ABSTRACT
Few studies have dealt with psychoactive plants in ancient Mesopotamia. The principal work is still Thompson’s 1949 A Dictionary of Assyrian Botany in which five plants are discussed: ashwadangha, mandrake, cannabis, opium poppy and black henbane. Therefore, any discussion of the topic needs to deal with Thompson’s work. The present paper takes two different approaches of inquiry: an internal perspective or emic view by analyzing those written cuneiform records on ancient Babylonian medicine that refer to mind-altered states, and an etic view with the goal of challenging previous plant identifications and providing information about the actual growth and distribution of psychoactive plants in Mesopotamia. In conclusion, it is suggested that Assyrian and Babylonian healers distinguished among at least twenty-three mind stabilizing, mind opening, stimulant, sedative and aphrodisiac plants, which they either used in the treatment of depression, anxiety, fear, fatigue, insomnia, loss of potency and the Evil Eye or employed in various ritual and religious contexts.
