Becoming intoxicated or drugged was, to many people in the ancient world, an excellent way of talking to the spirits or understanding the gods. It was not a particularly safe practice, and some who drank the spirits’ brews did not wake again in the mortal world. The Scythians had a slightly different approach, and made sauna-like smoking tent where smouldering pits of herbs could be burned and the smoke breathed in. In the form of hemp, cannabis had been used by people in many ways for thousands of years, both for its intoxicating effects and as a practical material. Hemp fibre is incredibly tough stuff, and can be woven to make good quality yarn, cloth and even rope. The chemicals released when the plant is burned have a number of effects on the human brain which can be interpreted as religious or spiritual but, like anything used in excess, the effects can be counterproductive, particularly in a tough, warrior culture like that of the nomadic Scythians.
