It’s no surprise that we love using cannabis so much, because apparently even the first humans did, too.
As long as humans have been on this earth, they have loved to use the herb. In fact, ancient cultures were not justing using cannabis to get high, but also as a fibrous industrial material and as medicine. Here are some interesting facts about how ancient cultures used to use cannabis.
Ancient Greek cannabis steam baths
Yes, that’s right. The Greeks knew how to hot box a steam bath with the intoxicating fumes of cannabis. The Scythians, as part of their ritual, would cleanse using cannabis vapor and become completely intoxicated by the fumes.
Interestingly, we carry this tradition into the modern world, although probably with less grace. There are still many cannabis enthusiasts out there hotboxing cars, closets and bathrooms!
The Chinese hemp empire
In Ancient China, hemp and other cannabis varieties were cultivated mainly for their uses in making paper, baskets and other textiles. The Chinese knew a lot about medicinal herbs too, and would occasionally use cannabis as medicine.
In fact, the Chinese had many reasons for using the cannabis plant in all of its varieties, and for this reason they were leading cultivators of this plant. All the parts of the plant were used for their own particular reasons.
Egyptian cures for “bad humour”
Scrolls depicting medical plants date back as far as 4 thousand years ago, and cannabis is among one of those plants. The plant was apparently used to treat sore eyes and was an effective medicine for women to treat sorrow and “bad humour”.
The Egyptians were also fond of using other psychedelic plants for magic and rituals, so it’s not farfetched to think that they probably did the same with cannabis.
