Nencini P
Institute of Medical Pharmacology, University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy.
Subst Use Misuse. 1997 May;32(6):757-66. doi: 10.3109/10826089709039375.
Poppies were widely used during antiquity as a source of food, therapeutics, and poisons. It is likely that the alimentary value of poppy seeds was known in the Neolithic age, and there is some evidence that the neuropsychopharmacological effects of poppy juice were exploited during the Minoan civilization in the eastern Mediterranean basin. The Minoan civilization dates the attribution to poppies of symbolic meanings connected with rites of agricultural fertility. The persistence throughout antiquity of this symbolism is testified by literary and iconographic evidence of the attribution of poppies to goddesses of fertility, such as Demeter, Aphrodite, and Ceres.
罂粟在古代被广泛用作食物、治疗药物和毒药的来源。罂粟籽的食用价值在新石器时代可能就已为人所知，并且有一些证据表明，地中海东部盆地的米诺斯文明时期就已利用罂粟汁的神经精神药理学作用。米诺斯文明将与农业丰产仪式相关的象征意义赋予罂粟。文学作品和图像资料证明，在整个古代，罂粟一直被赋予与丰产女神（如得墨忒耳、阿佛洛狄忒和刻瑞斯）相关的象征意义。
