Did the Romans smoke hemp or opium?

Question

Is there any evidence for ancient civilizations toking up or doping themselves. Evidence in art or literature?

Answer 1

Galen, the famed Roman physician, wrote about Marcus Aurelius having to take much opium.

Ovid, the poet, wrote about opium as did Virgil, the poppy is common in art, always referencing sleep.

In ancient Rome, Pliny the Elder mentioned marijuana's use as a painkiller.

Cannabis: discussion of the plant was in Dr Materia Medica (AD 40—90), compiled by the Greek physician Dioscorides who had moved to Rome and then begun work. But their is no evidence in literature that it was used for getting "high".

Alcohol was inexpensive and hemp was not.

Answer 2

Every civilization and virtually every animal species uses or used some sort of drug, from alcohol to coke, from marijuana to pcp. However, you have to keep the drugs that each culture used separate. Egyptians didn't use coke and Greeks didn't use peyote. It has to do with where and when and how much trade. In short, no, the ancient Greeks, Romans, Persians and Babylonians did not use pot, simply because American hadn't been discovered. They did however use alcohol and even some local plants, of which opium was one, in those areas where that kind of poppy grew.