Chapter Three - The High Priests of History

CHAPTER THREE

The High Priests of History

CANNABIS DIDN’T STAY in the mountains for long.
It wandered, migrated, and got passed hand-to-hand by herbalists, travelers, and priests. By the time you hit the river kingdoms and ancient empires, it’s already there, tucked into medicine cabinets and temple rituals like it belonged. Because it did.

Let’s start in Kemet, ancient Egypt.

Some archaeologists have reported traces of cannabis pollen in the tombs of pharaohs. Cannabis residue has been claimed to be in the linen wrappings of mummies. Ancient scrolls like the Ebers Papyrus list remedies using hemp to treat inflammation and various ailments.

Cannabis oil was rubbed into skin, mixed into salves, used in childbirth, and possibly even placed in offering bowls for the dead.

To the Egyptians, health and holiness weren’t separate. The body was sacred, so healing it with whatever worked was sacred too.

The Greeks were interested.
Hemp ropes? Of course. But also… medicinal applications.
The historian Dioscorides wrote about cannabis for earaches.
Pliny the Elder noted its use for easing pain and inflammation.

Roman soldiers were said to have used cannabis poultices for pain relief.
Roman households used hemp seed in various home remedies.
Roman authors, probably a little buzzed, documented the effects with curiosity rather than judgment.

It wasn’t a “drug.”
It was a tool.
Like wine, but greener.

In spiritual contexts, cannabis wasn’t about partying.
It was about perceiving, thinning the veil between this world and the next.

In Zoroastrian and early Islamic texts, hashish and other similar herbs were sometimes described metaphorically as the leaf that makes the soul float. Whether used or feared, it had a reputation: this stuff opens doors.

Cannabis wove itself into everything.

In healing: for pain, inflammation, and other ailments.
In spirituality: to meditate, connect, and grieve.
In divination: to induce visions or prophetic states.
In magic: sometimes feared, sometimes revered.

It was never just a plant.
It was a medium. A bridge between mind, body, and cosmos.

But none of these civilizations banned it.
None of them built a prison system around it.
None of them saw it as a threat to order.

It was there.
In the temples.
In the medicine bowls.
In the hands of midwives and priests and wanderers alike.

That doesn’t mean they all worshipped it.
It just means they understood it, as a tool with power.
Not inherently good or evil. Just very effective.