Priestesses of an ancient Greek religious cult may have chemically processed a toxic fungus to produce a safe, hallucinogenic drink used in sacred rituals, according to a study published February 13 in the journal Scientific Reports. The research offers the first experimental evidence for a theory that has circulated since the 1970s but has never been tested in a laboratory.
The Experiment
The study focuses on ergot (Claviceps purpurea), a fungus that grows on rye and related grasses. Ergot is highly toxic to humans but also contains compounds with hallucinogenic properties. The central question researchers set out to answer was whether ancient people could have neutralized the toxicity while preserving the psychoactive effects, using only technology available in antiquity.
Evangelos Dadiotis, a pharmaceutical scientist at the University of Athens and one of the study’s authors, confirmed the method used was deliberately simple. “We used a simple lye preparation made from water and ash, a technology well known in the ancient world,” he told Live Science. Wood ash produces an alkaline solution that, over time, breaks down ergot’s toxic proteins while leaving behind non-toxic byproducts, including lysergic acid amide (LSA), a hallucinogenic chemical.
LSA is chemically similar to lysergic acid diethylamide, widely known as LSD, and can serve as a precursor to the drug, though it is considerably less potent. The researchers concluded that ancient Greeks could have realistically produced a non-lethal psychedelic drink using this method.
The Eleusinian Mysteries
The cult in question is the Eleusinian Mysteries, one of the most significant religious institutions of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. Originating roughly 3,000 years ago in the town of Eleusis, the cult centered on the worship of the fertility goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone. Its rituals were secret by design, shared only among initiated members known as “mystai.”
The cult’s reach extended well beyond Greece. As Roman and Greek religious traditions merged, the Eleusinian Mysteries attracted followers across the Roman Empire. Even emperors, including Augustus, became initiates. Despite its prominence, the specific details of what happened during initiations remain largely unknown, which is precisely why theories about psychedelic substances have found an audience among researchers.
The “Psychedelic Eleusis” hypothesis, which proposes that ergot-derived substances were central to the cult’s rituals, gained traction in the 1970s. Until now, it remained theoretical. Dadiotis described his team’s contribution plainly: they are the first to produce experimental evidence showing the process is chemically plausible using ancient methods.
Expert Caution
Not everyone treats the findings as confirmation. Several outside experts, while acknowledging the chemistry is plausible, note that laboratory evidence does not constitute historical proof that priestesses actually performed this process. The study demonstrates what could have happened, not what did.
That distinction matters. The Eleusinian Mysteries left behind no detailed written record of their procedures, and the archaeological record is sparse. The research adds a credible chemical pathway to an existing hypothesis, but the gap between plausibility and documented practice remains wide.
What the study does establish is that ancient societies possessed the basic materials and knowledge to manipulate ergot’s properties. Whether those societies chose to do so, and in the specific ritual context of Eleusis, is a question the chemistry alone cannot answer.
Photo by Paul Lichtblau on Unsplash
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