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Researchers have discovered the residues of psychedelic drugs, bodily fluids and alcohol inside a 2,000-year-old mug, suggesting that ancient Egyptians imbibed hallucinogenic beverages during rituals.
It’s the first time scientists have been able to identify chemical signatures of the liquid concoctions sipped from mugs decorated with the head of Bes, an ancient Egyptian deity of fertility, protection, medicinal healing and magical purification. Bes-shaped vessels were produced over a long period in Egypt, but only a limited number have survived — and all of them have been found within different archaeological contexts, adding to their mystery.
The new findings, published on November 13 in the journal Scientific Reports, resulted from a study of the residue within a surviving Bes mug that is currently on display at the Tampa Museum of Art.
“For a very long time now, Egyptologists have been speculating what mugs with the head of Bes could have been used for, and for what kind of beverage, like sacred water, milk, wine or beer,” said study coauthor Branko van Oppen, curator of Greek and Roman art at the Tampa Museum of Art, in a statement. “Experts did not know if these mugs were used in daily life, for religious purposes or in magic rituals.”
The research, including chemical and DNA analyses, also revealed the first physical evidence of plants with psychotropic and medicinal properties within an Egyptian mug, which validates both written records and myths relating to ancient Egyptian rituals, said lead study author Davide Tanasi, professor and director of the Institute for Digital Exploration at the University of South Florida.
“Religion is one of the most fascinating and puzzling aspects of ancient civilizations,” Tanasi said in a statement. “With this study, we’ve found scientific proof that the Egyptian myths have some kind of truth and it helps us shed light on the poorly understood rituals that were likely carried out in the Bes Chambers in Saqqara, near the Great Pyramids at Giza.”
Uncovering ancient substances
Researchers have long been intrigued by Bes mugs precisely because there was little context for understanding how the vessels were used, making it difficult to hypothesize about their roles in rituals or the contents they carried, Tanasi said.
“Overall, the Bes vessels were not ordinary artefacts but rather ritual objects that were manufactured in limited number and acquired just by those individuals who worshipped Bes and participated to the rituals revolving around him,” Tanasi said. “Very likely, those individuals got to keep the Bes vessels after they were used to perform the rituals, as a reminder that the ritual was actually performed.”
Tanasi and his colleagues dove into the mug mystery as part of a larger study on ancient Mediterranean nutrition, focusing on the Bes artifact that had been donated to Tampa Museum of Art in 1984. After scraping the walls of the mug, the scientists pulverized the resulting sample and determined a recipe of sorts based on the substances that had stained the cup with overlapping residues.
The study team expected to find the remnants of a potent alcoholic beverage given the container’s small size, which was 1.7 inches (4.5 centimeters) in height and could hold 4.2 fluid ounces (125 milliliters). But the researchers were surprised by the varied mixture.
Their analysis detected four substance categories: an alcoholic base, flavoring agents, human bodily fluids, and medicinal and psychotropic ingredients.
The detection of fermentation yeasts suggests that the concoction had a base of beer or wine, which was enhanced with flavors from honey and possibly royal jelly, sesame seeds, pine nuts, licorice and grapes. Ancient Egyptians commonly used grapes to make beverages resemble blood, according to the study.
The bodily fluids were possibly a mix of blood, breast milk and mucus, which may have been vaginal, nasal or saliva, researchers said, and they believe these were added deliberately based on their concentrations.
And among the plants included were Egyptian blue water lily and Syrian rue, which contain hallucinogenic, medicinal, intoxicating and sedative properties that can alter perception and enhance visionary experiences, Tanasi said. Also present were species of the Cleome plant, known to induce labor, or at high doses, abortion.
“This research teaches us about magic rituals in the Greco-Roman period in Egypt,” van Oppen said. “Egyptologists believe that people visited the so-called Bes Chambers at Saqqara when they wished to confirm a successful pregnancy because pregnancies in the ancient world were fraught with dangers. So, this combination of ingredients may have been used in a dream-vision inducing magic ritual within the context of this dangerous period of childbirth.”
Written records, iconography and archaeological evidence from seeds and charred plants has shown that Egyptians were familiar with the plants and the side effects from consuming them, Tanasi said.
“We were surprised by the complex recipe of the concoction and shocked by the discovery (of) the human fluids that added a new religious/magical angle,” Tanasi said. “The identified substances would likely have induced dream-like visions, heightened meditative states and possibly euphoria.”
Studying chemical samples from other Bes vases in the future could reveal whether the mugs were used during singular events, or if these were part of a widespread practice, the authors wrote in the study.
Going forward, the team hopes to carry out similar analyses on additional examples of Bes mugs at other museums to determine whether all the vessels contained the same recipe.
Egyptian rituals of ‘drunkenness’
Identifying very specific inorganic, organic and psychotropic elements from the Bes mug is a welcome discovery, said Dr. Betsy Bryan, the Alexander Badawy Emerita Professor of Egyptian Art and Archaeology at Johns Hopkins University. Bryan was not involved with the new study.
There is more variation in the size of Bes mugs than noted in the study, Bryan said, which could certainly have an impact on the dosage and purpose of the hallucinogens.
“If the authors have demonstrated the contents correctly, then the dream-inducing drugs were mixed with both honey and breast milk, and this would certainly be most compatible with assisting women in childbirth or in lactation, etc.,” Bryan said in an email. “A tiny cup perhaps would have been used by a woman seeking help from the temple priest/magician.
The large cups may have held liquid consumed by the priests or by other congregants with different needs.”
Determining the ancient Egyptian designations for the plants used in the concoction, with the exception of known Egyptian water lily, will be crucial in trying to identify recipes from Greco-Roman temples, Bryan said.
Blue water lily has been noted in both textual and artistic evidence suggesting it was added to alcoholic drinks, said Caitie Barrett, associate professor in Cornell University’s department of classics. Barrett was not involved in the new study.
“Inebriation played an important ritual role in some ancient Egyptian festivals, especially festivals associated with the flooding of the Nile,” Barrett said.
The floodwaters irrigated and fertilized the fields to enable the growth of new crops, but they were also associated with the goddess of the Eye of the sun, sometimes identified as Hathor, she said.
Alcoholic offerings would be offered to Hathor during the floods, including as part of any “Festival of Drunkenness” held to appease her, Barrett said.
“We have depictions of these festivals in tomb scenes that depict banqueters drinking heavily, saying that they want to become inebriated as fast as possible, and even vomiting when they overindulge,” Barrett said. “Bes, and other gods who resemble Bes, often act as attendants of Hathor in Egyptian art and religion. So it certainly seems possible that some Bes-vases could have been used in Hathoric rituals.”
