Time for some Scythian rituals

In 440 B.C., Herodotus, an ancient Greek writer popularly dubbed the “father of history,” included an account of ritualistic cannabis use in Book IV of his acclaimed Histories. Recounting the funeral ceremonies of a nomadic Eurasian civilization, the historian reports, “The Scythians, as I said, take some of this hemp-seed, and … throw it upon the red hot stones.” When the hemp began to smoke and release a vapor, the “Scyths, delighted, shout[ed] for joy.”