An article about opium poppy and opium in medical and pharmacological textbooks usually begins like this: "Even the Egyptians knew and used opium." Opium is the milklike sap that is obtained from immature opium poppy plants and forms the basis for one of the most valuable medicinal drugs: morphine. Until today, morphine and its derivatives have become an indispensable part of pain therapy and we actually know that the Greek physicians in ancient times were familiar with the analgesic effect. However, as far as the Egyptian physicians are concerned, we are still groping in the dark.
A prescritpion from the Ebers papyrus was used as an opportunity to identify poppy seeds; it is this:
„Remedy for eliminating excessive screaming, that is, a [young] child who is constantly screaming: shepenen of shepen-plant. Make a mixture, squeeze it, shall be drunk on four days. Stops [it] immediately.“
So is the shepen-plant really an opium poppy? The assumption is justified, as the toxicologist Louis Lewin wrote in 1927 that it was widespread at that time in Europe to “calm down” children with poppy seeds. Opium poppy of course also bears its name for good reason: in addition to the pain-relieving effect, one sleeps rather well with it ... (The main ingredient, morphine, got its name from the Greek god of sleep, Morpheus.)
For the Ptolemaic period it is certain that opium poppies were grown in and exported from Egypt; the quality of the poppy seeds grown in Thebes was probably so high that one of the ingredients in opium, thebaine, was named after this place in the 1830s. Otherwise, the opium poppy is not originally native to Egypt and it is not clear when and how opium poppy or opium found their way to Egypt. One hypothesis, however, is that opium was exported from Cyprus to Egypt around the time of the 18th Dynasty, i.e. around 1500 BCE. Trade with Cyprus in general is documented at this time, as Cypriot pottery was found in Egypt. A certain type of vessel (the "base-ring-juglet"), which is supposed to resemble a poppy seed capsule, was repeatedly associated with the import of opium. However, chemical analyses could only confirm in one case that opium was actually transported in those vessels. Unfortunately, the vessel does not come directly from an excavation, but was acquired from an antiques dealer, so the exact origin remains unclear.
Cypriote "Base-ring juglet", Type I
Martin-von-Wagner-Museum, Würzburg
Acc.No. A.39
Let's get back to the shepen-plant: In the medical papyri, there are three other uses for this plant, albeit only external, in addition to the internal use for screaming children. Apparently it could be used as a powder to treat inflamed wounds. Opium and its ingredients have hardly any anti-inflammatory effects, so it is surprising that at least in the Ebers and Smith papyri, the much more obvious effects of opium were not exploited. In addition to reducing pain, it has a cough-relieving effect and inhibits bowel activity, so it could have been used for diarrheal diseases. The fact that the analgesic effect was completely unmentioned when used internally suggests that the assignment of shepen to opium poppy is at least questionable. If the import of opium did not begin until the 18th dynasty anyway, its use can hardly be documented in the medical papyri that were created earlier. So unfortunately, we still don't know what brought Egyptian toddlers to sleep so well ...
Literature
- Renate Germer, Handbuch der altägyptischen Heilpflanzen, Wiesbaden 2008.
- Klaus Koschel, Opium Alkaloids in a Cypriote Base Ring I Vessel (Bilbil) of the Middle Bronze Age from Egypt, Ägypten und Levante 6, 1996, pp. 159-166.
Cover picture
- Papaver somniferum, opium poppy
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