Archaeologists have long observed Bes cups, small bowls that mimic the head of an ancient Egyptian patron deity, with a mixture of fascination, wonder, and mystery. We don’t keep too much. Those in museums and warehouses are surrounded by unknowns. What did the Egyptians use them for 2000 years ago? Were they used daily in homes or were they reserved for special rituals? And most of all, what did they drink from them, especially since we found small samples?

A team of researchers shed light on all these questions. And along the way, he revealed something fascinating to us: how (and what) the Egyptians got drunk during their ceremonies.

What is this glass for? Egyptologists have long asked themselves this question when they see a Bes cup; because they are decorated with the head of Bes, a god in Egyptian mythology worshiped as a protector and for his influence on fertility or healing.

Many of these vessels do not survive; But the ones we have, such as those donated to the Tampa Museum of Art in 1984, raise some questions. Among other reasons, they were found in very different contexts, making it difficult to understand what their role was in ancient Egyptian society.

From speculations… Branko van Oppen, curator of Greek and Roman, explains: “Egyptologists have long speculated about what the Five-headed vessels might be used for and what types of beverages they could be used for, such as holy water, milk, wine or beer.” Artworks from the Tampa Museum of Art.

Experts did not even know whether the bowls were used as simple containers in homes or were reserved for special occasions such as ceremonies or magical rituals because they did not know.

…to scientific analysis. Egyptologists had various theories on this subject, but this was a recently published study. Scientific Reports It really shed light on the mysterious cups of the god Bes. He did this with the help of meticulous scientific analysis and a 2,000-year-old Bes cup fragment preserved in Tampa.

Their tactic is relatively simple, at least on paper: The paper’s authors scraped the inside of the bowl to collect samples, prepared them, and examined them by combining different analytical techniques to understand their composition, including chemical and DNA tests. Experts from the universities of South Florida, Trieste and Milan participated in the process.

An intoxicating cocktail… and unexpected. The results tell us specifically about the cup stored in the Tampa museum, but they are fascinating. Because of what these bowls tell us about the Egyptians and their ritual ceremonies.

The small size of the vessel, at 4.5cm high and with a capacity of just 125ml, had led archaeologists to assume that it was used for strong mixtures – something similar to our shot glasses; but their analysis exceeds expectations. Why? The team discovered that the glass once contained a cocktail made to a recipe that was hard not to raise an eyebrow at.

So what is this recipe? The analysis revealed mainly four substances: an alcohol-based base, sweeteners, human body fluids and drugs, and psychedelic drugs. CNN goes further and suggests that beer or wine was probably used as the base compound, and that the taste of this compound could be changed by adding honey, royal jelly, sesame seeds, pine nuts, licorice or grapes to give the cocktail its appearance. blood. As if that wasn’t enough, the recipe is completed with Egyptian blue water lily and Syrian rue, which have hallucinogenic, medicinal and sedative properties.

There is more. Among the vegetables identified is Cleome, which is known for its ability to induce labor and even cause abortion when consumed in large quantities. The other, probably most fascinating, ingredient in the mix is ​​“bodily fluids.” Which one? The study points to a mixture of blood, breast milk and mucus; The second category may include vaginal, nasal or salivary secretions. Researchers believe this was added on purpose.

open the doors. “There is no research that demonstrates what we found in this study,” says Davide Tanasi, a USF professor and one of the study’s authors. Scientific Reports. “For the first time, we were able to detect all chemical traces of the components of the liquid beer, including herbs used by the Egyptians, all of which had psychotropic and medicinal properties, found in the Bes glass of the Tampa Museum of Art.”

USF also claims that traces of hallucinogens have never before been found in an Egyptian cup; this confirms ancient myths about their rituals and written references.

But… What were they used for? Once its contents are clear, the next big question arises: What was it used for? Under what circumstances did the Egyptians drink this strange cocktail of alcohol, hallucinogenic herbs, and liquids? Tanasi suggests the mixture had a very specific use, being used in magical rituals with mythological echoes, “possibly for fertility,” the University of Florida says.

Van Oppen also claims that the work is valuable for learning more details about the magical rituals of the Greco-Roman period in Egypt. Especially the ones related to Bes.

“Egyptologists believe that because pregnancies were fraught with danger in the ancient world, people visited the so-called Bes chambers in Saqqara when they wanted to confirm a successful pregnancy,” the curator said. “Therefore, the combination of these ingredients may have been used in a magical ritual to trigger dream visions in the context of this dangerous birth period.”

“We were surprised”. Tanasi agrees: “We were surprised by the complex description of the mixture and the discovery of human fluids, which added a new magical-religious angle.” “The substances identified are likely to have caused dream-like visions, meditative states, and possibly euphoria.”

The question of what new studies and analyzes of bes vases can show us in the future remains valid; This will allow us to verify, among other things, whether the results the team achieved with the Tampa piece conform to generalized practices.

Pictures | Wikipedia and USF

in Xataka | It has always been a mystery what the beer of Egyptian or Viking pharaohs tasted like. Now science has the answer