In Ancient Egypt, Opium Was a ‘Fixture of Daily Life,’ Study Suggests

Egyptian alabaster vessels may have been the ancient world’s hookah.

In a study published in September in the Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies, researchers identified traces of opiates—natural compounds from poppies such as opium, morphine, and heroin—in an ancient alabaster vase in the Yale Peabody Museum’s Babylonian Collection. The team argues that, to date, their work represents the clearest comprehensive evidence of the broader use of opium in ancient Egyptian society.

“Our findings combined with prior research indicate that opium use was more than accidental or sporadic in ancient Egyptian cultures and surrounding lands and was, to some degree, a fixture of daily life,†Andrew Koh, lead author of the study and an archaeologist at the Yale Peabody Museum, said in a Yale University statement.

Multi-lingual inscriptions

Four ancient languages are inscribed on the vase—Akkadian, Elamite, Persian, and Egyptian—along with the mention of Xerxes I, a Persian king from 486 to 465 BCE best known for his invasion of Greece, including the iconic battles of Thermopylae, Salamis, and Plataea. During this time, Egypt was under Persian control.

The vessel also includes an addendum in Demotic, another form of ancient Egyptian writing, which notes that the vase can hold about 41 U.S. fluid ounces (1,200 milliliters). The artifact itself is 8.7 inches (22 centimeters) tall. Intact examples of this sort of vessel—unique quadrilingual-inscribed Egyptian alabaster vessels that reference Persian rulers from the Achaemenid dynasty—are extraordinarily rare.

Koh and his colleagues analyzed dark-brown aromatic residues inside the ancient vase and found “definite evidence,†according to the statement, for noscapine, hydrocotarnine, morphine, thebaine, and papaverine—all of which point to opium. These results remind researchers of opiate residues previously found in a group of Egyptian alabaster vessels and Cypriot base-ring juglets from a New Kingdom (around 1570 to 1069 BCE) tomb likely belonging to a merchant family south of Cairo.

Notably, these findings indicate that similar alabaster vessels, such as several from Tutankhamun’s tomb, may also have carried opiates. Tutankhamun was pharaoh from 1333 to 1323 BCE.

Was King Tut a druggie?

“We think it’s possible, if not probable, that alabaster jars found in King Tut’s tomb contained opium as part of an ancient tradition of opiate use that we are only now beginning to understand,†Koh explained.

When archaeologist Howard Carter found Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, he also uncovered many well-preserved Egyptian alabaster vessels, many of which had sticky, dark brown, aromatic organic residue. Just over a decade later, analytical chemist Alfred Lucas concluded that most of these organic materials were not unguents or perfumes. These vases are now at the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, and their organic residues haven’t been studied again since.

Interestingly, Carter had noticed finger marks inside the alabaster vessels—evidence indicating the ancient looters had tried to retrieve as much of their contents as possible. According to the researchers, many of the targeted vessels had the same dark brown substances that Lucas decided were not perfumes.

Simply put, the contents of these vessels must have been valuable. Not only were they buried with a pharaoh, but they were also stolen, Koh said. Ancient people probably wouldn’t have cared so much about standard unguents and perfumes.

The hookahs of the ancient world

For now, researchers “have found opiate chemical signatures that Egyptian alabaster vessels attached to elite societies in Mesopotamia and embedded in more ordinary cultural circumstances within ancient Egypt,†Koh said. “It’s possible these vessels were easily recognizable cultural markers for opium use in ancient times, just as hookahs today are attached to shisha tobacco consumption. Analyzing the contents of the jars from King Tut’s tomb would further clarify the role of opium in these ancient societies.â€

Whatever is in Tut’s vessels, it must be better than a hallucinogenic cocktail of bodily fluids and alcohol.