What does LSD have to do with the ancient Greeks? Although they may seem worlds apart, the drug may have played a key role in one of the ancient Greek’s most mysterious religious rituals. But first, a little background…

In 1938 Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann successfully synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide from a naturally occurring fungus known as Ergot.

Ergot is a fungus that grows on barley, rye, and similar crops. It produces alkaloids, a compound responsible for the condition known as ergotism, that causes convulsions, spasms, vomiting, mania, and psychosis if the Ergot is consumed in its raw form.

When Hofmann was experimenting with this dangerous parasitic fungus, he was looking to isolate an effective chemical compound that would stimulate circulatory and respiratory systems, but what he found instead was a highly effective psychedelic drug, known today as LSD. So, what does LSD and Hofmann’s lab have to do with the ancient Greeks?

Recent archaeological evidence has unearthed fragments of Ergot in an ancient Greek ceremonial cup, found at a Mas Castellar des Pontos, in Girona Spain dating back to 300 BC. Remnants of Ergot were also found in the dental calculus of a 25-year-old male, providing evidence that an Ergot-infused drink was consumed at the site at that time.

Mas Castellar is a significant ancient temple. It was dedicated to the goddesses Demeter and Persephone, the chief goddesses associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries, well as Kykeon, the mysterious potion consumed at the famous ritual at Eleusis.

The Eleusinian Mysteries have puzzled scholars for nearly two millennia. The mysteries of Demeter and her daughter Persephone were an ancient ritual that was observed yearly between 1600 BCE and 392 CE. It was a festival of magnitude that required over a year’s worth of preparation.

The initiates, which could number thousands at a time, would embark on a 10-day parade down the scared way to the famous temple, where they would break their 3-day fast with a sip of the sacred Kykeon, which gave way to a night of dancing and a re-enactment of the famous central myth of The Mysteries, Demeter’s quest to save her daughter from the grips of the underworld.

The festival attracted millions around the Greek and Roman empire, with the promise of unveiling the secrets of the afterlife for the initiated. Those who were initiated into the inner sanctum to witness the Greater Mysteries were forbidden to discuss what happened there under pain of death – a harsh penalty that is not precedented in any other Greek festival.

More so, the ingredients of the mysterious Kykeon were shrouded in such secrecy that despite thousands of initiates having experienced the concoction, we are left only with scattered and vague references to what the potion contained.

Besides the mysteries themselves, the Kykeon is perhaps Eleusis’ best-kept secret. The ancient potion is said to be the source of the mysteries and is referenced in literature across the ancient Greek-speaking world.

In Homer’s Odyssey, Circe mixes the Kykeon with honey and uses it to turn Odysseus’ men into swine, and in the Iliad it is said to be a mixture made from goats’ cheese, water, and barley.

No one really knows what the Kykeon was and how it was made. The initiates of the inner mysteries were forbidden to share its secrets outside of Eleusis. Plato, Socrates, Sophocles, Cicero, Plutarch, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius were all initiates of the Greater Mysteries.

But did the greatest men in western history, the men behind reason, logic, democracy, and science really travel all the way to Eleusis to find themselves mesmerized by a simple honey drink and a good play?

Even before the unearthing of the Ergot tainted cup at Mas Castellar, some modern scholars had suspected that the drink contained a psychoactive element due to the detailed accounts from eye-witnesses that had attended the ceremony.

Barley is considered the chief ingredient of the Kykeon, along with other non-psychoactive ingredients. Ergot is a parasitic fungus that thrives on barley, and it was the scourge of the ancient and medieval worlds.

Barley was a highly precious commodity, and to have the harvest infected with Ergot could be society’s ruin. However, had the ancients found a way to use unwanted Ergot growing on their barley corn? Could they have found a method of isolating the psychoactive element of the fungus, just as Dr Hofmann did in 1938?

To avoid the death penalty, Plato described his experience at Eleusis in cryptic terms. He spoke of Eleusis as ‘the holiest of Mysteries’ where he experienced ‘a state of perfection’ and ‘blessed sight and vision’.

During the climax of the evening, upon the completion of the initiation ceremony, attendees were given the title epoptes which roughly translates as ‘The one who has seen it all’. Initiates claimed that life continued after death, and there was a light waiting for us at the end of the tunnel.

After his initiation, Sophocles claimed that ‘’trice blessed are those among men who, after beholding these rites, go down to Hades. Only for them is their life [after death]; all the rest will suffer an evil lot’’

To put this into context, the ancient Greeks usually approached death with reluctance and gloom. It was generally believed that when one dies, his or her spirit is damned to roam the underworld (Hades) for all eternity. It appears that those who emerged from the ritual at Eleusis left with an alternative attitude towards death and dying. These accounts suggest that what was happening at Eleusis was different from the other religious ceremonies in ancient Greece.

In The Road to Eleusis published in 1978, Albert Hofmann, along with the Classicist Carl Ruck and Mycologist Gordon Wassan, first put forth the hypothesis that the Kykeon contained a psychoactive entheogen by comparing accounts of Eleusis with spiritual ceremonies found in other cultures that used natural psychedelic compounds.

The book received much criticism upon its publication, however, in recent years their work has become more accepted, especially in light of archaeological evidence, like that at Mas Castellar.

The amount of evidence that is slowly emerging has opened doors for further research into the therapeutic uses of psychedelics. The mental health industry is particularly interested in psychedelics as a treatment for depression, anxiety, addiction, and is proving to be especially effective for end-of-life therapy for patients with terminal illnesses.

Dr. Roland R Griffiths of John Hopkins University has conducted several psychedelic studies and surveys on the effect of mind-altering drugs and their relationship with consciousness and perceived reality.

In a 2019 study, Griffiths and his team recorded and compared the experience of psilocybin, LSD, DMT, and ayahuasca users who described their experience as an ‘ultimate reality’.

Griffiths reports that the participants could recall vivid memories that frequently involved direct communication with conscious entities that were “benevolent, intelligent, sacred, eternal and all-knowing” and that approximately half of the participants described their experience as ‘mystical’.

It has not gone unnoticed that these accounts are not dissimilar from those who participated in the ancient Mysteries at Eleusis.

In The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Cult with No Name (pub. 2020) linguist Brian C. Muraresku details his 20-year deep dive into ancient psychedelic research and the role of Ergot and other possible psychedelic substances in the Eleusinian Mysteries.

The linguist who has never taken a psychedelic drug in his life, argues the possibility that humans have used psychedelic drugs as far back and the stone age, and the Kykeon is a possible precursor for the Christian Eucharist.

However, despite emerging evidence, the jury is still out on whether or not psychedelics played a role in ancient Greek enlightenment.

There is evidence that other cultures, like the Egyptians, grew psychedelics plants but evidence on how they used the plants is still up for debate.

Traditional scholars agree that the states of euphoria felt at Eleusis was more likely caused by the participants arriving in a famished state after a 3-day fast and dancing for several hours – a combination that can stimulate the nervous system and result in self-induced visions and hypnotic trances.

While the traditional explanation of the euphoric effect of The Mysteries is certainly possible and generally accepted, psychedelic researchers and classical linguists cannot ignore the comparative similarity of the accounts given by modern-day psychedelic drug users and initiates of the ancient temples.

Whether or not the ancient Greeks used psychedelics for spiritual purposes, and if they happened upon them on purpose, by accident, or at all, is still unknown. Further research is required, and new technology is helping researchers gain more insight into how ancient societies used medicinal plants and the relationship between consciousness, reality, and nature.

Griffiths RR, Hurwitz ES, Davis AK, Johnson MW, Jesse R (2019) Survey of subjective “God encounter experiences”: Comparisons among naturally occurring experiences and those occasioned by the classic psychedelics psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca, or DMT. PLoS ONE 14(4): e0214377. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214377

 Brian C. Muraresku (2020) The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name

Georgio Samorini, The Oldest Archaeological Data Evidencing the Relationship of Homo Sapiens with Psychoactive Plants: A Worldwide Overview, Journal of Psychedelic Studies, volume 3, issue 2

R.Gordon Wasson, Albert Hofmann and Carl A. P. Ruck (1978) The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, California