Discovered the chemical formula of the mysterious kykeon, the “magic elixir” of the ancient Greeks

A new study uncovers the best-kept secret of the Eleusinian Mysteries, hidden for millennia, proving that it is possible, with methods available to the priestesses of Eleusis 3,000 years ago, to convert rye spur, a deadly parasitic fungus, into a psychedelic drink.

An international team of scientists managed to reproduce, using techniques that already existed in Ancient Greece, the transformation of a toxic fungus in a potion with psychedelic properties.

The discovery reinforces the theory that the kykeonthe sacred drink that marked the climax of the Eleusinian rites, contained a powerful hallucinogen capable of provoking experiences of transcendence and revelation.

For almost two millennia, every autumn, a procession of devotees walked the 20 kilometers that separate Athens from the city of Eleusistaking with them not only offerings, but also the hope of catching a glimpse of life after death.

Ali, no interior do Telesterionthe great initiation hall, pilgrims participated in the Eleusinian Mysteriesthe most important esoteric rite of classical antiquity.

The participants swore to keep what they experienced secret, under penalty of death. However, the clues left by poets and philosophers at the time pointed to a transformative experience: an event that, according to Pindar, allowed knowing the end of life and its beginning granted by Zeus.

Now, one by a consortium of chemists, mycologists and archaeologists, led by the National and Capodistrian University of Athens and published last week in the journal Scientific Reportstook a giant step towards resolving this ancient enigma.

Researchers have demonstrated that it is possible, with available methods to the priestesses of Eleusis 3,000 years ago, convert rye spura parasitic and lethal fungus, in a psychedelic drink. The secret ingredient of the mythical kykeon could, in fact, have been a visionary substance.

Hypothesis born in the 1970s

The idea that the Eleusinian Mysteries had a psychedelic component is not new, says .

In 1978, the mycologist Robert Gordon Wassonthe chemist Albert Hofmann (the same person who synthesized LSD) and the philologist Carl A. P. Ruck presented, in a book, the hypothesis that kykeon, the sacred potion drunk by initiates, contained a powerful hallucinogen derived from rye spur (Claviceps purpurea).

The proposal was convincing. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the foundational text of the Eleusinian cult, described the drink as a mixture of water, barley and mint. However, scholars knew that barley is a cereal susceptible to being infected by barley.

This fungus, which hardens in winter forming dark structures called “sclerotia”, It’s a real chemical cocktail. It produces spur alkaloids, molecules that, if ingested in large quantities or without adequate treatment, cause ergotism, a terrible disease which was known in the Middle Ages as Saint Anthony’s Fire. Symptoms include convulsions, terrifying hallucinations, gangrene of the extremities, and death.

But How could the Greeks have drunk that?? The answer lay in processing. The researchers proposed that, through a process of alkaline hydrolysis — essentially, boiling the fungus in a solution with ash, which is rich in potassium and creates a highly basic medium (bleach) — the toxic molecules could be decomposed and transformed into other simpler and more psychoactive, such as lysergic acid amide (LSA), chemical substance very similar to LSD but of natural origin.

Until now, the hypothesis was just that: a fascinating theory with no experimental evidence to support it, at least with regard to the exact method the ancients might have used.

The experience: replicating a priestess’s kitchen

The new study, led by Romanos K. Antonopoulos e Evangelos Dadiotisput this idea to the test. To achieve this, scientists did not use cutting-edge technology inaccessible to the ancients, but instead tried to replicate the process just as it could have been carried out in Ancient Greece. They obtained spur sclerotia, ground them into powder and boiled them in different solutions.

To simulate old “bleach”they burned olive and oak wood to obtain ashes, boiled them in water and let the mixture rest. The resulting liquid, rich in potassium carbonate, had a very alkaline pH of 12.5. Then they boiled the spur powder in this solution and, as control groupboiled the same amount of fungus in distilled (neutral) water.

The results were conclusive. Using high-precision chemical analysis techniques, such as nuclear magnetic resonance and liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, they observed what was happening inside the vials.

In samples boiled in water (the control group), toxic alkaloids known as ergopeptidessuch as ergocristine and ergocriptine, remained intact. They were, therefore, a dangerous poison.

But in samples treated with ash bleachthe chemical landscape was radically different. The dangerous ones ergopeptides had disappeared completely.

In its place, two new molecules appeared: lysergic acid amide (LSA) and the its epimer, iso-LSA. The alkaline hydrolysis process had broken down the complex and toxic molecules, transforming them into others, much simpler and with known psychoactive properties.

Is it safe and psychoactive?

The big question is whether this resulting mixture would be safe for human consumption and whether it would have any effect. Researchers address both questions.

First, security. Although the most dangerous ergopeptides (those responsible for gangrene) disappeared in the treated samples, traces of two other substances: ergometrine (Em) and its epimer, ergometrin (Emn).

However, the authors clarify that these are simple amides of lysergic acid, with a known medicinal profile and significantly lower vasoconstrictor toxicity.

Regarding psychoactivity, the study reviews the existing scientific literature. LSA has been known for decades as the active ingredient of Tlitliltzin seeds or Ololiuhqui, plants sacred to the Aztecs and other Mesoamerican peoples.

Pharmacological studies cited in the article show that LSA has an affinity for serotonin 5-HT2A receptors, the same people involved in the effects of LSDalthough with lower power.

As for iso-LSA, traditionally considered inactive, more recent studies show that also binds to brain serotonin receptors and which, when administered to rats, reaches the brain and correlates with behavioral changes.

Response to skeptics’ objections

The study provides experimental data and responds to the main criticisms that the psychedelic hypothesis has received over the years.

One of the most common objections wasabsence of traces of spur in the Eleusinian vases. The authors respond by pointing out that, in fact, a systematic search with due authorization was never conducted.

However, there are archaeological finds in other places that support the theory. Mention the case of Mas Castellar de Pontósin Spain, a site of a Greek colony where, inside a sanctuary dedicated to the goddesses of Eleusis, were spur fragments found inside a vase ceremonial and, extraordinarily, in the dental calculus of a 25-year-old man.

“This demonstrates that the spur was, in fact, linked to the cult of the Goddesses of Eleusis”, state the authors of the study.

Another frequent criticism was that spur equals ergotism (poisoning). The researchers argue that the The history of medicine demonstrates the opposite: Spur has been used in obstetrics for centuries to induce labor and stop bleeding, and its isolated alkaloids are still used in clinical practice.

“The key is dosage and processing, as this study demonstrates, not the inevitability of poisoning”, emphasize the researchers.

Finally, they addressed the question of whether the spur in Ancient Greece would have had the same chemical composition as the current.

Phylogenetic analyzes and the evolutionary time scale (millions of years) indicate that two millennia is an insignificant interval. “It is likely that the barley infecting barley on the Eleusinian Plain contained the same major classes of ergopeptides as modern strains,” the study authors conclude.

The study sheds light on one of the greatest mysteries of antiquity and opens a window into understanding how our ancient cultures may have used the chemistry of nature to explore consciousness.

O best kept secret of the Eleusinian Mysterieshidden for millennia, is beginning to emerge from the depths of a laboratory, confirming that sometimes the history of religion and the history of chemistry are more intertwined than we realize.