From: tmiller@camms2.caos.kun.nl (Todd M. Miller)
Subject: Re: Cannabis/Cannabalism
Organization: University of Nijmegen
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 11:50:06 GMT


Sorry Richard, I have to use your post to follow up.


To find the link between cannabis and cannibalism you have to go a little
bit further than Webster's dictionary.  First let me site the Encyclopedia
of Religon and Ethics; Hastings, James ed., Charles Scribner's sons, NY,
1910, 1963; vol III, page 200: 

	" Herodutos (5th centry B.C. greek historian) describes the 
	cannibalism of the Massagetae, a Scythian people living to the
	N.E. of the Caspian.  When a man had attained a great age, his
	kinsmen `sacrificed' him with cattle, boiled the flesh, and ate 
	it, accounting this a happy death.  This account is confirmed 
	by Strabo.  Their neighbours, the Issedones, had a similar practice
	when the father died, his flesh with that of the cattle being cut 
	up and eaten at a banquet by the relatives, who then cleansed 
	the head, gilded the skull, and afterwards honoured it with
	sacrifices (Herod. iv 26).  Strabo also says that the Derbikes,
	a people of North Iran, killed and ate all old men over 70; all 
	others (including women) were buried.  etc..."

So what have the Scythians to do with Cannabis you ask?  You might find the
answer in "Early Diffusion and Folk Uses of Hemp" by Sula Benet contained
in the book Cannabis and Culture; Rubin, Vera ed., Aldine, Chicago, 1975
ISBN 90-279-7669-4 (Mouton publishers).  The abstract of this work contains
the sentence: "The paper re-examines the origin of the term cannabis to
demonstrate its derivation from Semitic languages".  Another passage reads:

	"In this paper, I propose to reconsider the origin of the term
	cannabis to demonstrate that it is derived from Semitic languages
	and that both its name and forms of its use were borrowed by the 
	Scythians from the peoples of the Near East.  We will thus discover
	that the use of cannabis predates by at least 1000 years its first 
	mention by Herodutus.  Next, we will examine the diffusion of the 
	plant to Europe and its continued use in peasant rituals, magic,
	 and medical practices."

further extractions from the text:

	"There was barely any history of cannabis before the Greek historian
	Herodotus, in the fifth century B.C., observed that the Scythians 
	used the plant to purge themselves after funerals by throwing hemp 
	seeds on heated stones to create a thick vapor, inhaling the smoke 
	and becoming intoxicated.  "The Scythians howl with joy for the 
	vapour bath" (Herodutos,IV:142).  To the western world, Herodotus' 
	account is the earliest source of knowledge of the ritual use of 
	cannabis".

So I have established that the Scythians were cannibals and that they used
cannabis.  So you see, marijuana really is (or definitly was) used by 
cannibals.  There is a lot more information of interest concerning mistakes
made in interpreting original Hebrew text of the Old Testament in the work
of Benet.  They point towards the validation of a hypothesis that marijuana
is mentioned throughout the Old Testament.  

Those of you who can see no further than the Webster's dictionary and who 
hurl insults without knowing what you are talking about would do well to 
learn some history so that we can have some intellegent conversations in
this newsgroup.


							Yours,

							Todd M. Miller
--

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