Sagona, C. and Sagona, A. The Mushroom, the Magi and the Keen-Sighted Seers

THE BLACK SEA, GREECE, ANATOLIA AND EUROPE

IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM BC

Edited by

GOCHA R. TSETSKHLADZE

COLLOQUIA ANTIQUA————— 1 —————

PEETERSLEUVEN – PARIS – WALPOLE, MA

2011

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction to the Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VII

Introduction to the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IX

List of Abbreviations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XI

List of Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XIII

CHAPTER 1 Ancient Thrace during the First Millennium BC Nikola Theodossiev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

CHAPTER 2 The Getae: Selected Questions Alexandru Avram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

CHAPTER 3 The Black Sea: Between Asia and Europe (Herodotus’ Approach to his Scythian Account) J.G.F. Hind. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

CHAPTER 4 The Scythians: Three Essays Gocha R. Tsetskhladze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

CHAPTER 5 The American-Ukrainian Scythian Kurgan Project, 2004–2005: Preliminary ReportN.T. de Grummond, S.V. Polin, L.A. Chernich, M. Gleba and M. Daragan

Skeletal Analyses: A.D. Kozak Faunal Remains: O.P. Zhuravlev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

CHAPTER 6 Persia in Europe John Boardman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

CHAPTER 7 The Etruscan Impact on Ancient Europe Larissa Bonfante . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

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VI TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 8 Hallstatt Europe: Some Aspects of Religion and Social Structure

Biba Terzan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

CHAPTER 9 The Elusive Arts: The Study of Continental Early Celtic Art since 1944

Ruth Megaw and Vincent Megaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

CHAPTER 10 An Archaic Alphabet on a Thasian Kylix M.A. Tiverios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

CHAPTER 11 The Iron Age in Central Anatolia Hermann Genz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

CHAPTER 12 The Role of Jewellery in Ancient Societies Iva Ondrejová. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

CHAPTER 13 The Mushroom, the Magi and the Keen-Sighted Seers Claudia Sagona and Antonio Sagona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

List of Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

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* We are grateful to Dr D. Michelot (Département Régulation du Développement, Diversité Moléculaire, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris) and Dr D. Guest (Botany, University of Melbourne) for their information and discussions concerning the properties of the fly agaric mushroom. Our thanks also to Catherine Longford for her interest in the paper and for providing some initial leads.

1 For convenience, the word haoma is used throughout.

THE MUSHROOM, THE MAGI

AND THE KEEN-SIGHTED SEERS*

Claudia SAGONA and Antonio SAGONA

AbstractThe role that hallucinogenic substances played in ancient cultures of the highlands of eastern Anatolia may have been more significant and long-lived than was previously thought. Moving back in time from the highland Medians and their revered Magi through to the Early Bronze Age period, this paper examines a wide range of historic, artistic, ethnographic and archaeological evidence for the use of the fabled fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) mushroom in the region.

We should perhaps separate the Mazda worship instanced in the Median territo-ries in the eighth century BC from the specifically ethical and universalistic Maz-daism preached by Zoroaster, recognition of which is rendered difficult by a cloak of folk religion thrown over it in the Avesta. Such a view calls into question the obscure role played by the Magi whose priestly function had its strongest impact in west Iran and east Anatolia, in regions which had been in contact with old Urartian-Parsua.

The Magi are one of five aboriginal Iranian tribes named by Herodotus and appear to have been a religious caste rather than a tribe proper. …. At an early stage, whilst the Aryan Mazdaeans resided in Urartu-Media, their religion had been cloaked in Median magianism with blood sacrifices, fire-worship, haoma rites and astrology (Culican 1965, 172–73).

The identity and role of the Magi, their use of the hallucinogen soma (Vedic) or haoma (Avestan),1 and their place within Median religious practice are as intriguing, as they are elusive. This paper seeks to address these issues through the results of recent fieldwork in the highlands of north-east Anatolia, which has revealed a substantial Iron Age occupation at the headwaters of the Aras river in the Pasinler region of Erzurum (A. Sagona and C. Sagona 2004). Though

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388 CLAUDIA SAGONA – ANTONIO SAGONA

2 This is the fourth essay exploring the historical implications of our archaeological work in north-east Anatolia (C. Sagona 2004a–c).

3 We are grateful to Chandra Jayasuriya, cartographer at the University of Melbourne, who produced the map of Turkey.

many aspects of this period are far from clear, especially in regard to the nature of the Median presence and the impact of the Achaemenid empire, enough evi-dence from diverse disciplines exists to comment on religious ideology and practices. Among the most fascinating are ecstatic encounters between people and the spiritual world, a feature shared by many religions (Lewis 2003), includ-ing the Median and Persian in which they formed a pivotal component. We believe that the interpretation of textual and archaeological data, when com-bined with the latest discoveries in neuropsychological and anthropological research provides some inroads to the religious life of people who lived in high-land Anatolia. Our discussion begins with the Iron Age, focusing on the Magi, and then moves deeper into prehistory, to the Bronze Age, when, we maintain, the usage of the narcotics was ubiquitous over much of the highlands of eastern Anatolia, the Transcaucasus and north-western Iran (C. Sagona and A. Sagona 2009). Just as A. Sherrat has argued persuasively in regard to European prehis-tory, we maintain the view that any account of human encounters with the divine in the highlands north of Mesopotamia would be incomplete without reference to altered states of consciousness. Before we can move forward into the discussion concerning ancient religious practice, we must first establish why the focus of the early history of the Magi falls on north-east Anatolia.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: THE ORIGINAL MAGI, THE LAND OF MATI,

AND THE MATIENE PEOPLE

The ancient texts concerning Mazdaism, the Magi and Zoroaster (Zarathustra) and their role in Median and Persian society have been much debated. The identity of diverse cultural groups in north-eastern Anatolia at this time has been discussed fully elsewhere.2 In summary, Herodotus recorded that six tribes comprised the confederacy of the Median kingdom:

Deioces, then, united the Median nation, and no other, and ruled it. The Median tribes are these: the Busae, the Paretaceni, the Struchates, the Arizanti, the Budii, the Magiii (1. 101).

His list documents Median district names, rather than tribal names, which were derived from the major towns and their hinterland positioned along the Aras-Karasu (Euphrates) river valleys (Fig. 1).3 Through this drainage basin passed


THE MUSHROOM, THE MAGI AND THE KEEN-SIGHTED SEERS 389

4 A Median highroad was found in a survey of the Pasinler valley (C. Sagona 1999, 108–131). Identification of the date and significance of the road has been discussed in C. Sagona 2004a.

5 Gnoli also argued that the Parataceni name was applied to two areas, ‘one in Sistan and one in Media’ (Gnoli 1980, 65). Cf. Herzfeld who argued that Parataceni bordered Greater Media and was identified with Isfahan (Herzfeld 1968, 188, 301–02; Cook 1985, 248).

a Median highway, a major line of communication in the Iron Age.4 These districts have been identified in north-east Anatolia and the Caucasus (Fig. 1):

• Busae–Basean (the Erzincan region; area A on the map)• Parataceni (south of Kars; area E) (C. Sagona 2004b, §2.20)5

• Struchates–Astaca (the vicinity of Avnik, south of Pasinler; area D)

Fig. 1. Map showing the territories and other tribal regions in north-east Anatolia.



6 The identities of the six Median tribes have been discussed in C. Sagona 2004b, §2.13, 2.18–21, 2.23).

7 Hecataeus Fragmenta historicum graecorum fr. 1.1–31, F 287, refers to this Matiene. 8 The Carduchian territory is defined in C. Sagona 2004a; 2004b, §2:4.9 The annals of Assurnasirpal I are inscribed on the entrance slabs of the Urta temple at Nim-

rud.10 As for ‘Mardastan,’ (dwelling place of the Medes) surely Magustana or Matustana meant

‘dwelling of’ the Magi or Mati (Hewsen 1992, 187 n. 167).

• Arizanti (Arzan al-Rûm or the Erzurum region; area B)• Budii (or Vitia, east and south of Lake Çildir; area F)• Magi (the river valley east of Erzurum; area C)6

The identity of the last group, the Magi, in Herodotus’ list may have wider implications concerning the Iron Age population living in the Pasinler-Aras valley.

At the nub of the issues discussed here are the tangled threads of informa-tion surrounding the Magi. Underlying the various ancient accounts of the period is the apparent historic and geographic overlap between the Magi (as a religious and tribal group) and the tribal group Mati (with a territorial focus in the ancient town of Matiené)7 that points to them being one and the same people. Their town, known by variants of the Matiené name, was due north of the land of the Gordeii, or the Carduchains of Book 4 of Xenophon’s Anabasis,8 who lived in the highlands between Mu≥ and the Aras-Pasinler valley. The earliest reference to the city might be that of the Assyrian king Assurnasirpal I, who appears to have invaded the upper Aras-Pasinler region around 1043 BC:

The city of Matiati together with its villages I captured. 2,800 of their fighting men I cut down with the sword, their spoil I carried off. All of the men who fled before my arms (now) embraced my feet, and I caused them to reoccupy their cities, I imposed tribute, tax, and overseers, more stringently upon them. I fash-ioned an image in my own likeness, (the records of my victorious might I inscribed thereon, and set it up in the city of Matiati (Luckenbill 1926, sections 459–460, 154–56).9

The town of Matiené, it is argued (C. Sagona 1999; 2004b, §2.14; 2004c, §3.2), was also the Matustana or Magustana (dwelling place of the Mati or Magi) listed by Ptolemy (12).10 This site may have been located near the mod-ern village of Büyük Dere, west of Pasinler, where the name ‘Mati or Magi’ appears fossilised in Mknaric, an archaic village name that evolved over time to Kurnuç (Fig. 1) (C. Sagona 1999; 2004b, §2.14; 2004c, §3.2).

The word ‘magi’ embodies a duality – tribal group and religious class – not just in Herodotus; in Old Persian it means ‘priest’ and in Avestan, it means ‘member of a tribe’ (de Jong 1997, 387). In north-east Anatolia, the Magi/Mati



11 Others have hinted at similar origin for the Magi. Schwartz (1975, 417): ‘It may be noted in passing that the exposure to the ancient cultures of the Caucasus may have had some role not only in the formation of aberrant views concerning Mithra, but also in the peculiarly non-Indo-Iranian tenets and practices of the Magi.’

12 de Jong (1997, 391) argues for the possibility that ‘the Magi were Zoroastrians’, based on shared customs, funerary practice (exposure) and the destruction of noxious animals; Gershe-vitch (1959, 17): ‘…the Magus of the time of Darius and Xerxes appears to be the precursor of the Zoroastrian priest we meet in the Younger Avesta…’

13 Dogenes Laertius (1. 8): the Magi ‘believe in two principles, the good spirit and the evil spirit, the one called Zeus or Oromasdes, the other Hades or Arimanius’; Choksy 1989.

played an integral part in the movement of the mountain Medes towards fed-eration as indicated in Herodotus. In essence, the Magi/Mati to whom we are referring were the ‘original’ Magi (de Jong 1997, 390), an important element within the archaic history of this region. We believe that this is the group de Jong alluded to in his comprehensive work:

Since the Avestan cognate of the OP [Old Persian] word magu- appears to mean ‘(member of a) tribe,’ the possibility that the word magu- in this sense was some-how confused with the name of an actual tribe must be seriously entertained. In that case, the Median origin of the Magi as a section of Iranian society becomes much less evident (de Jong 1997, 391–92).

Importantly, the Mati/Magi would appear to have leant their name to the entire highland confederacy of Medes, the inhabitants of which were known as Matieni (C. Sagona 2004b, §2.13; 2004c, §3.2). It should be stated that even though we argue that the upper reaches of the Aras, in the Pasinler plain east of Erzurum, was the ancestral territory for the Magi/Mati, much of the known political intrigue and involvement in royal affairs took place later in Media and Persia proper. The focus moved away from the mountainous regions of north-east Anatolia as the Magi grew in importance within the Median and Persian kingdoms, leaving barely an echo of their highland origins in ancient historic texts.11

While many aspects of Median and Persian religion and associated practices are obscure, belief in a supreme deity, Mazda, lay at the heart of early Indo-Iranian belief. It is clear that the Magi dominated aspects of Median and Ach-aemenid religious practice, but there are indications that their function in those societies evolved over time. The Magi were ardent stalwarts of the early reli-gion and their identity grew out of the melting pot of highland cultures as mooted in Culican’s study. In their formative phase, they may have assumed a shamanistic role within the Indo-Iranian tribes, but later they emerge as cult priests whose beliefs have some common ground with the teachings of Zoro-aster.12 The underlying theme of his teachings is the dualism of good and evil; adherence to the path of good in thought, word and deed was paramount.13



14 The Magi ‘condemn the use of images’ (Diogenes Laertius 1. 6–7).15 ‘…the Magus, who directs the sacrifice, has divided the meat the people go away with their

shares, without setting apart a portion for the gods…’ (Strabo 15. 3. 13). de Jong (1997, 357–62) has questioned the validity that sacrifice in itself was at odds with Zoroastrian teachings.

16 It is possible that the legends surrounding the unifying Median villager, Deïoces, grew from traditions concerning Utupurshi, a local king in the Pasinler plain whose name is linked eponymously to the ancient town of Utu (historic Du, modern Büyük Tüy), another of the major Iron Age settlements in the region. These issues are discussed in C. Sagona 2004b, §2.9; 2004c, §3.2. Utu is listed by the Urartian king, Menua, as the king of the land of Diauehi. See König (1955, 61–63, section 23) for Menua’s inscription at Yazılıta≥, in the high land of north-east Anatolia, south of Pasinler.

Fire-ritual was a prominent feature of Zoroastrianism, but it is far from clear whether the Magi revered fire and attributed any special significance to fire altars (de Jong 1997, 343–50). Nor is it certain whether they originally had cult statues or temples.14 There is textual evidence that the Magi were priests, who preserved and recited the doctrines of their faith. As such they were dis-seminators of their religious knowledge, teachers and theologians. They were also revered for divination whether through dream interpretation (Herodotus 1. 107–108, 120–121, 128) or astrological calculations. They, alone, officiated at all animal sacrifices, in which hoama played a role (Herodotus 1. 132).15 The origins of the Magi religious class and the emergence of the Matiene people have added considerably to the complexity of the problem. The multiple-layers reverberate through de Jong’s work concerning the Magi:

The Magi in Herodotus 1.140, are therefore best regarded as Zoroastrian priests. But in other passages, there may be reference to non-Zoroastrian Magi. It is, how-ever, impossible to reconstruct the religion of these pre-Zoroastrian Magi on the basis of any textual evidence (de Jong 1997, 391).

We do not propose to enter the debate over these fundamental aspects, but we will attempt to answer why the Magi, this sometime tribe, sometime religious class, had enduring influence.

One answer may lie in the impetus for Median unification that appears to have emerged from north-east Anatolia, through the initiative of a unifying leader, reputedly the Median villager, Deïoces, or his ilk, within the region where the Mati/Magi had ancestral claims.16 The power of the Magi was con-siderable and their hand appears time and again in the making or breaking of kings. For example, their divinations feature in the folklore surrounding Cyrus’ birth, his preservation and claim on the throne (Herodotus 1. 107–122).

In turn, whatever the truth underlying the accounts of Darius’ accession to the throne, perhaps triggered by the deception of Gaumata the Magian, or more probably through Darius’ own intrigues, the Magians were implicated in the ancient propaganda concerning the disruption the Persian dynastic line. In the



17 For a translation of Darius’ Behistun inscription, see Kent 1953, 123–24, column II (DBII); Diodorus Siculus 17. 114 concerns the extinguishing of the sacred flame upon the death of Hep-haestion; concerning the different categories of fire and mourning rites surrounding the death of a king, see de Jong 1997, 421–24.

18 de Jong (1997, 392) conveys the sense that Gaumata may not have been from mainstream Median background: ‘That Gaumata was of Median extraction, however, is not very likely, if only for the fact that Darius would certainly have mentioned a Median attempt to recapture the sovereignty over the “Persian” empire.’

19 ‘“Gaumata”, the Median pretender who took the name Smerdis …. Elam. Kam-ma-ad-da, Akk. gu-ma-a-tú; from gau- ‘cattle’ + ptc. mata- of unknown meaning’ (Kent (1953, 182). The meaning of mata is also discussed (Kent 1953, 78–79). Concerning Gaumata and the Magian rebellion, see Kent 1953, 159–60.

20 Kent (1953, 161) lists the rebellious nations. The Behistun inscription is dated to ca. 519 BC. Magian influence can still be seen much later, AD 53, with the first Armenian Arsacid king, Tiridates I, who was a Magian and brother to the Parthian king, Vologases I. He re-established the Iranian deities (Burney and Lang 1971, 201, 218).

21 Herzfeld (1968, 287) concerns Darius’ Behistun text: ‘The inscription is older than his reorganisation of the satrapies and still shows the conditions of the Median period, when the whole of Armenia was part of Media.’ Also discussed in C. Sagona 2004c, §3:2.

22 Darius sent Dadarshi, an Armenian subject, to quell the rebellion in Armenia. ‘When he [Dadarshi] arrived in Armenia, thereafter the rebels assembled (and) came out against Dadarshi to join battle. A place by the name Zuzahya, in Armenia – there they joined battle’ (Kent 1953, 123).

23 ‘A district by name Autiyara, in Armenia – there they joined battle’ (Kent 1953, 124).

ensuing instability, which led to Darius becoming king of the Persians, many Magians were reputedly slaughtered. The Persians ‘…drew their daggers and slew all the Magians they could find; and if nightfall had not stayed them they would not have left one Magian alive’ (Herodotus 3. 79). Gaumata was forever accused in the Behistun inscription of the heretical act of destroying the fire tem-ples, possibly implying that he had extinguished the sacred flames of the Achae-menid dynastic line in his attempt on the throne.17 Gaumata may have been act-ing less as the Magian priest as he was the Magian/Matieni kinsman.18 In which case his name, Gau-mata, may be of some etymological significance.19

In the process of securing the Persian kingdom, Darius not only eliminated Gaumata, but had to quell rebellions in Media proper and in Armenia as well as in other provinces.20 His attack on Armenia (then part of the mountainous regions of Media) brings us back to the highlands of north-east Anatolia,21 within the circumscribed region of the upper Aras tributary in the vicinity of the Pasinler plain. Two Armenian towns mentioned as part of the uprising, Zuzaya22 and Autiyara,23 brought the rebellion to the very doorstep of Mati and the ancestral home of the Magi (C. Sagona 2004b, §2.8). Zuzaya was arguably in the east of Mati territory and may have been synonymous with:

Zazabuha of Assurnasirpal I (ca. 1043 BC)Zanziuna of Shalmaneser III (858–824 BC)



24 ‘…animal sacrifice and Haoma-pressing remained essential parts of Iranian rituals…’ (de Jong 1997, 358).

25 For a discussion of the survival of shamanic practice in classical Greece, see Dodds 1951, chapter 5.

Zua, the Diauehian city named in Urartian texts of Menua (810–781 BC)Zurzua in Ptolemy’s geography (ca. AD 90–168)Zivin Kale (the modern town with ancient fortification, east of Pasinler)

The town of Autiyara stood at the western border of the ‘tribal’ territory of Mati. It has been identified as:

Dirru in Assurnasipal II (883–859 BC)Adduri in Shalmaneser III (858–824 BC)Terebia in Ptolemy’s geography (ca. AD 90–168)Ordoru in Sebeos’ history (concerning AD 610–641)Ordro in the Georgian Chronicle (early 11th century AD)Kayalık Tepe, in Uzunahmet (the modern village name, with ruins of ancient fortifications, west of Pasinler)

If these identifications are valid, then Darius had to quell uprisings at the bor-der towns in the eastern and western sectors of Mati.

SHAMANISM, THE TRANCE AND THE IRRATIONAL

This leads us to another pillar of Magian influence and power, namely their monopolisation of the source, procurement, preparation and use of haoma, a potent hallucinogenic substance.24 This ability inspired both awe and fear. In effect, haoma armed the Magi with a powerful psychotherapeutic weapon. It was the exclusivity of their ‘communion’ with the gods through the use of haoma that entrenched their position within Median and Persian society: ‘…the Magi spend their time in the worship of the gods, in sacrifices and in prayers, implying that none but themselves have the ear of the gods’ (Diogenes Laertius 1. 6).

Fundamental to our argument is the view that the role of the historical Magi developed out of an earlier form of shamanism prevalent among the prehis-toric communities that occupied the highlands north of Mesopotamia. This evolution reflected not so much a shift in the importance of shamanic practice, but rather an adaptation to the changing political structures in the Iron Age.25 It is worthwhile, then, to note some of the defining features of shamanism, its characteristics and what may be termed ‘irrational’ behaviour.



26 For example, the anthropological essays in Furst 1972.

While the development of the human mind has long been an area of consid-erable interest in many disciplines, it is presently enjoying its greatest appeal among archaeologists (Mithen 1996; 1998; Lewis-Williams 2002; see also Cummins and Allen 1998; Kohn 2000). Archaeology has joined forces with evolutionary psychology in attempts to explain the quantum leaps of human creativity such as tool making, language and Upper Palaeolithic rock art. Pal-aeo-anthropological data and cultural remains have enabled us to better under-stand the evolution of the brain as a ‘computer’, so that we now read of vari-ous types of intelligences and cognitive domains that became ‘hard wired’ in the brain at different times over the millennia.

This approach, however, has its critics. Lewis-Williams has argued that the emphasis placed on intelligence has marginalised the broader notion of con-sciousness, which, for want of a better definition, concerns the ‘self’, or the totality of one’s thoughts and feelings (Clottes and Lewis-Williams 1998; Lewis-Williams 2002, 101–26). It has been argued with some merit that we view past achievements from an essentially modern Western perspective, within the framework of rational intelligence, which highlights creativity as incremental steps up the ladder of intelligence. Accordingly, the altered states of consciousness, while generating attention in themselves have been more difficult to integrate within the development of human behaviour.

Mystical exaltation features in many religions the world over. During these experiences, embellished with ritual behaviour that is richly symbolic, people speak with the spirit world and become the vehicle for communication with the divine.26 Among the most conspicuous and universal characteristic of such transcendental experience is the trance, during which the human intermediary enters an altered state of consciousness marked by vivid hallucinations. The great antiquity of such experiences has been cogently argued through the rethinking of the purpose of cave art of the Upper Palaeolithic Europe (Lewis-Williams 2002).

The shifts between different states of consciousness are governed by the human nervous system – a universal physical response that cuts across chrono-logical and cultural barriers – and can be caused by a number of conditions. These include pathological (epilepsy, migraine and schizophrenia, for instance), sensory deprivation (absence of light and sound), vigorous dancing, rhythmic sound (such as drumming and chanting), and the consumption of psychotropic substances. Here we are concerned mostly with the last category, in particular the ingestion of the fly agaric, Amanita muscaria.



27 The literature on shamanism is vast, but the question of whether or not shamanism and spirit possession should be viewed as opposing processes are clearly articulated in Eliade (1964, 437–40), who believes they are, and Lewis (2003, 43–45), who argues that they occur together.

28 Lewis-Williams and Dowson (1993, 56) discuss the sense of procession through three stages of mental imagery, which they term ‘the neuropsychological model’.

29 Helvenston and Bahn (2003, 213–16, 220–23) question the three-stages of trance, espe-cially in regard to Upper Palaeolithic cave art. The known ancient psychomimetic plant sources

Countless studies generally agree that shamanism is, above all, an ecstatic religious phenomenon characterised by an ideology of cosmic flight, under-taken for enlightenment or healing and achieved through a trance state. The term ‘shaman’, derived from the eponymous Artic Tungus word, connotes one who is excited, moved or raised. More specifically, shamans or inspired priests, who can be either men or women, are possessed by spirits, which they incarnate. Importantly, shamans never loose control over the spirits and it is this command that empowers them to cure the afflictions of the believer.27 But their other reputed abilities include changing and controlling natural ele-ments such as weather and animal behaviour, and predicting the future. Tra-ditionally, shamanism is most often associated with hunter-gatherer cultures, especially those of Siberia. It is now recognised, however, that shamanic behaviour is ubiquitous and connected with societies that display a greater complexity of organisation. Indeed in a discussion on the sociology of ecstasy, Lewis cogently argues that ‘possession’ phenomena are universal in character and feature in many religions and societies at various times to the present (Lewis 2003, 15–31).

Judging by ethnographic observations, the manifestations of the shaman vary considerably in character from one society to the next. Some shamans use distinctive and complex paraphernalia such as costumes and drums, for instance, whereas others are distinguishable from the ordinary person only in their abil-ity to fall into trance. Accordingly, one should be careful to avoid making a simple analogy between shamanic practices that have been recorded in the recent past and the material remains in archaeological. Nonetheless, there are some commonalities that are strikingly similar irrespective of time, place or society. To reiterate, these similarities are universal because they are responses of the human nervous system while in a state of altered consciousness.

When shamans enter a trance state they hallucinate at every sensory level. In terms of the visual, which concerns us most, it has been argued that there are three overlapping stages through which a shaman could pass though the subject does not necessarily experience each stage.28 This theory is not without its critics, who basically question the reality of stages when trance is induced by means other than administered hallucinogens.29 Further, substances capable



are Fly Agaric, Henbane and Datura (p. 215). See also the responses to Helvenston and Bahn by Bradshaw (2003, 216): ‘The problem with the “Three Stages of Trance” hypothesis is that it is unnecessary, implausible and simplistic’; also reviewed by Chippindale (2003, 218–19).

30 ‘Fly Agaric produces a state of euphoria, coloured visions, macropsia, religious fervour and deep sleep’ (Helvenston and Bahn 2003, 215).

31 Helvenston and Bahn (2003, 214) refer to Arnold Ludwig’s ‘70 different altered states of consciousness’.

32 Banisteriopsis Caapi is an Amazonian jungle plant, the bark of which is used to prepare a narcotic drink (Schultes 1972, 33–40).

33 ‘…it is oblique in my field of vision. It goes from top left to bottom right… now this whole scheme tilts, and moves about…almost 45 degrees… Hexagons, all like a ceiling full of hexa-gons, some tilt 35 degrees’ (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1972, 91).

34 Reichel-Dolmatoff (1972, 91–92) stated that, ‘Hardly ever is there a motif which is not symmetrical,’ and later in the course of the experience, ‘symmetry doesn’t exist any more!’

of triggering a three-stage sequence of visions are thought not to have been available to all ancient cultures. Nonetheless the hallucinogenic qualities of the Fly Agaric mushroom are not doubted.30 It is still worth considering the three-stage model in as much as some evidence from the ancient iconography of the Caucasus is suggestive of trance state variations.

In the first neuropsychological stage the open-eyed person can sees lumi-nous geometric forms that zoom in and out, pulsate and flicker. Among the most common visualised images are hatched patterns, dots, zigzags, parallel lines and concentric curves that are projected on walls and ceiling (Fig. 2).31 While observing the Tukano of north-west Colombia, in the Amazon region, Reichel-Dolmatoff recorded the effects from the use of hallucinogenic sub-stances:

….it should also be noted that certain motifs or images are produced more or less consistently by the biochemical effects of the hallucinogens. Motifs such as rain-bows, stars, circles or bright dots, undulating multicolored lines, all figures in a wide range of hallucinations, related to the taking of other drugs as well as B. Caapi, thus constituting a common base for the hallucinatory experience (1972, 111).

Reichel-Dolmatoff’s own experience with the drug Banisteriopsis caapi,32 documented on tape, is replete with descriptions of both the motifs and the passage of colours commonly associated with drug intoxication. His language is also loaded with the sense of movement and procession of patterns, of change, spinning, undulating and oblique recession of images from his line of vision.33 His descriptive language is particularly interesting: concerning rip-ples of colours, ‘…but in some way the arches of each undulation separate and form different motifs’ (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1972, 91). He also stressed the sym-metry of the motifs at one point in his commentary.34



Fig. 2. The visual imagery commonly seen in drug-induced states (based on Siegl and Jarvik 1975; Reichel-Dolmatoff 1972; and Knoll in Reichel-Dolmatoff 1972).



35 ‘Social groups define altered mental states to their own advantage and hence, differently in different historical circumstances’ (Lewis-Williams and Dowson 1993, 55).

36 Kent (1953, 211): ‘haomavarga’ is haoma-drinking or haoma-preparing. It should be noted that out of Haoma use emerged the belief in a spirit or divinity also known by this name and who presided over the plant. ‘The two concepts [divinity and plant] are so closely inter-woven that it often becomes difficult to ascertain whether the Haoma occurring in a certain passage is the genius of the plant of that name or the plant itself’ (Dhalla 1914, 120).

37 The association of the mushroom’s name with flies is thought to have been the result of a cultural overlay that can be traced through various language groups, one that sprang from its negative effects – equated with possession and evil symbolised by flies – on the brain (Michelot and Melendez-Howell 2003, 141).

38 However Duchesne-Guillemin (1962) suggested that haoma was derived from the joint pine family, the ephedra plant (the active constituent being the alkaloid, ephedrine). Blamey and Grey-Wilson (1993, 30) describe the ephedra plant: ‘Tough shrub with evergreen rush-like stems

During the second hallucinatory stage those in a trance state try to interpret the forms as more tangible objects, depending on their own emotional or reli-gious state. A row of zigzags, for instance, may change in the subject’s mind into a snake. Finally, in the third stage of trance, the subject can have the sense of travelling through a latticed vortex, which terminates in a bright light, to emerge in a frightening world of intensely real hallucinations, comprising demons, animals and bizarre settings. In this final state, surroundings become animated and the shamans feel they change into the animals they see. By becoming their hallucinations, they experience a sense of flight, or to ‘blend’ into the features around them.

While the agents that produce these altered perceptions vary between cul-tures, there is a commonality to the human response as it is a reaction of the human nervous system. Moreover, despite these shared sensory experiences, the meanings attached to the motifs and hallucinations are culture specific and vary widely.35 Whatever the period, the surrounding physical conditions (light-ness or darkness, sound or movement), as well as the emotional and cultural expectations of the one in trance no doubt influenced hallucinogenic experi-ences.

THE ANTIQUITY OF HALLUCINOGENIC INTOXICATION IN NORTH-EAST ANATOLIA AND THE CAUCASUS

The nature of the hallucinogenic haoma substance of the Magi36 has been much debated. Wasson’s comprehensive and widely accepted studies have identified haoma as primarily a mushroom known as the fly agaric (Amanita muscaria)37 (Figs. 3–4), but it cannot be ruled out that in times of short sup-ply, substitutes may have been used (Wasson 1972),38 or that a cocktail of



and small opposite or whorled leaves. Flowers borne on short shoots, solitary or clustered, enclosed in 2–4 membranous segments. Fruit berry-like, with fleshy red or yellow scales.’ Com-monly found in rocky or sandy habitats of the Mediterranean islands and coastal regions.

39 ‘It is interesting that in a number of related Indo-European languages, bangha, the Iranian word for hemp, simultaneously refers to mushroom intoxication, hemp intoxication, and the hemp plant itself’ (Emboden 1972, 223–24).

40 Wasson (1972, 202–04) discusses the various poetic and cultural folklore surrounding the mushrooms appearance.

41 Extensive references concerning the Amanita muscaria can be found in Michelot and Melendez-Howell 2003.

42 Referring to Australian contexts, the subject of T. Young’s book, the mushroom is found only in association with introduced tree species.

43 Other varieties of amanitaceae have been identified in forested regions of Erzurum prov-ince in eastern Turkey (Demirel, Kaya and Uzun 2003, 33).

44 Based on doctoral research by Simon Connor, personal comm.

ingredients contributed to haoma’s potency.39 The mushroom is considered toxic, and on rare occasions has been known to cause death when ingested (Michelot and Melendez-Howell 2003, 131–32). Initially the fly agaric has the appearance of a white downy egg-shaped ball. As this grows, the casing of the ball splits open revealing the bright red upper surface of the mushroom. The cap of the mushroom can be speckled irregularly with pieces of the white cas-ing stuck to the surface (Figs. 3–4)40 and it can reach up to 50 cm in diameter (Michelot and Melendez-Howell (2003, 131).

The qualities of the fly agaric are discussed thoroughly by Wasson who draws on textual references, including those in the Zoroastrian book, the Avesta, and in the ancient Indian hymns, the Rigveda (Wasson 1972).41 Its habitat is limited,

The fly-agaric is a mycorrhizal mushroom: in Eurasia it grows only in an under-ground relationship with the pines, the firs, and above all the birches. Where these trees are not, neither does the fly-agaric grow (Wasson 1968, 13).

It is also found among the leaf litter of the oak (T. Young 1994, 50–51).42 The fly-agaric haoma is prepared by extracting the juice from the mushroom by crushing it, straining it through cloth and mixing it with fluids such as, water, milk, or honey.

Amanita muscaria has been detected in modern times in the coniferous woodlands of eastern Turkey, in the Kars, Sarakami≥ and Sogusku regions (Demirel, Uzun and Kaya 2004, 217).43 Presumably the mushroom is native to the area and was more widespread in early historic times when east Anatolia and the adjoining regions were extensively wooded.44

For cultural reasons, it is also significant to note that the drug survives in the urine of animals that ate it such as deer and the practice of imbibing the nar-cotic in this manner has been documented among the tribes of Siberia (Wesson



45 de Jong (1997, 417–19) discusses the belief that uncontrolled urine might inadvertently impregnate demons. Choksy (1989, 87–88) concerns the rituals surrounding urination and defe-cation.

46 Herodotus (1. 107) recounts the story of prophecy surrounding Cyrus’ birth and Astyages dream.

1968). It is unknown, however, whether ancient peoples had discovered the lasting properties of the fly agaric through this practice. For the Magi, urinat-ing certainly had connotations and strict taboos. People did not urinate where they could be seen, or where urine could contaminate rivers and water sources. The outflow had to be controlled lest it pollute the ground.45 Considering this, the foreboding felt by the Median king, Astyages, after dreaming of an uncon-trolled flow of urine emanating from his daughter that flooded the whole of Asia, takes on a greater significance.46 With such a background of social and

Fig. 3. The Amanita mushroom (photographed by the authors).



47 After the Yasna (48. 10). The issue of drunkenness is linked to the perception that Zoro-aster outlawed the sacrifice of bulls and the imbibing of haoma (Gnoli 1980, 191–93; de Jong 1997, 357–62).

48 Wasson (1968, 71) argued that Zoroaster was a religious reformer of the primitive Iranian religion, which included the eradication of haoma use.

religious mores, Zoroaster’s statement, ‘When wilt thou do away with this urine of drunkenness with which the priests evilly delude [the people] as do the wicked rulers of the provinces in [full] consciousness [of what they do]?’ (Wasson 1968, 32),47 might have more to do with literal uncontrolled drunken-ness from wine than with Zoroaster trying to eradicate the use of haoma or the drug-laden urine as has been suggested.48

Wasson argues that because the mushroom grows in the vicinity of trees and on their trunks, a link between tree veneration and the use of haoma developed

Fig. 4. The Amanita mushroom (after Heim 1978, 90, fig. 12).



49 Tree veneration from pre-Christian and Christian contexts is the focus of Charalampidis’s study (1995).

50 For the highland habitat of the Hindu Kush and Himalayas, see Ripinsky-Naxon 1993, 164–65. The reverence shown for trees can be traced back to the Urartians. Calmeyer (1979, 183–93) has argued that the god Haldi is represented by leaves or branches.

51 Thomson (1978, 107–08 and n. 3) points out that there is a play on words as ‘murmuring’ is ‘sawsawiwn’ in Armenian.

52 In September 2003 we observed cloth strips hung in a birch tree in the recreational park on the main highway between Erzurum and Pasinler.

53 Burney and Lang (1971, 215) also discuss the worship of trees.

in some cultures (Wasson 1972, 211).49 The mushroom’s habitat alone suggests that it would not be found in treeless regions of Media proper, but rather in the highlands of Median held territories.50 Accordingly, the sacred groves of antiq-uity, especially the sacred grove of Ashtishat, documented in Armenian texts takes on greater significance (Michelot and Melendez-Howell 2003, 141).

Divination through the interpretation of the sound of rustling leaves per-sisted in the Upper Aras (Araxes) region in the Armenian period – a practice that could have developed out of, and with the use of, the fly-agaric mush-room. Tree veneration has special meaning for the site of Sos Höyük, located in the Matieni territory. The name ‘Sos’ is derived from the word saws in Armenian, meaning ‘plane tree’, and is the word that is specifically applied to tree divination. Saws trees were the focal point in a cult at Aramaneak, in the city of Armavir (Hewsen 1992, 216). Of the cult, Moses Khorenats’i (7th cen-tury AD) wrote: ‘The murmuring of their foliage and then direction of their movement at the gentler or stronger blowing of the wind was used for divina-tion in the land of the Armenians, and that for a long time.’51 Saws trees con-tinue in the folklore of the region and are hung with cloth strips.52 According to Herodotus, special meaning was attributed to one plane tree by the Achae-menid king, Xerxes, on his journey to Lydia: ‘by this road went Xerxes, and found a plane-tree, to which for its beauty he gave adornment of gold, and charged one of his immortals to guard its’ (Herodotus 7. 31).53 The hanging of an ornament may have had more significance than Herodotus attributes to it.

There is some anecdotal and artistic evidence for the use of haoma in antiq-uity (Michelot and Melendez-Howell 2003, 141–42). The fabled incident where Xenophon’s men were intoxicated from eating honey that severely affected them, may have resulted from the influence of a powerful hallucino-gen added to the honey:

…but the swarms of bees in the neighbourhood were numerous, and the soldiers who ate of the honey all went off their heads, and suffered from vomiting and diarrhoea, and not one of them could stand up, but those who had eaten a little were like people exceedingly drunk, while those who had eaten a great deal



54 The narcotic consumed by Xenophon and the 10,000 may have been derived from another or perhaps a combination of plant substances. Hamilton (1842, 163, 166–67) suggests that it was honey made from the yellow Azalea Pontica that grows on the northern slopes of the Pontic ranges.

55 ‘…l’effet narcotique ne se faisait sentir qu’au bout de 16 heures’ (Heim 1978, 161).56 ‘Début tardif: malaise, brûlure d’estomac, puis troubles digestifs, gastro-intestinaux; vom-

issements douloureux et incessants, diarrhée fétide, quelquefois sanguinolente; souvent sueurs abondantes; refroidissement des extrémités; crampes douloureuses dans les mollets’ (Heim 1948, 54); also Heim 1978 155–62; cf. Michelot and Melendez-Howell (2003, 132): ‘Subsequent gas-trointestinal disorders with vomiting are inconstantly reported and are not characteristic of the syndrome’ (after Festi and Bianchi 1992).

57 On vapour ‘baths’, see Herodotus 4. 73–75; Sherratt 1991, 51.58 Cannabis is thought to have been used since the 3rd millennium BC (Sherratt 1991, 52–57;

Dronfield 1995, 264).

seemed like crazy, or even, in some cases, like dying men. So they lay there in great numbers as though the army had suffered a defeat, and great despondency prevailed. On the next day, however, no one had died, and at approximately the same hour as they had eaten the honey they began to come to their senses; and on the third day they got up, as if from a drugging (Xenophon 4. 8. 20–21).

At the time, the soldiers had negotiated the Zigana Pass and were north of the Pontic Alps, two days march from Trapezus, or Trabzon (Fig. 1) (C. Sagona 2004a; 2004b, §2.35).

The symptoms and duration of the effects of intoxication by Amanita mus-caria do not contradict Xenophon’s account.54 After ingestion, the mushroom’s effects last for approximately eight or more hours (Heim 1978)55 and are described as:

…confusion, dizziness, and tiredness, visual and auditory aesthesia (hypersensitiv-ity), space distortion, and unawareness of time…Hallucinations, vivid colour per-ception and a sense of time standing still, are disputed. A drowsiness period after 2h follows, with vivid dreams (Michellot and Melendez-Howell 2003, 132, fig. 2).

Vomiting and diarrhoea have also been recorded as an effect of eating the mushroom (Heim 1948).56

It should be noted that the 10,000 soldiers were not many days from Scythian lands (Fig. 1, area 2) for whom part of the funerary rites following the burial of a Scythian king included what has been described as a ‘ecstatic vapour bath’ (Furst 1972, 223 note).57 In their ritual, hemp seed (Cannabis sativa) was thrown onto red-hot stones in a cauldron within the confines of a well con-structed felt tent.58

The Scythians then take the seed of this hemp and, creeping under the mats, they throw it on the red-hot stones; and, being so thrown, it smoulders and sends forth so much steam that no Greek vapour-bath could surpass it. The Scythians howl in their joy at the vapour-bath (Herodotus 4. 75).

The howls of joy are thought to have been part of a shamanistic ritual.



59 ‘Soma can impart to humans the same characteristics as those that can be witnessed in the attributes of the gods’ (Ripinsky-Naxon 1993, 165).

60 The exhilarating, inspiring and enlightening effects were the desired qualities of the Haoma drink (Dhalla 1914, 122).

61 T.C Young 1997, 450: ‘Numerous objects in museums and private collections throughout the world have been ascribed to the Medes. Yet, not one comes from an archaeological excava-tion.’

62 British Museum registration no. 124081 (illustrated in J. Curtis 1989, 50, fig. 59).

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE ANCIENT USE OF NARCOTICS

Intoxication through the use of the fly agaric produced among the Siberian tribes ‘ecstatic visions and a feeling of communication with the divine’ (Stutley 2003, 30),59 recalling the desired outcome sought by the Magi.60 Diogenes Laertius (1. 7) states of the Magian belief: ‘Moreover, they say that the air is full of shapes which stream forth like vapour and enter the eyes of keen-sighted seers.’ While textual evidence is unequivocal about the use of hallucinogens and its effects in antiquity, material culture is less forthright but no less compelling. Nonetheless, a quandary becomes immediately apparent for the period of the historical Magi, namely that the Median period is bereft of artistic works with provenance even in their heartland.61 Enough has been written to show that evidence for the ancient use of narcotics is recoverable from archaeology, most especially from artwork or paraphernalia associated with the inhalation or con-sumption of psychotropic drugs (Lewis-Williams and Dowson 1993, 55–65; Sherratt 1991, 50–64; Bradley 1989, 68–75). We argue that certain aspects of the material culture of prehistoric east Anatolia, the Caucasus and neighbouring lands, attest to the widespread use of hallucinogens, most especially in the Bronze Age.

For the 1st millennium BC, the model clay mushroom (Fig. 23) recovered from Sos Höyük, Level II, that can be dated to the Late Iron Age, needs no further discussion in terms of significance. Perhaps it is the mushroom type that is represented on a silver rhyton reputedly from Erzincan, now in the Brit-ish Museum.62 The floral motif decorating the band around the rim appears to depict the mushroom emerging from its casing (Fig. 5.3 centre, cf. Fig. 4 right); it is linked by strands to lotus-like flower and pine cone-shaped motifs. The vessel is dated on stylistic grounds to the Achaemenid period (5th–4th centuries BC).

Further afield, use of the fly agaric among the Iranian tribes is suggested by motifs that can be found on the eastern side of the apadana at Persepolis. Relief carvings show Median and Persian nobles, moving along together, hand-in-hand. One group of three is particularly relevant (Fig. 5.1). It depicts



Fig. 5. 1. Relief stele on the east side of the Apadana, at Persepolis, Iran. Both Medes (rounded felt hat) and Persians (ribbed hat) are depicted (drawn after J. Curtis

1989, fig. 50); 2 Relief stele on the Tripylon Stair, Persepolis, depicting Medes (drawn after Culican 1965, pl. 41); 3. Mushroom-shaped motif in running vine

pattern around the rim of a silver griffin-shaped rhyton, reputedly found at Erzincan, Achaemenid period, 5th–4th centuries BC (drawn after J. Curtis 1989, 50, fig. 59).



63 His detailed study of the Persepolis sculptures, identifies three ‘flowers’ in the hands of the attendants. One has a tulip shape, another appears as a bundle of twigs and the third is the enig-matic spherical shape with ridged stem. The exact nature of the flowers is uncertain.

64 Cf. the photograph of a large fly agaric mushroom held in hand in Harner 1973, xiii.65 In India, Afghanistan and Iran, substitutes were Ephedra, Sarostemma and Periploca.66 Furst (1972, 223 note) also draws attention to a discovery by Rudenko (1929) in a Pazyryk

kurgan in the Altai region. Sherratt (1991, 53–57) discusses assorted vessels and paraphernalia connected with the ancient practice of smoke inhalation.

67 Pazyryk II tumulus measured 36 m in diameter and 4 m in height; Jettmar (1964, 90).

Medes attending a Persian, who holds a round and stemmed object. Though the identification of this object is uncertain (Roaf 1983, 42, fig. 49), 63 we pro-pose that its shape and size are suggestive of a fly agaric mushroom.64 Another example, this time from the Tripylon Staircase, is illustrated in Fig. 5.2. Was-son (1968, 14) suggests that communities in Iran used a substitute hallucino-genic substance, also called haoma,65 because the land was not conducive for the mushroom. Accordingly, he postulates that the fly agaric was probably dried, transported to where it was needed and re-hydrated for use. Though limited, palaeovegetational data do indicate that western Iran at least was cov-ered in forests during the 1st millennium BC (Pullar 1977).

More tangible evidence comes from the Eurasian steppe lands for smoke inhalation rituals. At Pazyryk, in the Altai mountains (Emboden 1972, 223),66 a large kurgan (burial tumulus)67 dated to the Maiemir Phase (7th–8th centu-ries BC) contained a bronze pot lined with black felt filled to the rim with large stones through which were interspersed burnt seeds from the Cannabis sativa plant (Fig. 8.3–4). Over the cauldron was a stand comprised of six poles

Fig. 6. Incised bronze plaque from Lchashen, Sevan, Armenia. Dated 12th–10th cen-turies BC (schematic illustration based on Santrot 1996, 154–55, no. 140). Note the

four mushroom shaped motifs (blackened) at intervals on the plaque.



68 Jettmar (1964, 106) describes the finds as ‘genuine inhaling apparatus’; other tumuli in the necropolis contained similar hemp-burning utensils (Jettmar 1964, 120, 126, 137).

from which a leather flask with additional hemp seeds was suspended.68 The find is evocative of Herodotus’ account of Scythian burial rites and there can be little doubt that the practice of inhaling or imbibing narcotics was wide-spread and a significant a part of the highland tribal rituals of the Iron Age.

Evidence during the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC is less naturalistic or realistic and more abstract and symbolic. Many ancient objects appear to display pat-terns that are among the visual effects of the trance-state (Fig. 2). Of primary significance in this regard is Kura-Araxes pottery, a hand-made tradition, well known for its bold and often elaborate designs, and its black, or black and red colour scheme. Emerging out of a Late Chalcolithic cultural flux in the east Anatolian and Transcaucasian highlands sometime about 3500 BC, these eye-catching ceramics were produced across the entire 3rd millennium BC and, in

Fig. 7. Bronze object, from the Sevan basin, Armenia, dated from the 10th–9th centuries BC (drawn after Santrot 1996, 81, 112, no. 101).



Fig. 8. 1–2. Bronze objects in the form of concentric rings and central mushroom motif. Both are from the necropolis at Tolors, Armenia, dated 11th–9th centuries BC (drawn after Santrot. 1996, 111, nos. 99–100); 3–4. Bronze censor used for burning

cannabis seeds, from Pazyryk Tumulus II (after Jettmar 1964, 106, figs. 83–84).



69 Other bird motifs from Kura-Araxes pottery are illustrated in A. Sagona 1984, figs. 100.6, 122.248–249b, 122.254, 123.259–266, 123.269–270, 124.285–286.

70 Snakes motifs on Kura-Araxes pottery are pictured in A. Sagona 1984, 17.2.71 For deer and quadruped patterns from Kura-Araxes pottery, see A. Sagona 1984, figs. 53.1,

105.1, 111.3, 112.1–4, 112.6, 122.244–247, 122.250–252, 123.256–258.72 Examples of stylised face designs on Kura-Araxes pottery can be found in A. Sagona 1984,

fig. 122.32–238.73 Anthropomorphic forms on Kura-Araxes pottery are illustrated in A. Sagona 1984.74 Sunburst patterns on Kura-Araxes pottery are illustrated in A. Sagona 1984, figs. 111.5–8,

124.294–296.

north-east Anatolia at least, well into the 2nd millennium BC (A. Sagona 2000). As impressive as its longevity, is its geographical spread. From their heartland the farming and transhumant communities responsible for this reper-toire had an impact over an immense zone that stretched to north-west Iran and as far away as southern Palestine. But they avoided western Georgia and did not venture beyond the Caucasus mountains to the north.

Although Kura-Araxes pottery attests considerable regional diversity, as one would expect over such a mountainous and broken terrain, it nonetheless dis-plays an astonishing uniformity in terms of design concepts. We maintain that the re-occurring and often quite complex patterns are highly suggestive of drug-induced hallucinations, as documented by anthropologists in recent times. In turn, we would argue that shamanistic behaviour was quite likely part of the ritual activities of these highland communities, which was domestic and cen-tred on the hearth (A. Sagona 1998; C. Sagona and A. Sagona 2009). Repeti-tion of the designs and motifs across the disparate territories suggests that patterns and the activities they represented had taken on a special cultural sig-nificance. In many instances, the iconography can be ‘read,’ at least at the level of shared human response to drug-induced states, even if the interpreta-tive cultural overlay is lost to us (Bradley 1989, 68–75; Dronfield 1995, 261–75); Wasson 1972, 208–13). The centuries from 2500 BC onwards, when designs became particularly ornate, are of greatest relevance.

First, let us examine the designs. Arching patterns, symmetrical patterns and patterns that sprout other motifs characterise the most enigmatic and elaborate Kura-Araxes pottery decoration (Figs. 12.2–7, 13.1–3, 15.1–2, 15.6, 16.2, 17.1–2 register III). Iconographical elements, whether realistic or stylised, include birds (Figs. 15.3, 15.6, 16.1),69 snakes (Figs. 13.4, 15.5),70 deer or other quadrupeds (Figs. 17.1 register III middle, 19:3),71 human faces (Figs. 10.1, 11.1–2, 13.4),72 anthropomorphic forms (Figs. 12.1 lower, 13.3 left and right, 14)73 and sunbursts (Fig. 12.1 from Pulur (Sakyol), Turkey, and Fig. 16.5 from Beth Shan, Israel).74 Other pottery designs find common ground with visions



Fig. 9. Mushroom-shaped motifs on Kura-Araxes pottery sherds from Yanik Tepe (after Summers 1982, figs. 2.1, 15.5, 15.8, 18.6, 24.5, 35.28, 35.30–31).



Fig. 10. 1. Large jar from Badaani with stylised face motif in relief; the handle forms the nose (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 73.3); 2. Relief motif on a large jar from

Tepecik (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 83.1); 3. Relief design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Geoy Tepe (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 15.3); 4. Relief and dimple design on a

Kura-Araxes pot from Mokhra Blur (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 7.4).



75 Numerous examples of dotted patterning often in combination with zig zag and triangular motifs occur of Kura-Araxes pottery (A. Sagona 1984, figs. 96.4, 118.147–165).

seen while in a trance-state. The similarity especially between complex pat-terns, when seen collectively, seems more than coincidental:

• Random and linear dots (trance state Fig. 2.1–2, 2.4–6; cf. pottery motif Fig. 18.1–275)

Fig. 11. 1. Relief and impressed design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Karaz (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 15.1); 2. Relief design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Karaz

(after A. Sagona 1984, fig.15.2).



Fig. 12. 1. Relief design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Pulur (Sakyol) (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 80.2); 2. Design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Mokhra Blur (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 7.8); 3. Design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Shresh Blur (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 7.7); 4. Design on Kura-Araxes pots from Mokhra Blur

(after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 7.2, 7.5); 5. Design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Shengavit (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 7.5); 6. Design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Shengavit

(after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 7.6); 7. Design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Mokhra Blur (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 52.2).



Fig. 13. 1–2. Design on Kura-Araxes pots from Mokhra Blur (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 52.5–6); 3. Relief design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Güzelova (after A. Sagona

1984, fig. 10.7); 4. Relief design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Pulur (Sakyol) (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 17.2).



Fig. 14. Relief design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Güzelova, held in the Erzurum Museum.



Fig. 15. 1. Relief design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Garni (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 8.12); 2. Relief design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Garni (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 8.13); 3. Relief design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Shengavit (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 77.1); 4. Relief design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Ozni (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 83.2); 5. Design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Ozni (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 14.3); 6. Design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Shengavit (after A. Sagona 1984,

fig. 77.2).



Fig. 16. 1. Top: painted (interior) bird and hearth design; lower: incised (exterior) design on a Kura-Araxes bowl from Shengavit (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 49.1); 2. Incised design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Shengavit (after A. Sagona 1984,

fig. 8.6); 3. Incised design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Kamo (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 8.9); 4. Incised design on a Kura-Araxes pot from Karaz (after A. Sagona 1984,

fig. 12.10); 5. Relief sunburst motif on a Kura-Araxes pot from Beth Shan (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 30.4).



Fig. 17. 1. Tripartite design on a large pot from Ghaitmazi (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 76.2); 2. Tripartite design on a large pot from Dangreulis Gora

(after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 78.1).



Fig. 18. 1. Decorated panel from a pot stand from Pulur (Sakyol) (after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 118.161); 2. Decorated panel from a pot stand from Pulur (Sakyol)

(after A. Sagona 1984, fig. 118.152); 3. Decorated tray fragment from Sos Höyük with draining hole in the floor.



76 Other zig zag, undulating parallel lines are common on Kura-Araxes pottery (A. Sagona 1983, fig. 115).

77 Random geometric patterns (Fig. 2.37) can be seen on pottery from Güzelova, north of Erzurum (Ko≥ay and Vary 1967, pl. 9, fourth row from top, second from right); from Amiranis Gora (A. Sagona 1983, fig. 124.306–311).

78 Further examples of spirals, back-to-back, resembling eyes, randomly placed and so on are common on Kura-Araxes pottery (A. Sagona 1984, fig. 120.188–192).

79 Cf. other pottery complex combinations of geometric patterns from the Kura-Araxes period: from Pulur (Sakyol) (A. Sagona 1984, fig. 118.167–168).

80 Reichel-Dolmatoff (1972, 91–92) documents the progress, the ebb and flow of visions experienced in his own haoma experiment. Significantly he makes special reference to the shift from symmetrical to non-symmetrical patterns as the episode progresses.

• Geometric patterns with dotted centres (trance state Fig. 2.13, 2.26; cf. pottery motif Figs. 16.4, 18.2)

• Zigzag, parallel, undulating (trance state Fig. 2.17–21; cf. pottery motif Figs. 9.2, 9.5–8, 16.1–2, 18.176)

• Random geometric (trance state Fig. 2.37; cf. pottery motif Figs. 16.4, 19.177)

• Back to back curves and composite shapes (trance state Fig. 2.61; cf. pot-tery motif Figs. 13.1–3, 15.3–6, 17.2 register III78)

Motifs aside, the format of the decoration is also noteworthy. Taken as a whole, the tripartite designs on the two pots from Ghaitmazi and Dangreulis Gora in Georgia (Fig. 17.1–2) are suggestive of the three phases, the neuropsy-chological model, of the hallucination episode. Decorations display symmetry and orderly arrangement around the neck (register I).79 The shoulder (register II) of both vessels, by contrast, carries an intricate and somewhat compressed band (when compared to the other registers) of alternating bands of parallel lines (cf. Fig. 2.7, 2.9), triangles (cf. Fig. 2.11) and lattice shapes (cf. Fig. 2.23, 2.27). Perhaps in these compressed bands of geometric patterns is an artistic representation of the lattice vortex occurring during the transition stage in the trance-state (discussed above). Finally, in the lower register (III), symmetry is less rigid, with individual motifs – spirals, possibly a stylised animal head with curling horns, triangular head and dashes for ears, isolated curls, and an offset lozenge-shaped pendant – attached to a basic zigzag pattern on the Ghaitmazi jar. The ends of the zigzag appear to metamorphose into human forms with raised arms that might be compared to the prone human figures either side of the design in Fig. 13.3. By means of these three distinct registers, the potter has perhaps recorded the progress of changing hallucinations experienced while in a state of trance.80 The elaborateness of design across three registers as seen on these two vessels is not commonly encountered, although elements such as similar compressions of designs (Fig. 16.2–3) and isolated patterns appear on



81 For other tray fragments from Güzelova, see Ko≥ay and Vary 1967, pls. 12, 37–39.82 The trays are on a scale that could accommodate the mushroom cap that can grow to 50 cm

in diameter.83 A. Sagona (1981) illustrates various forms of the spiral-headed pins from the Kura-Araxes

period.

other vessels. Is it possible that Lewis-Williams and Dowson’s theory of a three-stage model of trance may be valid for the shaman of the Caucasus?

We return here to the enigmatic and distinctive tray shape (Figs 18.2; 19.1–4; 20) so far found only in the Erzurum region.81 These trays have an elabo-rately decorated, high, vertical face that tapers sharply to a low edge around the sides and back. Some examples have a small draining hole in the floor (Fig. 18.3). The motifs on their façade are filled with patterns associated with drug-induced states. The effort and care taken to produce these trays and lim-ited signs of wear argue against a utilitarian purpose. Instead their function appears to have been specialised and we argue that they served as preparation trays or mortars possibly for crushing the mushroom and extracting its juice.82 It is possible, then, that some of the more ornately decorated vessels of the Kura-Araxes complex were connected with the ritual of imbibing an hallucino-genic, mushroom-based beverage.

Among the most common motif in the developed phase of the Kura-Araxes is the double spiral. Sometimes referred to as the ‘anchor’ pattern, these motifs are surely representations of the mushroom, possibly the ‘fly agaric’, in cross section (Figs. 9.1–4, 10.1, 10.3). Commonly represented as isolated images, they occasionally meld into more complex patterns (Figs. 9.5, 9.8, 12.1, 17.1–2, register I). In many cases, the associated patterns themselves find parallel with the known drug-induced range of motifs (Fig. 12.1, compare Fig. 2.31–32). Even the bronze pins with heads of opposing spirals (Fig. 25.1–3), ubiq-uitous to the Kura-Araxes culture,83 may be a symbol of the mushroom itself. Spiral motifs can also take on an anthropomorphic quality suggestive of the human face, especially the eyes (Figs. 10.1, 11.1–2).

Artefacts that are modelled on or depict the mushroom shape are numerous and we give only a selection of some of the more striking examples here. From Ananauri, in Kakheti, Georgia, came the unique and large, gold pectoral (Fig. 22.1), dated to 2500–2300 BC, in which the mushroom-shape is formed by double volutes that curl around to the stalk. It was found in a small pit in the floor of a kurgan or tumulus of the Martkopi period, along with three spiral amulets and assorted gold beads (not illustrated), which formed other elements of the necklace. Within the openwork patterns of the pendant are smaller spiral (cf. Fig. 2.53, 2.55, 2.57), infill curling lines and triangle motifs (cf. Fig. 2.11,



Fig. 19. Decorated tray fragments from Sos Höyük (after A. Sagona 1998, 23, fig. 5.1–4).



2.15), which are among hallucinated patterns. The complete necklace in which the pendant forms the central feature, mirrors elements of the complex pottery designs on the vessels from Ghaitmazi and Dangreulis Gora discussed above (Fig. 17.1–2 register I, centre). In particular, the necklace pattern that decorates the neck of the pots (register I0; the ‘necklace’ itself comprises a cluster of ‘v-shaped’ lines weighed down by a central mushroom-shaped pendant and two spiral amulets on either side suspended from the corners of a meander pattern.

Another pendant, dated to the 14th–13th centuries BC, was found in Grave 85 at Melaani (Kakheti) in Georgia (Fig. 21). This interesting bronze piece depicts the curved cap and stalk of the upper half of a mushroom. Bands of

Fig. 20. Tray from Güzelova, held in the Erzurum Museum.



84 Some toads are known to excrete venomous and psychoactive substance, for example the Bufo toad of Mesoamerica (Ripinsky-Naxon 1993, 144; Furst 1972, 28, note).

85 The axe heads are illustrated in Santrot 1996, 86–87, nos. 42–44.

running spirals, stylised birds on chains (not illustrated) and cut-out elongated triangles decorate the piece; the latter may represent the gills of the mushroom itself or perhaps the ragged skirt of the annulus (Fig. 4). A vertical band deco-rated with raised frogs or toads suggests that even in this region there was a connection between frogs and hallucinogenic mushrooms – from which the English term ‘toadstool’ is derived – at this early date (Ripinsky-Naxon 1993, 98, fig. 3.2).84 Ritual bronze hatchets (not illustrated)85 from Sevan and Artik dated from the 14th–13th centuries BC and bronze finials from Guetachen, all

Fig. 21. Stylised mushroom-shaped pendant from Melaani, Kakheti, Georgia, dated 14th–13th centuries BC (drawn after Soltes 1999, 149).



Fig. 22. 1. Gold necklace from Ananauri, Kakheti, Georgia dated 2500–2300 BC (drawn after Soltes 1999, 140–41, no. 13);

2. Vessel with three necks possibly used for smoke inhalation from Sos Höyük, L16C/4006/10a (after A. Sagona et al. 1998, 50, fig. 4.4).



Fig. 23. Clay figurine of a mushroom from Sos Höyük.



Fig. 24. Hollowed antler implement – bhang – possibly used for smoke inhalation found at Sos Höyük, M16/3617/240, Art. 2431, from Burial 2

(after A. Sagona et al. 1997, 213, fig. 10, pl. 8).



Fig. 25. 1. Spiral-headed pins from Urbnisi (1), Dzagina (2) and Ghaitmazi (3) (after A. Sagona and C. Sagona 2004, 525, fig. 15.3, 15.4, 15.2).



86 One recalls here the Schythian use of burnt hemp seeds discussed above.87 The motif recalls rock-carved ‘Tagliatella-type labyrinth’ motifs at Mogor (Galicia),

Salcedo (Galicia) and at Mevagh (co. Donegal) illustrated by Fleming 1969, 255–56, fig. 33b–c, f.

Armenian sites dated to the Iron Age (11th–9th centuries BC) may also mimic the mushroom shape.

At Sos Höyük the Y-shaped object, found in a burial dated to the Middle Bronze Age, presented us with a puzzle. Hollowed out skilfully from a deer antler (Fig. 24) it has small, drilled holes at the three ends, indicating that it was part of a composite object, perhaps attached to cloth or soft leather. Its walls are thin and even at the time of its use, too delicate to have performed a heavy-duty industrial use. One cut end has a centimetre-wide band of smoke-blackened inner surface. Our initial view was that it was used for the ‘passage of air’, possibly a musical instrument. It is worth considering, however, that it might have been connected to some form of ritual involving the inhalation of vapours or smoke.86 The unique pot from a transitional Late Bronze Age–Iron Age level at Sos Höyük with three tall and narrow necks may have performed a similar function (Fig. 22.2).

In the late 2nd millennium BC, the unusual bronzes from Tolors (Sissan, Armenia) are of particular interest. Dated to the 11th–10th centuries BC they depict concentric circles, radiating from a central mushroom motif (Figs. 7, 8.1–2).87 In the more complex example (Fig. 7) from Sevan (Armenia), we per-haps have a ‘road-map’ of the fly agaric trance experience rather than an astral model as has been suggested. Needless to say, its concentric circles (cf. Fig. 2.49, 2.51, 2.59), tunnels created by repeated shapes of diminishing size – in this case the central lozenges – as well as sunbursts (cf. Fig. 9:3 and Fig. 2.31–32) are all common to drug-induced visions. Finally, one more example should suffice to indicate the ubiquity and enduring use of the mushroom in the high-lands. On a bronze belt from Lchashen (Sevan, Armenia) dated to the 12th–10th centuries BC, which depicts men, horses, birds and a chariot, we note also the small mushroom shapes at intervals along the edges of the scene (Fig. 6).

FROM SHAMANISM TO INSTITUTIONALISED PRIESTHOOD

We have argued that the eye-catching red-and-white fly agaric mushroom was probably used for its hallucinogenic properties from at least the Bronze Age in north-east Anatolia and the Transcaucasus. While texts acknowledge the use of haoma by the Magi, we need to turn to iconography to determine the role the mushroom played in the preceding millennia.



88 Koch (1995, 1959–69) offers a summary of the problems surrounding the Achaemenid period in Iran.

89 Gershevitch (1995, 1–29) suggests that Zoroaster lived not long after 600 BC; also Wilber (1969, 34). de Jong (1997, 39) supports a date around 1000 BC, which has wide acceptance: ‘the

To judge by the crafts of the Kura-Araxes, communities of the 3rd and early 2nd millennia captured the reality of shamanistic behaviour through symbols. For them the comprehensibility of the geometric phenomena of visual effects of the trance-state convey in a more effective manner the acts performed than realistic or figurative images. When and how the Iron Age rituals and belief systems emerged is still a matter of speculation. Lewis-Williams and Dowson argue that for Neolithic societies of Europe, the use of hallucinogens and polit-ical power often went hand-in-hand: ‘…in situations in which hallucinatory experiences are fairly common, an emerging elite may try to seize control of these as an adjunct to its ideological armoury’ (1993, 59). Their statement rings true for the Magian dominance of ritual and their power within the Median and Persian kingdoms, as well as the ill-fated power play made by Gaumata himself. By this time, Magian rituals had evolved from village-based or tribal shamanism to institutionalised religious practices.

At the very least, we can suggest that Median tribal elements were already present in north-east Anatolia by 1000 BC. Furthermore, the highland Magi/Mati town was well established by 1043 BC and that the Assyrian, Assurnasi-pal, perpetuated the administrative role of the settlement rather than destroying it. Here, the region if not the town in particular, was the ancestral home of the Magi/Mati people who lent their name to the confederacy of Median tribes under the name Matiene. Haoma use grew out of these highland regions that provided the habitat of the fly agaric mushroom, the source of the preferred narcotic used by the Magi. It seems a logical next step to suggest that the Mazda belief system, in which haoma use was pivotal, took shape in this region as well and that the Magi became its exclusive practitioners. The stimu-lus for the Magian uprising under Gaumata and his attempt on the throne may lie in their elite and powerful position within Median and Persian society.

A further complication falls at the feet of Zoroaster and what part he played in the formation of Iranian religion, as practiced by the Achaemenid Persians (Gnoli 1980, 10–15).88 As de Jong has so aptly summarised:

The study of the history of Zoroastrianism is a discipline involving great efforts of speculation and imagination. It is and has been for a long time an academic battlefield divided in radically opposed views with no conciliation in sight… (de Jong 1997, 39).

Zoroaster is believed to have lived sometime between 1000 BC and 600 BC.89 The higher date makes him contemporary with the formative days of Median



language of its [the Avesta’s] oldest part is thought to be around 1,000 BCE’ (1997, 41); see his summary of the literature concerning the debate (1997, n. 1); also V. Curtis 1993, 8.

90 We are not suggesting that Zoroaster lived in these regions, but his teachings did eventually have an impact there.

91 Persian tolerance is documented in Herodotus (1. 135): ‘But of all men the Persians most welcome foreign customs. They wear the Median dress, deeming it more beautiful than their own, and the Egyptian cuirass in war. Their luxurious practices are of all kinds, and all bor-rowed; the Greeks taught them unnatural vices.’

tribal identity in the region.90 Whether an argument can be made that the Zoro-astrian movement was one of the stimuli for Median unification is drawing a long bow indeed. The belief in Mazda was, nonetheless, a unifying factor between Medes and between Medes and Persian.

A lower date would place Zoroaster hundreds of years along the path of Mazda-worship and the beliefs he drew on and advanced through his own teaching reverberate with entrenched Magian elements. In either case, it seems that Mazda-worship and Magianism travelled simultaneously and played a pivotal role in the unification of the Indo-Iranian tribes, especially the Medes, who lived along the length of the Euphrates-Aras rivers. Hence the confusion between the emergence of the Matieni, the confederation of mountain Medes, and the Magi priests.

Conflicting information for the early religion may indicate the continuing evolution away from the eclectic, somewhat random manifestations of sha-manistic practice – perhaps the hallmark of the original Magi – to one of for-mality under the ever-expanding political and economic control of the Achae-menid empire.

It is widely believed that the Achaemenid empire tolerated diverse cultural practices in the provinces.91 However, there is evidence that Persian interests were advanced by actively eroding the Median hold of the highlands a process begun with Darius’ formation of the satrapy system. If the Magi did lose ground and their religious practices were brought into line, then it was proba-bly a punitive consequence of the years leading to Darius’ installation as king of the Persians and his subjugation of the provinces. The significance of the highland regions of north-east Anatolia in these events was all but lost in the process.



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