ANCIENT Egyptians were necking hallucinogenic cocktails out of creepy demon mugs during parties, scientists have revealed.
Researchers have discovered that powerful psychedelics were getting Egyptians high during magic blood rituals so they could seek protection from their Gods.
The Bes mug was thought to bring users closer to the deity of fertility[/caption]
Researchers now know the answer to what was in the mugs after 2,000 years[/caption]
Drinkers laced alcoholic cocktails with honey, sesame seeds, pine nuts, liquorice, and grapes to make the drink look like blood.
The crazy concoction also included trippy plants with medicinal properties.
All of these ingredients were used to induce wild dream-visions during magic rituals, where participants tried to look into their futures.
It is also believed that this magical potion was followed by a fertility ritual.
Scientists were able to detect traces of human bodily fluids from 2,000 years ago, such as blood and saliva.
This suggests that blood was used in the mixture, too.
The research has suggested that the Egyptians likely used this potent mixture to induce dreams about their futures or pregnancies.
This mug was creepily made to look like one of their Gods, Bes.
Bes was the Ancient Egyptian deity associates with childbirth, protection and magical purification.
Branko van Oppen, curator of Greek and Roman art at the Tampa Museum of Art and co-author of the study, said that the mystery of what they used a specific mug for.
Branko said: “For a very long time now, Egyptologists have been speculating what mugs with the head of Bes could have been used for.
“For the first time, we were able to identify all the chemical signatures of the components of the liquid concoction contained in the Tampa Museum of Art’s Bes mug, including the plants used by Egyptians, all of which have psychotropic and medicinal properties.
“There’s no research out there that has ever found what we found in this study.
“This research teaches us about magic rituals in the Greco-Roman period in Egypt.”
Scientists had never undertaken this type of research, but all it took was scraping an old mug to uncover secrets from two millennia ago.
THE GOD BES
Bes was thought to aid women in labour by fighting off evil spirits.
As a figure, Bes would later become known as the defender of everything good and the enemy of everything bad.
The myth was also seen as a household protector, and was responsible for such tasks as killing snakes, fighting off evil spirits and protecting children.
The study draws connections between the Bes mug’s usage and the “Myth of the Solar Eye”, where Bes calms Hathor, a sky goddess, with a drug-laced alcoholic beverage disguised as blood.
This lulls Hathor into a deep sleep, which symbolises a resolution of conflict.
It has been suggested that the rituals were trying to re-enact this myth and deepen their spiritual experiences.
The Bes Chambers at Saqqara, near the Great Pyramids of Giza, are believed to have been sites where women sought divine assistance during pregnancies.
This was naturally a concern for women at the time, and it came laden with risks.
This suggests that the Egyptians were seeking safety and comfort though the use of the potent alcoholic mixture.
A brief history of Ancient Egypt
Here’s everything you need to know…
- The Ancient Egyptians were an advanced civilisation who at one point ruled over a huge portion of the globe
- The civilisation was founded about 5,000 years ago when ancient people set up villages along the River Nile
- It lasted for about 3,000 years and saw the building of complex cities centuries ahead of their time – as well as the famous Great Pyramids
- The Ancient Egyptians were experts at farming and construction
- They invented a solar calendar, and one of the world’s earliest writing systems: The hieroglyph
- The Egyptians were ruled by kings and queens called pharaohs
- Religion and the afterlife were a huge part of Ancient Egyptian culture. They had over 2,000 gods
- Pharaohs built huge elaborate tombs to be buried in, some of which were pyramids – at the time among the largest structures in the world
- The Egyptians believed in life after death, and important people’s corpses were mummified to preserve their bodies for the afterlife
- The Ancient Egyptian empire fell in 30BC due to a mix of factors, including wars with other empires and a 100-year period of drought and starvation
It is believed that those who drank out of the mugs were trying to re-create the myth of Bes[/caption]
Research has shown that the drinks contained traces of blood and grapes to make the drink look like blood[/caption]