
Cannabis and Frankincense at the Judahite Shrine of Arad - Petiver
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03344355.2020.1732046
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dr_dshiv
From The Histories of Herodotus (d.424 BC):

"Hemp grows in Scythia: it is very like flax; only that it is a much coarser
and taller plant: some grows wild about the country, some is produced by
cultivation: the Thracians make garments of it which closely resemble linen;
so much so, indeed, that if a person has never seen hemp he is sure to think
they are linen, and if he has, unless he is very experienced in such matters,
he will not know of which material they are. The Scythians, as I said, take
some of this hemp-seed, and, creeping under the felt coverings, throw it upon
the red-hot stones; immediately it smokes, and gives out such a vapour as no
Grecian vapour-bath can exceed; the Scyths, delighted, shout for joy"

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JBReefer
Cannabis seeds and hemp seeds don’t contain thc

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qplex
It was most likely the flowers of a female plant (that contain the seed) that
were thrown on the rocks.

Also, hemp == cannabis.

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progre
> Also, hemp == cannabis.

Sure, but plants grown primarily for it's fibers wouldn't have anyting near
the THC levels of the skunk mutants grown for narcotic use today

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heavyset_go
I know people in the industry, and hemp with significant amounts of THC
commonly occurs. Unless people in the past were selecting for low THC on
purpose, it's likely that THC content in hemp fluctuated and was significant
enough to smoke.

I've also purchased hemp for the purposes of consuming CBD, and it got me
high.

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pixxel
> Two limestone monoliths, interpreted as altars, were found in the Judahite
> shrine at Tel Arad. Unidentified dark material preserved on their upper
> surfaces was submitted for organic residue analysis at two unrelated
> laboratories that used similar established extraction methods. On the
> smaller altar, residues of cannabinoids such as Δ9-teterahydrocannabinol
> (THC), cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabinol (CBN) were detected, along with an
> assortment of terpenes and terpenoids, suggesting that cannabis
> inflorescences had been burnt on it. Organic residues attributed to animal
> dung were also found, suggesting that the cannabis resin had been mixed with
> dung to enable mild heating. The larger altar contained an assemblage of
> indicative triterpenes such as boswellic acid and norursatriene, which
> derives from frankincense. The additional presence of animal fat―in related
> compounds such as testosterone, androstene and cholesterol―suggests that
> resin was mixed with it to facilitate evaporation. These well-preserved
> residues shed new light on the use of 8th century Arad altars and on incense
> offerings in Judah during the Iron Age.

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YeGoblynQueenne
After all that I was expecting a description of carvings depicting a figure
with demonic wings and tentacles or snakes on its face. I was a little
disappointed.

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pixxel
Ha. Well, they were probably smoking mellow weed plucked from the ground, as
opposed to modern day laboratory high THC weed.

~~~
YeGoblynQueenne
But they were smoking it mixed with dung. Sounds just right for a death cult
of a mad god to me... :)

~~~
pixxel
Oh true. Sounds magical, man.

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itslikethat
Danny Nemu has an interesting paper on entheogens in the Old Testament.

[https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2054/3/Special-
Issue/ar...](https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2054/3/Special-
Issue/article-p117.xml)

And a lighter article looking at Frankincense in particular.

[http://psypressuk.com/2016/12/22/three-kings-orient-drug-
run...](http://psypressuk.com/2016/12/22/three-kings-orient-drug-runners-not-
kings/)

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dr_dshiv
Smoking cannabis in pipes occurred only after Columbus and the import of
tobacco. I find that a little shocking, especially in India, where cannabis
has religious value. Archeological work is sadly very rare in India... But if
anyone finds an older chillum pipe, it will be a major discovery.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_India](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_India)

~~~
sammalloy
I believe the use of cannabis in this particular ritual is referred to as the
ancient practice of suffumigation. This practice goes fairly far back in the
literature.

> Suffumigation, by definition, means "to fumigate from below." This practice
> involves herbal incenses burned for magical purposes and is used in
> Ceremonial Magic to attract certain spirits. When an object is consecrated,
> it is held in the smoke of the incense, thus suffumigating it.

(The Witch Book: The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, Wicca, and Neo-paganism)

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SN76477
I always felt that the burning of incense had to cannabis.

Burning a half lb bundle in a medium sized room of even low quality cannabis
would feel like a spiritual moment.

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Talanes
There's one reading of the recipe for Holy Anointing Oil that includes
Cannabis, making the result basically a topical weed oil.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_anointing_oil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_anointing_oil)

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tezza
I didn’t realise “The History of the World, Part 1” was actually a
documentary.

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pugworthy
The concept of rolling papyrus is perhaps not so far off then.

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microtherion
I picture the ceremonies being accompanied by chants about being "iron like a
lion in Zion".

