Human History on Drugs: An Utterly Scandalous but Entirely Truthful Look at History Under the Influence - Softcover

Kelly, Sam

 
9780593476048: Human History on Drugs: An Utterly Scandalous but Entirely Truthful Look at History Under the Influence
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0593476042 ISBN 13: 9780593476048
Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group, 2025

Inhaltsangabe

A lively, hilarious, and entirely truthful look at the druggie side of history’s most famous figures, including Shakespeare, George Washington, the Beatles, and more

Did you know that Alexander the Great was a sloppy drunk and William Shakespeare was a stoner? Or how about the fact that Steve Jobs believed taking LSD helped him create the Apple computer, or that Sigmund Freud loved cocaine so much he took it all the time and prescribed it to his patients?

In Human History on Drugs, Sam Kelly introduces us to the history our teachers never told us, offering up irreverent and insightful commentary as he sheds light on some truly bizarre aspects of the historical characters we only thought we knew. With chapters spanning from Ancient Greece (“The Oracle of Delphi Was Huffing Fumes”) to modern times (“Carl Sagan Got Astronomically High”), Kelly's research covers all manner of eras, places, and, of course, drugs.

History is rife with drug use and drug users, and Human History on Drugs takes us through those highs (pun intended) and lows on a witty and entertaining ride that uncovers their mind-boggling impact on our past.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Sam Kelly, a history grad from Stanford University, is on the autism spectrum and his interest and passion for history has become an almost physical compulsion. He loves to dig up forgotten and weird stories from the past and spends hours uncovering every last stubborn detail. As a deep believer that history can be as exciting as any Marvel movie, Sam aims to—whether on TikTok or through a book—make history both engaging and accessible to all. Human History on Drugs is his first book.

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Chapter 1

The Oracle of Delphi Was Huffing Fumes

You've heard of the Oracle of Delphi, right? The all-knowing seer of the future who channeled the wisdom of the gods and advised Greek kings on their most momentous decisions? Yeah, she was on drugs.When the ancient Greeks had important decisions to make, they wanted advice from the gods, so they'd travel all the way to the Oracle of Delphi. It was quite a schlep. The oracle was located a hundred miles away from Athens, on a high mountain surrounded by treacherous cliffs. Getting there required either a long trek over mountaintops or a perilous sea voyage. Either way, the trip would take days, or even weeks.
So why'd they go to all that muss and fuss? After all, the ancient Greeks had developed all sorts of highly scientific methods to determine what the gods were thinking, such as drawing lots, rolling dice, studying the cracks in chicken bones, and-this is my personal favorite-massaging the entrails of a dead animal, especially the liver, which was considered to be the ripest organ for purposes of prophetic prognostication.
Yet they chose to visit the oracle for one simple and compelling reason: the oracle was never wrong. Palpating a sheep's liver was fine for the mundane decisions of everyday life, such as which crops to plant that year, but when it came to making crucial decisions that would potentially determine whether an empire would rise or fall, you couldn't half-ass it. You had to seek out the oracle.
You see, the Oracle of Delphi was no ordinary priest. The oracle was the handpicked messenger of Apollo, a human conduit to the all-seeing gods. Apollo's words flowed through the oracle, transforming her into a perfect vessel of wisdom, insight, and knowledge of future events.That's right, "her." The oracle was a woman-which is shocking when you consider that ancient Greece was an immensely patriarchal society in which girls were not allowed to go to school and were typically married off by the time they reached age fourteen. Yet when the alpha males who ruled over ancient Greece needed advice on their most vital matters of state, they sought the counsel of a woman-and not always the same woman. The Oracle of Delphi was an institution that lasted over a thousand years, from 1400 BCE to 400 BCE, so, obviously, no one woman was around the entire time. There was a high priestess known as the Pythia, and over the years, when one Pythia expired, the gods would "divinely" select another woman to become the new Pythia.
But here's the twist: all of these women were on drugs. It wasn't an individual choice; it was a geographical imperative. You need to understand a bit about the topography of Delphi. People seeking the oracle's wisdom would line up at dawn and ascend a steep, winding path known as "the Sacred Way." From there, robed attendants would guide them, one at a time, into a sunken chamber hidden deep in the bowels of a remote cave, where the Pythia would be waiting for them. According to ancient scholars who actually witnessed the Pythia deliver a prophecy, there was a three-legged stool located directly above a fissure in the floor of the cave, and weird vapors were rising from the fissure. The Pythia would sit down on the three-legged stool, inhale the mysterious fumes rising from the ground, and enter into a dreamlike trance. Her body would begin to quiver and writhe (thereby "confirming" she'd entered into a state of divine possession), her voice would change, she'd make a bunch of crazy noises, and then, finally, she'd deliver a cryptic prophecy that was often only a few words long.
If that description sounds to you like someone who's experiencing an intense drug trip, you are absolutely correct. Because it turns out those mysterious fumes she was inhaling were more than eerie set dressing; they were psychoactive vapors. Historians have long suspected the oracle was high as a kite, and now modern science has proven it. A team of scientists comprising a geologist, an archaeologist, and a chemist traveled to Delphi between 1995 and 2000 to study rock samples near the site. They discovered the oracle chamber was built over a geological fault that released a naturally occurring substance called ethylene. It's a sweet-smelling petrochemical gas that produces disembodied euphoria, an altered mental state, and other intoxicating effects-or, as they described it, the feeling you get from huffing glue. Basically, the Oracle of Delphi was tripping balls.
But wait, it gets better: these psychoactive vapors weren't the only thing she was tripping on. Remember, her temple was located on a remote mountainside. This meant she was forced to subsist on a narrow range of foods that were capable of being locally sourced. Plus, she was a religious ascetic who didn't necessarily feel it was appropriate to luxuriate in her food, so she was willing to eat things that were unappetizing or sometimes even dangerous. One of the staples of her diet was oleander leaves, which grew near the temple-and they are highly toxic. You heard me right: the oracle was munching on poison.
Fortunately, the human body is an amazing machine that can build up a tolerance to toxic substances by ingesting small amounts on a regular basis. Remember that line from The Princess Bride: "I spent the last few years developing an immunity to iocane powder"? It's the same basic principle behind vaccinations, injecting a small amount of a virus into your body to train your immune system to recognize and combat it. The Johns Hopkins University Press published an article in 2014 suggesting the Oracle of Delphi deliberately ingested oleander poison as a way to help inspire the divine frenzy that she exhibited when she bestowed her bizarre prophecies.
So, there wasn't just one geological feature of Delphi that inspired the oracle's drugged-out behavior, there were two: (1) psychoactive vapors that caused vivid hallucinations, and (2) a poisonous plant that provoked frenzied body tremors. The combination of these two substances caused the oracle to behave in ways so utterly bizarre and otherworldly that, to the ancient Greeks, divine inspiration was the only logical explanation.
But wait-if the oracle wasn't actually communicating with the gods, how is it possible that she was always right? After all, the accuracy of the oracle's prophecies is an indisputable part of Greek history, so doesn't that suggest she had some sort of supernatural ability?
No, not really. Much like Liam Neeson in Taken, the oracle had a very particular set of skills, but it wasn't supernatural. She was always right for the simple reason that she never gave a clear answer to the questions posed to her. She was notorious for delivering cryptic prophecies that were difficult to decipher and susceptible to multiple (often conflicting) interpretations.One of the most famous examples is the advice she gave to King Croesus in 550 BCE. The king asked the oracle to tell him whether he should wage war against the Persian Empire. The oracle replied, "If Croesus goes to war, a great empire shall fall." Croesus was pumped! He was convinced this meant his victory was guaranteed. He assembled his troops, formed the necessary alliances, and attacked the Persians with everything he had-only to be utterly defeated. The Persian emperor, Cyrus the Great, took King Croesus prisoner and ordered him to be burned alive. The story goes that Croesus cried out to the gods, pleading to know why the Oracle of Delphi had betrayed him, and the gods answered, telling him the oracle had spoken the truth. You did destroy a great empire-but it was your own empire, not theirs. Twist!
Amazingly, all of the textbooks lay the blame on Croesus, not the oracle. Everywhere you look, the lesson of the story is that Croesus was a victim of his own ego for daring to believe he had properly interpreted the oracle's prophecy. You couldn't blame the gods for his hubris,...

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Verlag
Penguin Publishing Group
Erscheinungsdatum
2025
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0593476042
ISBN 13 
9780593476048
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
401
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
gpsr@libri.de
gpsr@libri.de

Friedensallee 273
Hamburg
22763
Deutschland

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