Recreational Drugs of Mighty Romans

Opium

Marcus Aurelius (Source: Reddit)

Marcus Aurelius, a famous stoic philosopher and the Roman emperor in the 2nd century AD was a known opium addict.

He is known as the last of Five good emperors. His book Meditations is widely quoted still today.

Marcus Aurelius used opium to fall asleep and to ease the hardships of the military campaigns in Germany.

Opium in Roman times was prepared as a tea. It was very bitter to drink. Roman called this drink a ‘cretic wine’ and used it as a sleep aid. Another version, called ‘mekonion’ was prepared from poppy leaves and was much less potent.

The opium could be purchased as small tablets in specialist stalls in most marketplaces.