What do the Gutenberg Bible, the American Declaration of Independence, or a Viking Age tapestry depicting Christopher Columbus's ship have in common? And what connects the ancient nomadic people called Scythians with the divine order of the prophet Moses?
The answer to all these questions is: hemp or cannabis. For thousands of years, this plant has been part of the daily life of many cultures around the world. It can be used to make paper, textiles or for medical purposes - and not only for the production of various opiates. Considering the planned legalization of cannabis in Germany, it is high time to dispel the myths surrounding this plant and learn something about its history.
The origin of hemp
Although it is impossible to localize where it originated, researchers agree that hemp originally came from the Asian continent. Archaeological research in Japan shows that hemp seeds were collected by people there at least 10.000 years ago. The remains of this plant were also found in India, Thailand and Malaysia. There is evidence that in what is now China, people were making textiles from hemp fibers at least 6.000 years ago.
One of the earliest written traces of hemp being used as medicine is in the Chinese language. Knowledge of it is attributed to the mythical Emperor Shenong. In the book Ben Chao Jing, which was created some 3.000 years ago based on oral traditions, a lot can be learned about herbal medicine. The action of hemp is explicitly described there: it not only enables communication with spirits, but also relaxes the body. At the same time, it is warned that the devil can be seen from an overdose. Today it would be said to cause hallucinations.
Did God also speak about cannabis?
It is likely that the nomadic peoples, who were engaged in trade, brought hemp to the West. Evidence for this can be found in the writings of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus: about 2.500 years ago, he describes the Scythians, a nation of horsemen who lived on the edge of Eurasia, where hemp also grows.
Herodotus writes that the Scythians gathered in a tent at funerals, threw hemp seeds on hot stones and then purified themselves by vaporizing this plant. "The Scythians rejoiced at such sweating and screamed with happiness," writes Herodotus. By the way, the Latin word cannabis comes from the language spoken by the Scythians.
In general, language is an important guide to the history of cannabis. In ancient Chinese, for example, the special characters for the male and female hemp plant, for the fruit and the seed, show the great interest of the Chinese in cannabis as well as its importance in people's daily lives.
Cannabis also has a long history in Judaism and Christianity. In the Old Testament, God told the prophet Moses to prepare holy oil for anointing. Along with cinnamon, myrrh or olive oil, as the record says, "kaneh bosm" should be used. According to the theory of anthropologist Sula Bennett, this Hebrew word was later mistranslated into Greek. Instead of calamus or spice reed, as it is called in the German standard translation of the Bible from the Greek - what was actually meant was cannabis.
In 2020, scientists found a clue that speaks in favor of this theory: on the altar of the Jewish temple in Tel Arad, Israel, they discovered cannabis with the active ingredient THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), which has an intoxicating effect when heated.
Hemp in Europe
For a long time, the intoxicating effect of some varieties of hemp played almost no role in Europe. The nun Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) in her work "On natural remedies" says that hemp seeds are primarily edible. At that time, hemp was mainly in demand for fabric, paper and shipping.
In 1909, when a Swedish church was being renovated, five tapestries from the Viking Age, about 1.000 years old, partly made of hemp, were discovered. Fine hemp fiber clothing has also been found as an item in richly furnished Viking graves.
Old hemp clothes were also crucial for printing books. Johann Gutenberg's revolutionary invention of printing made manual copying of books redundant. Most of the known Gutenberg Bibles were printed on paper made from old clothing and hemp fibers. It was lucky for generations of descendants: hemp paper is more durable than the paper used today, and precious Bibles are more resistant to the test of time.
And the first two drafts of the American Declaration of Independence are on hemp paper. For the final version, the authors of the declaration still decided on animal skin parchment.
Who knows, without hemp there might not have been a Declaration of Independence at all, because Christopher Columbus might not have found America...
As with all ships of the time, the sails, nets and ropes of Columbus' fleet were made of hemp because it does not rot even when wet. To this day, hemp fibers are the preferred agent for water pipe gaskets.
Is it time for hemp again?
While growing hemp plants is relatively simple, processing them is more complex. With the expansion of motorized shipping, they could import raw materials that were easier to process, such as cotton, in bulk and cheaply - and the hemp industry shrank. Only during the 1st and 2nd World Wars did it rise again in Germany, because the import of other raw materials decreased.
In the middle of the 20th century, even ropes and sails were no longer made from hemp, but from synthetic petroleum fibers. This turnaround happened with the active support of Harry Anslinger. He, which is especially spicy, as the head of the US Drug Enforcement Agency, worked for more than 30 years to demonize hemp and to the delight of the oil industry. And yet, the war on hemp has failed in the long run.
Not only are more and more countries around the world legalizing the consumption of cannabis, but companies are also relying on hemp beyond the business of medical marijuana and narcotic derivatives. Because hemp has been replaced by fossil raw materials, the burning of which is responsible for global warming. The rediscovery and development of non-oil-based technologies may not be a cure-all, but hemp could at least be an integral part of a sustainable economy. And history shows that it has worked before.
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