29/05/2020 Mushroom Use in Ancient Greece and Egypt

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MUSHROOMS IN HISTORY – THE GREEKS AND EGYPTIANS

EDITOR’S NOTE:
Last week, I published an article on this blog about how the Romans enjoyed eating wild-foraged
mushrooms and may have used them in political murders. You see, I have a penchant for classical
history and spent a lot of time in college studying up on the war-torn, chaotic, and fascinating
Greco-Roman period, with a specific focus on the Peloponnesian War, which ravaged Greece for
nearly 3 decades of the 5th century BCE. I also had a special fondness for the political convulsions
of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. I suppose these interests might indicate that
I am a little bloody-minded, but I found it to be a very pleasurable academic pursuit in the wake
of many years as a Dungeons and Dragons fanatic and avid reader of fantasy fiction.

Right as I was finishing up with the piece on the

Romans, I realized that I had not really touched on the
Greek perspective on mushrooms, even though their
relationship with mushrooms was certainly an influence
in Hellenic thinking and cultural expression. There are
significant differences between the Hellenes
(Greeks) and the Romans, but in many ways the
Romans looked to the Greeks for ideas about science,
philosophy, military strategy, and of course religion
(most of the primary Roman gods are basically ripped-
off versions of older Greek deities). The Romans even
thought that their society was descended from Aeneas,
a Trojan hero who fought in that war after which
certain computer viruses are named.

Anyway, although I am moving backwards through

history, I figured it made sense to address the
mycophilia (and in some cases mycophobia) of the
Greeks, Egyptians, and other people of Asia Minor and An image from John Leech’s
classic book, the Comic History of
the eastern Mediterranean.
Rome. Public Domain
One additional note: although I rarely discuss photograph.
psychoactive and hallucinogenic mushrooms and fungi
on this blog, I find some of the theories relating to these organisms in the context of Greek culture
to be interesting enough to include. Please don’t take this the wrong way; I am neither endorsing
nor condemning the historic use of magic mushrooms, and frankly I usually steer clear of the topic
in order to avoid annoying conversations with people who think that all mushroom hunters are
gooned-out trippers. Anyway, enough of that, let’s get onto an overview of mushroom use in the
bronze age. Huzzah!

Yours In Fungal Fancy,

Mushroom Anna

MUSHROOMS AROUND THE ANCIENT AEGEAN SEA

There is a good bit of evidence supporting the notion that ancient Europeans experimented with
mycophagy, which is fancy lingo for eating mushrooms. A decade and change ago, archaeologists
in Nola, Italy discovered a food bowl with mushroom residue on it, confirming suspicion that
Bronze Age pantries were supplemented with wild-gathered mushrooms. Other archaeological
digs support this hypothesis—bits of puffball mushrooms have been found at Paleolithic sites in

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Austria, Switzerland, and Germany, and the Red Lady of el Miron had spores of both boleteus and
agaric mushrooms on her teeth when she died nearly 19,000 years ago.

As humanity struggled through its squalid and mean adolescence, there is no doubt that fungi
attracted attention for their potential as food and medicine, and Europe’s temperate climate
supports an astonishing number of mushroom species that people experimented with. By 400 BC,
mushroom collecting was widespread and entrenched, as it remains today in much of Europe.
After all, mushroom hunting is the national sport of the Czech Republic. In future posts, I will
examine more northern and eastern European mushroom history, but for now suffice it to say,
mushroom hunting and use were common practices during the paleolithic era, setting the stage
for Bronze Age curiosity and exploration of mycology.

The powerful men of the Classical Period coveted mushrooms, and having the means to collect
and consume mushrooms was one hallmark of class that distinguished nobleman from commoner.
Ample historical evidence suggests that eastern Mediterranean cultures—the Persians, Greeks,
Egyptians, and others—loved their edible fungi.

The ancient Egyptians called mushrooms “sons of the

gods” and “plants of immortality” and thought that the
storm god Set created them by hurling lightning bolts
coated in mushroom-seed to earth. Consuming mushrooms
was the exclusive privilege of the pharaoh and his dining
companions. Hieroglyphs carved some 4,600 years ago
forbid common men from even touching mushrooms
because they were strictly provender for the high-born.
The pharaoh Khufu, who built the Great Pyramid of Giza
around 4,575 years ago, adored truffles and made sure the
royal table was always supplied with these rare desert-
born fungi.

Not only did the Egyptians think mushrooms were

scrumptious; they were also considered health food. In the
early 400s, an Egyptian scholar named Athenaeus
authored Deipnoshistae (The Partying Professors or The An inscribed Egyptian tablet.
Gatronomers, depending on your translator). The Egyptians crafted laws
Deipnoshistae included a mushroom recipe for a dish called prohibiting commoners from
mykai. In the style so popular amongst classical authors, eating mushrooms. Photo by
Athenaeus couched Deipnoshistae as a dialogue George Shuklin. Licensed
between famous thinkers, including Diphilus of Siphnos, under Creative Commons
who was a renowned Hellenistic court scholar, nutritional Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0
expert, and doctor. Unported.

Diphilus shared his instructions for preparing mykai, a

stewed mushroom dish that was quite popular with the Romans in later years. In addition,
Athenaeus’s characterization of Diphilus recommended mushrooms as a healthy main course,
which points to the Egyptian view that mushrooms were medicinal and culinary significant.

The curious and clever Greeks of the Classical Period were among the first westerners to write
about mushrooms and explore their origins and potential. Given the lively cultural exchange
between the Greeks and their eastern neighbors, it’s possible that mycophilia traveled across the
Aegean from Asia Minor and Egypt, and the idea of mushroom spores traveling to earth on
lightning bolts hurled by powerful gods was a common theme espoused by both Greeks and
Egyptians.

Natural science was an area of inquiry that fascinated Greek philosopher-scholars, and mushrooms
presented a baffling problem because they did not grow like other plants. Aristotle found
mushrooms puzzling but he was determined to figure out what sort of creature they were
because, in his words, “In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.”

Socrates’ student observed that mushrooms reproduced quickly, and he believed that they must
have very small seeds that could not be observed by the naked eye. Ultimately, Aristotle classified
mushrooms as plants in his Natural Philosophy, but he was uneasy with the conclusion and urged
others to look more closely at the problem.

Hippocrates, the famed doctor for which the physician’s oath is named, discussed beneficial and
poisonous mushrooms with his students at the Athenian Lyceum around 430 BC, and presented
some ideas about how to treat patients with mushroom poisoning. Around the same time,
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the tragedian Euripides wrote about the dangers of
accidental mushroom poisoning after his wife and children
succumbed to illness in the aftermath of a
deadly mushroom meal.

Despite concern about poisonous fungi, Greek

horticulturalists tackled culinary mushroom cultivation
around 200 BC, adding to a growing body of knowledge
about the practical uses of fungi. The scientist
Theophrastus broke the ice in an essay with the titillating
title Concerning Odors by noting that mushrooms growing
on dung were not vile and stinky like other evil and rotting
things and actually could be good to eat. Theophrastus’
protégé Nicandros took things a step further when he
discovered how to get ground-loving mushrooms to grow
in manure-filled holes next to fig trees, and he taught his
method to anyone who would listen. Aristotle was one of the
intellectual forebears of
The Greeks clearly appreciated the culinary value of fungi natural science and
even though wild mushrooms were sometimes risky meals. philosophy. Public Domain
Anthropological and literary evidence suggest that Greeks photograph.
cultivated Agrocybe aeregita on a small scale (commonly
called the pioppino, a wood-decomposer that’s common in
European markets today), as did the Romans after them. The Roman historian Seutonius
explained that the Greeks called mushrooms “food of the gods,” and noted that the Hellenes
favored them as supplements to an otherwise sparse table.

Although Aristotle used scientific reasoning to approach the classification of mushrooms, most of
his contemporaries were inclined to view mushrooms as expressions of magical forces at work in
the world. Writers who included observations about fungi agreed that mushrooms’ propensity for
growing in the aftermath of rain and lightning storms was a simple fact.

Porphyry, a mycophile from the Phoenician city of Tyre, remarked that mushrooms could
reasonably be called “sons of the gods” because they were born without seed. In the popular plays
and literature of the time, mushrooms were called “gifts of Zeus,” the head honcho of the Greek
pantheon and god of thunder and storms. In these ways, mushrooms were woven into the
intellectual and spiritual life of Classical Greece and Asia Minor in a way that highlighted the
mystery of the fungal organism.

The Greeks were clearly curious

about mushrooms but still believed
that there was something
unknowable about their sudden and
dramatic appearance.

MUSHROOMS AND GREEK

RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
The Greeks had a complex
relationship with religion, as anyone
who’s read their mythology knows.
The gods were fickle and self- Amanita muscaria contains potent psychoactive
involved, leaving people with the compounds, and some believe that the Greeks used
impression that sometimes life is just it to induce altered states of consciousness. Photo
downright unfair, no matter how well by Holger Krisp. Licensed under Creative Commons
you do homage to a particular deity. Attribution 3.0 Unported.
The stories of faithless Zeus being
pursued by Hera, Poseidon’s vendetta against quick-witted Odysseus, and that rather nasty
incident when three beautiful goddesses duked it out over the Golden Apple are all perfect
examples of the cynicism embedded in Greek religious thought.

Despite their doubts about the gods’ interest in the happiness and wellbeing of mankind, the
Hellenes had a few holy practices that were treated with a great deal of reverence, and some

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ethnomycologists who study the connection between fungi and human society are convinced that
these rituals were facilitated by the use of psychoactive fungi.

The Eleusinian Mysteries, Dionysian orgies, and the Oracle at Delphi were all Greek traditions in
which the celebrants were unbridled by everyday reason, beheld visions, and believed the gods
spoke to them and informed their actions. Although there is no solid reference to fungus being
consumed at these rituals (which is not surprising, because all of these events were strictly
closed-doors affairs and thus are still shrouded in some degree mystery), the possibility that the
Greeks were religious mushroom trippers is an idea that persists in the mycological community
today.

Some scholars believe that the ecstatic rituals of the Greeks were fueled by the use of a fungus
called ergot (Claviceps purpurea), a toxic and hallucinogenic fungus that grows on grain. One
byproduct of ergot infection of grain berries is LSA, a chemical precursor to lysergic acid (LSD).

Ergot is responsible for at least a few cases of collective hysteria

in history, most notably in Salem, Massachusetts. Numerous
historians think that accidental ergot ingestion triggered group
hallucinations and paranoia and brought about the witch trials that
permanently besmirched the reputation of Puritanical New
England.

R. Gordon Wasson, a banker and self-styled ethnomycologist,

took significant interest in the Greeks’ possible use of intoxicating
fungi as well. Wasson believed that soma, which is a divine plant
that is frequently mentioned in the Rg Veda (an ancient holy text
that informed pre-Hindu Vedic beliefs) was the psychoactive fly
agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria).

Wasson presented an alternative to the LSA/ergot theory to

explain the ecstatic rituals of the Greeks. Wasson thought the
Greeks, like the Vedic priesthood of ancient India, used the red
and white polka-dotted fly agaric mushroom (Amanita
muscaria) to generate altered states of consciousness. In the An oil painting of one
same vein, a prominent psychonaut named Terrence McKenna put of the priestesses of
forth the idea that the Greeks used psilocybin mushrooms in their Delphi. The oracle
religious ceremonies and secretive, cultish rituals. was one of the most
significant holy sites
Terrence McKenna is to psilocybin what Timothy Leary is to LSD, in Greek history.
and he advocated for the use of hallucinogens for decades. In Public Domain
spite of his bizarre demeanor and strange vocal timbre, McKenna photograph.
became a pop icon in the 1970s up until his death in 2000, and
he and his brother Dennis co-authored a psilocybin cultivation manual under the cryptic
pseudonyms O.T. Oss and O.N. Oeric that is directly responsible for the explosion of home magic
mushroom growing in the United States. In a statement that pretty well sums up his philosophy,
McKenna once remarked, “I think of going to the grave without having a psychedelic experience
like going to the grave without ever having sex. It means that you never figured out what it is all
about.”

Interestingly enough, the initiates at the Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries were told to gather a wild
“bulbous plant” at Agrai during the course of the experience, and some depictions of urns at the
Eleusinian Mysteries appear to be filled with mushrooms. Considering that the Greeks thought that
mushrooms were indeed plants with very small seeds, it’s entirely possible that contemporary
writers who described hunting for wild “bulbous plants” at Agrai in preparation for the Lesser
Mysteries were actually describing mushroom hunting!

Whether or not the Eleusinian Mysteries were fueled by psychoactive plants or fungi remains
unclear, but it’s a fascinating hypothesis that neatly answers some very long-standing questions
about the Greeks’ wild spiritual celebrations.

Whether or not McKenna and Wasson were right about the Greeks intentionally consuming
psychoactive fungi at their various prophetic and religious celebrations, the historical evidence
certainly supports the notion that mushrooms were a curiosity to the physicians, naturalists,
gourmets, and philosophers of the Classical period.

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CONCLUDING THOUGHTS ON
GREEK AND EGYPTIAN
MUSHROOM USE
I think it’s interesting to reflect on
the fact that the Greek understanding
of mushrooms is somewhat similar to
our own in the United States.
References to mushrooms in Greek
literature are sparse, and where they
do appear, they are surrounded by
uncertainty and some degree of fear.
It’s obvious that at least a few
prominent Greeks enjoyed eating
mushrooms, but the writings and
The inside of an exquisite black truffle. It’s kind of
lectures of other Greek thinkers
hard to hate fungi when you’ve got access to
discouraging mushroom consumption
delicious truffles. Public Domain photograph.
because of the possibility of poisoning
speak loudly of mistrust of wild-
gathered mushrooms in particular.

The Egyptians, on the other hand, seemed to have more parallels with the Romans, in that they
both had a positive relationship with mushrooms and thought they were healthy prestigious food
that were a signal of wealth and class. Maybe it’s the truffles; both cultures loved them, and it’s
sort of hard to hate on mushrooms when you’ve got truffles in your back yard.

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3 THOUGHTS ON “MUSHROOMS IN HISTORY – THE GREEKS AND EGYPTIANS”

1. Paul says:
July 24, 2015 at 4:34 pm
Hey I was wondering what your source is for this assertion:
The ancient Egyptians called mushrooms “sons of the gods” and “plants of immortality” and
thought that the storm god Set created them by hurling lightning bolts coated in mushroom-
seed to earth.

Thanks!

Reply

1. Anna McHugh says:

July 24, 2015 at 5:02 pm
Sure thing; primarily the book “Medicinal Mushrooms: Ancient Remedies for Modern
Ailments.” I need to review my notes for further sources but will update this comment
once I have a chance. Allegro wrote about it as well, but I am pretty certain that the
“sons of the gods” thing came from a classical author but I cannot right this moment
recall which one. Will update with further references once I take a glance at my notes.

Reply
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1. katie winston says:

October 17, 2015 at 11:30 pm
Wow.This helped alot. (wink!)

Reply

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