Lifestyle

Cannabis in Ancient Egypt: Uses, Evidence, and History

July 2, 2026 09:00 am ET Estimated Read Time: 9 Minutes

Fact checked by Emily Mullins

Cannabis in Ancient Egypt: Uses, Evidence, and History

Ancient Egyptians knew cannabis thousands of years before the modern world began debating it. The physical and textual record suggests this plant held a recognized place in Egyptian medicine, religion, and daily life, though separating documented fact from popular myth requires a close look at the actual sources.

The history of cannabis use in Egypt is not a clean story. Some claims circulating online are well-supported by archaeological and textual evidence. Others are extrapolations, contested identifications, or outright speculation. What follows is an honest account of what historians and archaeologists have actually found, and what those findings mean.

What Is Shemshemet? The Egyptian Term for Cannabis

The Egyptian word “shemshemet” appears in multiple ancient papyri and is interpreted by most Egyptologists as referring to cannabis or hemp. Scholars have identified the term in medical texts dating back thousands of years, though some debate whether every instance of the word refers to the same plant or to closely related fiber-producing species.

The physical evidence strengthens the textual case. Pollen identified as cannabis was recovered from the tomb of Ramses II, who died around 1213 BCE, providing archaeobotanical confirmation that the plant was present in elite Egyptian contexts. Pre-dynastic soil samples have also returned cannabis pollen, with some findings potentially predating 3200 BCE, suggesting the plant’s presence in the Nile region stretches back even further than the written record.

There is a contamination debate worth acknowledging. Some researchers have questioned whether pollen found in sealed tombs reflects intentional placement or environmental contamination over millennia. The mainstream Egyptological view, however, treats the combined textual and physical record as meaningful evidence of cannabis use rather than coincidence. The shemshemet references across Egyptian medical papyri remain the strongest thread connecting the plant to Egyptian medical practice specifically.

While Egypt stands among the oldest documented sites of cannabis use, genetic and historical research indicates that cannabis cultivation likely originated further east. This is based on a study that suggests cannabis origins in China, with the plant spreading westward across trade and migration routes over centuries.

The Medical Papyri: What Ancient Egyptian Texts Actually Say About Cannabis

The documentary case for cannabis in ancient Egypt rests primarily on three medical papyri. None of them mention cannabis by its modern name. Each references “shemshemet” in the context of plant-based medical preparations, and each has been interpreted by Egyptologists and medical historians as describing therapeutic cannabis use, with varying degrees of scholarly confidence.

The Ebers Papyrus

The Ebers Papyrus, dating to approximately 1550 BCE, is the most frequently cited ancient source for Egyptian medical cannabis use. It references shemshemet in formulations intended to address inflammation and pain, including a preparation described for use in the uterine region. A 2020 review of the historical spread and therapeutic use of cannabis across ancient civilizations documents references in Egyptian, Greek, and Chinese medical texts dating back to the 2nd millennium B.C.

The papyrus does not describe cannabis in isolation but as one ingredient among many in compound preparations, which reflects the broader approach of Egyptian pharmacology.

The Ramesseum Papyri

The Ramesseum Papyri predate the Ebers Papyrus by roughly 150 years, placing them around 1700 BCE. These texts, associated with the mortuary temple of Ramses II, contain plant substance references that medical historians including John Nunn, in his scholarly work Ancient Egyptian Medicine published by British Museum Press, have interpreted as including cannabis-related preparations.

The Ramesseum Papyri are less frequently cited in popular accounts than the Ebers Papyrus, which makes them the more significant gap in most public discussions of Egyptian medical cannabis history. Their earlier date, if the shemshemet identification holds, pushes the documented medical use of cannabis in Egypt back considerably further than the 1550 BCE Ebers reference most sources lead with.

The Chester Beatty VI Papyrus

The Chester Beatty VI Papyrus contains additional plant medicine references that some scholars have interpreted as cannabis. The identification is less firmly established here than in the Ebers Papyrus, and the scholarly consensus treats this text as supporting context rather than primary evidence.

Taken together, the three papyri form the documentary foundation that historians are working from when they describe medical cannabis in ancient Egypt. None of them provide a definitive pharmacological description by modern standards, but their convergence around the shemshemet term, across different centuries and archival contexts, is what makes the case credible rather than speculative.

How Did Ancient Egyptians Use Cannabis? Methods of Administration

Knowing that ancient Egyptians referenced cannabis in medical texts is one thing. Understanding how they actually prepared and applied it tells you something more interesting: that Egyptian physicians were working with an empirical understanding of the plant’s properties, even without modern pharmacology.

The Ebers Papyrus includes preparation instructions such as soaking and grinding shemshemet before use, indicating that Egyptians understood that processing the plant changed its properties. The documented methods of administration recorded across the medical papyri include several distinct approaches.

Most of these appear to be medicinal rather than recreational, which is an important distinction. The popular question of how ancient Egyptians “got high” may be less accurate a frame than asking how they treated pain, inflammation, and other documented conditions.

Recorded administration methods include:

Topical application: Cannabis mixed into ointments or poultices and applied directly to affected areas
Oral ingestion: Preparations combined with honey or wine for internal consumption
Suppository use: Referenced in Egyptological pharmacology literature as a delivery method for gynecological conditions
Possible inhalation: The evidence here is less direct, though some researchers have proposed inhalation as a method given other ancient cultures’ use of cannabis smoke

A separate question worth addressing is whether the plants used were psychoactive-variety cannabis or fiber hemp. The tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content of ancient cultivars is not recoverable from pollen or residue analysis, which means the shemshemet plant could refer to hemp varieties with minimal psychoactivity, cannabis varieties with meaningful THC levels, or both across different periods and applications. Scholars working on cannabis in ancient rituals note this same ambiguity across multiple ancient cultures.

Cannabis in Ancient Egyptian Religion and Daily Life

Beyond the medical papyri, cannabis appears in discussions of Egyptian religion and social structure, though the evidence here is thinner and the debates more active. The goddess Seshat, associated with writing, measurement, and record-keeping, is sometimes depicted with a leaf symbol above her head that some researchers interpret as a cannabis leaf.

Egyptologists do not uniformly accept this identification. Other scholars interpret the symbol as a stylized star or palm frond, and the cannabis identification remains contested rather than settled.

The possible role of cannabis in religious ritual is similarly discussed but not firmly documented. Egypt was not unique in this respect. Across the ancient world, cannabis in ancient rituals connected the plant to ceremonial and spiritual contexts, and Egypt’s relationship to those broader patterns is plausible but not proven from surviving texts.

A more interesting social question concerns access. The surviving textual evidence for cannabis in Egypt comes almost entirely from elite medical and religious contexts: papyri produced for and by physicians, priests, and the pharaonic administration. This likely reflects who had access to writing rather than who had access to the plant.

Hemp and cannabis were cultivated crops with practical fiber and medicinal uses, and it would be surprising if their availability were genuinely restricted to the highest social tiers. Physical evidence supports this inference: mummy studies have returned cannabis residue findings across different burial contexts, suggesting the plant reached beyond the elite record even if the written documentation did not follow.

The broader pattern suggests cannabis in ancient Egypt was known, cultivated, and used across multiple contexts, much as how our Founding Fathers used cannabis centuries later reflected the plant’s practical utility across social classes. What the surviving record captures is the medical and ceremonial uses that physicians and scribes thought worth documenting. What it misses is the everyday life of the plant’s cultivation and use at levels of Egyptian society that left fewer written traces.

The documented conditions addressed in the papyri also point toward applications a modern reader would recognize. Inflammation, pain management, and gynecological conditions are among the named targets in the Ebers Papyrus preparations.

Researchers working on cannabis for eye conditions have noted that intraocular pressure reduction is a property attributed to cannabis in modern medicine, and some Egyptological literature references eye-related preparations among ancient Egyptian plant medicine records.

If you are curious about how cannabis has traveled from ancient medical papyri to the modern telehealth landscape, speak with a Veriheal medical cannabis specialist to explore whether medical cannabis is a legal option in your state.

Note: The content on this page is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be professional medical advice. Do not attempt to self-diagnose or prescribe treatment based on the information provided. Always consult a physician before making any decision on the treatment of a medical condition.

Note: Veriheal does not support illegally consuming therapeutic substances such as cannabis but acknowledges that it transpires because of the current illicit status, which we strive to change by advocating for research, legal access, and responsible consumption. Always consult a physician before attempting alternative therapies.

FAQ

What do Egyptians call weed?

The ancient Egyptian term for cannabis was “shemshemet,” a word that appears in multiple medical papyri dating back at least to 1700 BCE. Most Egyptologists interpret shemshemet as referring to cannabis or hemp, though some debate whether every instance of the term refers to the same plant species.

How did ancient Egyptians use cannabis medicinally?

Ancient Egyptian medical use of cannabis appears to have been primarily medicinal rather than recreational. The documented methods included topical ointments and poultices, oral preparations mixed with honey or wine, and suppository applications recorded in pharmacology literature. Preparation instructions in the Ebers Papyrus describe soaking and grinding the plant before use.

Who is the Egyptian goddess associated with cannabis?

The goddess Seshat is sometimes linked to cannabis based on a leaf symbol depicted above her head in ancient imagery. This identification is contested. Some Egyptologists interpret the symbol as a cannabis leaf, while others read it as a stylized star or palm frond. No ancient Egyptian text explicitly names Seshat as a goddess of cannabis.

Was there cannabis in ancient Egypt?

The physical and textual evidence suggests cannabis was known and used in ancient Egypt. Pollen identified as cannabis was recovered from the tomb of Ramses II, and the term “shemshemet” appears in medical papyri dating to at least 1550 BCE, with possibly earlier references in the Ramesseum Papyri around 1700 BCE. The precise nature and extent of its use, including whether the plants were psychoactive-variety cannabis or fiber hemp, remains a subject of ongoing scholarly discussion.

Author, Share & Comments

Sheldon Sommer is a Southern Californian philosopher with a lifelong interest in the biological world. She is enthusiastic to contribute her fascination with philosophy, natural history, psychology, botany, biochemistry and other related topics to providing cannabis education for the similarly curious. Outside of writing, she enjoys painting, singing opera and Taylor Swift songs, as well as spending quality time with a certain beloved orange kitty cat.