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Psychoactive Legacies Across Ancient Israel to Modern Science
From the Biblical keneh bosem to Cannabis and henbane, psychoactivity has highly influenced civilization
This is an excerpt of Sky Gods and the Recipe for Immortality: The secret influence of psychoactivity over science, society, and the supernatural.
In ancient Israel, high priests incorporated a broad spectrum of psychoactive substances in key rituals. Tel Aviv University archaeologists have discovered Cannabis residue on an ancient Judean altar while the Torah frequently references fragrant“keneh bosem.”
The Book of Exodus shows Cannabis was combined with psychoactive myrrh (which chemically activates opioid receptors in the brain in itself) to make psychoactive oil:
“And you, take for yourself spices of the finest sort: of pure myrrh… of keneh bosem… You shall make this into an oil of holy anointment.”
During the Renaissance, Carl Linnaeus, considered to be the father of modern biology, first coined the name Cannabis sativa. Then in the 1960s, its psychoactive THC molecule was discovered by a Hebrew University scientist named Raphael Mechoulam.
