief of the transmigration of souls

Key Words:

• Opium
• Sleep
• Death
• Mystery cults
• Vergil