Sacred Plants and the Cultic Beverage Haoma

Kazim Abdullaev

enturies of research on the cultic beverage haoma have produced an abundant wealth
of scholarship. In fact, any additional mention of this subject may seem redundant,
except to state that the present study relies on the existing literature in order to further evaluate new conclusions that are extracted from less frequently discussed artifacts. This
analysis follows a historical and cultural approach and is based on archaeological findings
from the Bronze Age and the early medieval period, present in the stratigraphic layers in
Bactria, Margiana, and Sogdiana. The surviving material from the antique period is not as
useful as that from these eras, which despite their large chronological gap, provide sufficient
archaeological sources on the continuous use of the haoma plant.1 The criterion used in the
selection of the material for this study is thematic and based on the reliability of the sources.
The absence of explicit identification of the haoma plant in the Avesta has produced a
wide range of hypotheses and conclusions. Commentary on the interchangeability of different
plants in the preparation of the soma drink, the Indian parallel of haoma, has led to contradictory hypotheses, including the identification of haoma with the fungus of the fly agaric.2
Consequently, determining the composition of haoma is still a topic of dispute. Ephedra is
often the suggested plant in this connection. This interpretation is supported by conclusive
proof such as the use of ephedra until the present time in the ritual practices of contemporary
Zoroastrian-Parsis. The fact that Parsis have over the centuries brought ephedra from Persia
and stored it in temple depositories further supports the identification of haoma and epheo f
dra.3 Proponents and opponents of the theory that haoma and ephedra were the same plant
ies
d
u
t
eS
trace this connection to evidence from ancient Iran and Central Asia.4 The ethnoreligious
ti v
d
a
r
an
a
a
p
studies of Mary Boyce are especially important in this regard.5
c
i
om
fr
,A
The question of the relationship between haoma and ephedra is further complicated as C
si a
A

u th
we learn that narcotic plants or substances are not necessarily related to the haoma and the culas t

So

eE
l

d
tic rites of Zoroastrians and their predecessors. In the ancient world there are known examples
id

I express my gratitude to Richard Salomon, Heinrich von Staden,

Firoozeh Papan-Matin, Oscar Bandelin, Joel Walker, Eugenia Badanova, and Alexander Galak for their help and advice.
1. Raymond A. Bowman, Aramaic Ritual Texts from Persepolis,
Oriental Institute Publications 91 (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1970), no. 43, 11. See also Ali Sami, Persepolis, 6th ed. (Shiraz, Iran: 1970), 9899, pl. on 105. Sami provides a discussion of
the significance and the cultic importance of stone pestles and
mortars dated to the time of Artaxerxes 1 (464 and 452 BC).
2. R. Gordon Wasson, Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality
(The Hague: Mouton, 1969). See also John Brough Soma and
Amanita muscaria, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African
Studies (hereafter BSOAS), 34 (1971): 33162.

3. Sir Aurel Stein, On the Ephedra, the Hum Plant, and the

Soma, BSOAS 4 (1931): 50114.

th e

ol.
V

30

.
No

3, 2

08
5 /1

01

0
92

20
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4. R. E. Emmerich, Ein Mannlein steht im Walde(A Little

1

er
.12

ni v
i 10
U
Man Stands in the Forest), Acta Iranica 10 (1985): 17984; I.M.
o
e
uk
d
Steblin-Kamenski, Flora iranskoy prarodiny (Flora of the Ira-
yD
1b
1
nian Homeland), Etimologiya 1972 (Moscow, 1974): 13840;
20

Gernot I. Windfuhr, Haoma/Soma: The Plant, Acta Iranica 11

(1985): 699725.
5. Mary Boyce, Haoma, Priest of the Sacrific, in W. B. Henning
Memorial Volume, ed. Mary Boyce and Ilya Gershevich (London:
Lund Humphries, 1970), 6280.

3 29

10

- 01

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Pre

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of the use of narcotic drugs for medicinal, therapeutic, and ritualistic practices.6 Sir Aurel Steins
discovery of the burials in the Lop Nur desert
(Tarim basin), where the utter aridity of the climate preserved some organic objects and bodies
of the deceased, revealed sacks containing twigs
of ephedra.7 Stein did not draw any definitive
conclusions on the significance of this discovery.
The presence of ephedra at the burial site could
indicate that it was used for its cultic and religious qualities or as an embalming plant. New
evidence from the late Bronze Age in Turkmenistan also points to the cult of haoma and the use
of narcotic plants. Research on this evidence
and the writing of V.I. Sarianidi on temple and
cult practices of the ancient inhabitants of this
region, and especially his use of the term protoZoroastrian, generated considerable discussion
and criticism among scholars.8 Notwithstanding
the abrupt use of the term proto-Zoroastrian,
the importance of Sarianidis investigation was
not entirely diminished.9 His arguments could
be interpreted as a reference to those elements
that were incorporated into Zoroastrian religious practices of the later epochs and were
gradually systematized into religious doctrines.10
Another criticism against Sarianidi pointed to
the contradictory nature of the source data that

6. Narcotic drugs were widely used in antiquity. See,

e.g., Herodotuss History: The Scythians, as I said,
take some of this hemp-seed, and, creeping under
the felt coverings, throw it upon the red-hot stones;
immediately it smokes, and gives out such a vapour
as no Grecian vapour-bath can exceed; the Scyths,
delighted, shout for joy, and this vapour serves them
instead of a water-bath; for they never by any chance
wash their bodies with water. Herodotus, The History, trans. G. C. Macaulay and rev. Donald Lateiner
(New York: Barnes and Noble Classics), vol. 11, bk 4.
See also John M. Riddle, Quid pro quo: Studies in the
History of Drugs (Hampshire, UK: Variorum, 1992);
Thophraste (Theoprastus), Recherches sur les plantes (Research on Plants), Suzanne Amigue, ed., trans.,
5 vols. (Paris: Belles Lettres), vol. 1, bks. 12 (1988); vol.
2, bks. 34 (1989); vol. 3, bks. 56 (1993); vol. 4, bks.
78 (2003); vol. 5, bk. 9 (2006).
7. It is striking the safety that was taken in regard
to both the buried and the funeral inventory, as is
evident in the photographs in Sir Aurel Stein, Innermost Asia: Detailed Report of Explorations in Central
Asia, Kan-su, and Eastern Iran (Oxford, UK: Clarendon,
1928), vol. 1, figs. 17172. Stein explains: The bodies
were enveloped in a shroud of coarse canvas. The
shroud in the case of the two best preserved burials,
both of middle-aged men, had its edge near the head
or where it lay across the breast tied up into two lit-

questioned whether Persians were building any

temples at this time.11 This epoch, preceding
the formation of Zoroastrianism as a religion, is
so distant from our time that one cannot assert
such a hypothesis with complete certainty. In
fact, as history has shown, it is rare that the data
from written sources and archaeological materials confirm and reinforce each other.
Archaeological studies demonstratethat
Zoroastrian religious sources are for the most
part found in Central Asia, the Bactrian-Margian
Archaeological Complex (BMAC). Archaeological discoveries such as temple complexes and
other cult constructions prove Herodotus inaccurate when he says (1.131), These are the customs, so far as I know, which the Persians practice: Images and temples and altars they do not
consider it lawful to erect, nay they even charge
with folly those who do these things; and this,
as it seems to me, because they do not account
the gods to be in the likeness of men as do the
Hellenes.12 It is not clear whether Herodotus
is discussing a specific place and the customs
of that locality or the general tendency among
Persians to avoid building temples. The Iranianspeaking ethnic groups that settled on the enormous territory of the Iranian plateau shared
diverse cultural and religious customs. This fact

tle bunches. One of these proved to contain grains

of wheat, and the other a quantity of small broken
twigs. Stein, On the Ephedra, 503.
8. See Frantz Grenet, Nekotorye zamechaniya o
kornyah zoroastrizma v Sredney Azii (Observations
on the Origin of Zoroastrianism in Central Asia),
Vestnik drevney istorii (hereafter VDI), 188 (1989):
1707 1; V.A. Gaibov and G.A. Koshelenko, Togolok
21 i problemy religioznoy istorii drevney Margiany
(Togolok-21 and the Problems of Religious History
in Ancient Margiana), VDI, 188 (1989): 1717 3; I.V.
Pyankov, Togolok 21 i puti ego istoricheskoy interpretatsii (Togolok-2 1 and Ways to Interpret Its
History), VDI, 188 (1989): 17981; V. A. Livshits and
I.M. Steblin-Kamenski, Protozoroastrizm? (ProtoZoroastrianism?), VDI, 188 (1989): 17476; B. A. Litvinskiy, Protoiranski hram v Margiane? (A ProtoI ranian Temple in Margiana? ), VDI, 188 (1989):
17779; C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Civilization, State,
or Tribe? Bactria and Margiana in the Bronze Age
(Review of Askarov and Shirinov; Sarianidi), Review
of Archaeology, 24 (2003); and V. I. Sarianidi, Moy
otvet K. Lambergu-K arlovskomu (My Answer to
K.Lamberg-Karlovsky), 1April2008, ashga.sitecity.ru
/ltext_1405172346.phtml?p_ident=ltext_1405172346
.p_1405172641.
9. Livshits and Steblin-Kamenski, Protozoroastrizm,
174.

10. One such element in the funeral practice of the

ancient population of Bactria is the archaeological fixation of findings of dissected bones gathered
in one locus in the burials of the Bronze Age period
(Dzharkutan, Buston). This peculiarity may indicate
that before the burial the corpse was exposed at a
special open location (a prototype of the dakhma?).
See V. I. Ionesov, Novye issledovaniya mogilnika
epohi bronzy Dzharkutan 4B (Recent Research on
the Bronze Age Burial Ground of Dzharkutan 4B), Istoriya materialnoy kultury Uzbekistana, no. 22 (1988):
9, fig. 3; Ionesov, O novyh pogrebeniyah Dzharkutana (On Recent Burials at Dzharkutan), Istoriya
materialnoy kultury Uzbekistana, no. 23 (1990):
143; Ionesov, K izucheniyu pogrebalnyh kompleksov Dzharkutana (Study of the Burial Complex at
Dzharkutan), Istoriya materialnoy kultury Uzbekistana, no. 27 (1996): 24.
11. Livshits and Steblin-Kamenski, Protozoroastrizm,
174. See also Mary Boyce, Zoroastriytsy: Verovaniya i
obychai (The Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and
Practices) (Moscow: Nauka, 1987), 59.
12. Herodotus, The Histories, trans. G. C. Macaulay,
rev. Donald Lateiner (New York: Barnes and Noble
Classics, 2002), 50. Cf. Strabo, Geography, trans. Horace Leonard Jones (New York: Loeb Classical Library,
1930), 175.

13. James Redfield, Herodotus the Tourist, Classical

Philology 80 (1985): 97118. The Persians do notbuild
temples or make images and they charge with folly
those who do such things, because, I think, they do
not hold the gods anthropomorphic, as the Greeks
' ] do (Herodotus, History, vol. 1,
(obviously) [
bk. 131). It is through the discussion and comparison
of diverse nomoi that the observing traveler becomes
explicitly conscious of the relativism of culture; each
people has its own nomoi and makes sense of them in
its own terms. Often, however, the discussion is over
before it has properly begun. We may compare the
traveler evoked in Platos Laws (637C) who arrives in
Taras during the feast of Dionysus to find the whole
population drunk in the street. Initially the traveler is
disapproving, but then: There is one answer which
seems to resolve the question, so that the behavior is
not wrong but right. For anyone will say in answer to
the wondering stranger who looks upon something
contrary to his own habits: Do not wonder, stranger.
This is our nomos; perhaps you in such matters have
a different one. Redfield, Herodotus the Tourist,
97118.

Saka Haomavarga

The term Saka Haomavarga appears in the

Persian inscriptions as Amyrgian Scythians in
Herodotuss History.17 They were a Central Asian
tribe whose precise location remains open to
dispute. George Rawlinson connected the Saka
Haomavarga with the eastern Scythians on the
boundaries of India.18 Friedrich C. Andreas argued that Saka included three important tribes:
Saka, Saka Tigrakhauda, and Saka Haomavarga.19 M.A. Dandamaev identified the Sakas
of the Persian inscriptions with the Saka Haomavarga. 20 A comparative study of the use of
Saka in the Achaemenid inscriptions indicates
that when Persians encountered one Saka tribe
they called it simply Saka, but when they subordinated it, they distinguished one tribe from
the other.
The inscription of Dareios from Suse
(DSe) mentions the Saka Haomavarga and
Saka in association with the ethnic group that
is identified by its attire as the Pointed Caps.
Dareios inscriptions at Naksh-i Rustam (DNa)

14. Bactria cannot be included in the historical territories south of the slopes of Gissar (Baysuntau and Kugitangtau), where iron gates with the system of fortifications are located (contemporary Surkhandarya
region).
15. Srednyaya Azia i Dalniy Vostok v epokhu srednev
ekovya/ Srednyaya Azia v rannem srednevekove
(Central Asia and the Far East in the Medieval Epoch.
Central Asia in Early Medieval Age) (Moscow: Nauka,
1999), 21819.
16. V. I. Sarianidi, The Necropolis of Gonur (Athens:
Kapon, 2007).
17. V. V. Grigoryev, O skifskom narode sakah (The Saka
Scythians) (St. Petersburg, 1871), 8; Ferdinand Justi,
Geschichte des alten Persien (A History of Ancient Persia) (Berlin, 1879), seit 57; B. A. Litvinskiy, Saka Haumavarga (Saka Haomavarga), in Beitrge zur Alten
Geschichte und deren Nachleben: Festschrift fr Franz
Altheim zum 6.10.1968 (Contributions on Ancient History and Its Influences: Festschrift for Franz Altheim,
for 6 October 1968), ed. Ruth Stiehl and Hans E.Stier,
2vols. (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1969), vol. 1, seit 117, 11526.

331

Sacred Plants and the Cultic Beverage Haoma

vine services in connection with religious festivals and ceremonies.16 In this specific case, the
discussion focuses on the production of the cult
beverage, which theoretically can be identified
as haoma or haoma-l ike drinks, whose use in
cult rites and rituals, as attested by the rockstone inscriptions of the Achaemenid kings, was
common in Central Asia.

Kazim Abdullaev

is overlooked in the Greek worldview of Herodotus, for whom temples had certain defined
characteristics. As architectural constructions,
they exemplified the finest achievements of the
Greek art intended for the dwelling of the deities
who were personied as statues and images.13
This perspective excludes buildings in the valleys of Murgab and Oxus as temples. In a similar
vein, a historical interpretation of the Central
Asian cult practices cannot be determined on
the basis of orthodox measures borrowed from
Zoroastrian doctrines. For instance, some widely
popular ossuary funeral practices in Central
Asia during the Sassanian period do not follow
the orthodox and canonical Zoroastrian rites of
burial of the time.14 For instance, the custom of
burying the gathered bones of a body after exposing it in a special place (dakhma) in a ceramic
box prompted some scholars to argue for the
existence of a branch of Zoroastrianism in the
northeastern provinces of the Sassanid state.15
A similar kind of diversity exists in the
case of the haoma potion and its identification
with an actual plant. Excavations, particularly
in Bactria and Margiana, have revealed cult
chambers in temple complexes where sacred
beverages were manufactured. Sarianidis excavations on the sites of Gonur, Togolok-1, and
Togolok-21 outline this archaeological complexs special feature to be the inclusion of all
the rooms and constructions into the temple
household that carried cult procedures and di-

18. History of Herodotusa New English Version, ed.

George Rawlinson (London, 1962), 1:53n5.
19. Friedrich C. Andreas, Uber einige Fragen der altesten persischen Geschichte (Questions on the His
tory of Ancient Persia), in Verhandlungen des XIII: Internationalen Orientalisten Kongresses (Proceedings of
the Thirteenth International Congress of Orientalists),
Hamburg, September 1902 (Leiden, 1904), seit 94.
20. M. A. Dandamaev, Pohod Dariya protiv skifskogo plemeni tigrahauda (The Campaign of Da
rius against the Scythian Tribe Tigrakhauda), Kratkie
soobscheniya Instituta arheologii, 61 (1963): 17880.

332

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refer to Sak, Haumavarg, tigraxaud, and

Bbirush. They refer to Scythians as Sakaparadrayya. In the inscription of Dareios from
Khamadan, Scythia is connected with Sogdiana as the eastern boundary of Persian power.
In the inscription of Xerxos from Persepolis
(XPh), Haomavarga and the Pointed Cap Sakas
are identified as territories. Dandamaev concludes that in all the inscriptions Saka Haomavarga and the Pointed Caps are localized in the
proximity of Central Asian satrapies. Scythians
were a mix of people between the Ionian and
the Thracian. Consequently, Saka Haomavarga
and the Pointed Cap Sakas lived in the territory of Central Asia, and the Scythians in the
north Black Sea area. In the fth column of
Bisitun, an inscription under the bulky name
the Saka, which bear Pointed cap, mentions
the Saka tribe Tigrakhauda. In the inscription
of Daraeios from Naksh-i Rustama the general
name sakas disappears and the specific tribes
of Haomavarga, Tigrakhauda, and the overseas
Sakas are listed. The Saka Haomavarga were
among the first of the Scythian tribes, which
the Persians subjugated probably as early as
the time of Cyruss campaign in Central Asia.21
They were known to the Greeks by the name
Amyrgian Scythians.22 Archaeological excavations of the numerous barrows at the mountain
slopes of the eastern Pamirs, which were studied
by A. N. Bernshtam and later by B. A. Litvinskiy,
gave rise to the question of identifying the tribes
of antiquity in this territory. 23 On the basis of
analysis of toponymic data, Litvinskiy concludes
that the tribes of the eastern Pamirs may be the
Saka Haomavarga of Persian inscriptions and
the Amyrgian Scythians that Herodotus dis-

21. If we take into account the expansion of Achaemenid kings in the northern and northeastern directionsthat is, through Ragi, the Caspian Gates,
further through Hyrcania into Parthia and Margianathen it is more plausible that, on their way, the
Achaemenids could have first met the tribes of Saka
Haomavarga, which were located in the territory of
modern Turkmenistan. The tribes that populated the
eastern Pamirs were those removed from and less accessible to Achaemenid power.
22. Dandamaev, Pohod Dariya, 102.
23. A. N. Bernshtam, Istoriko-arheologicheskie ocherki
Tsentralnogo Tyan Shanya i Pamiro-Alaya (HistoricalA rchaeological Essays on the Central Tian-S han
and Pamir-Alay Regions) (Leningrad: Nauka, 1952);
Bernshtam, Saki Pamira (Pamir Sakas), VDI, 55

cusses. 24 Those who challenge this view compare the names Amyrgoy and Haomavarga with
the hydronim Murgab in southeastern Turkmenia, which they identify as the Amyrgian plain.25
These discussions delineate the geographic territory where haoma was considered sacred and,
consequently, facilitate a comprehensive analysis of the archaeological findings that refer to
this mysterious Avestan flora praised in the ancient hymns. In this context, the archaeological
sites Togolok-1, Togolok-21, and Gonur are especially important. As mentioned earlier, these
sites were discovered by Sarianidi in the Murgab
valley in the lower reaches of the ancient rivers
bed of Murgab (Turkmenistan), in the southeastern part of the Kara-Kum desert.
Togolok-1, a settlement, held a central
position in the oasis. Its area includes a temple
that was frequented by the local population of
the settlement and the satellite territories. It was
built on the slopes of a hill, next to the settlement fortress. The latter had a central yard surrounded with narrow corridors. Among the several rooms built around the yard was a special
room designated for preparing the intoxicating beverage haoma for use in cultic rituals. 26
This room contained clay and ceramic vats that
were placed into the floor. Another important,
related structure was a room located across
the yard and in close proximity to the haoma
production room. This room, distinguished
for the gutters installed in it, was built at an elevated ground level, which, as Sarianidi argues,
facilitated the flow of the blood of sacrificial
animals beyond the confines of the room and
into the yard. He further explains that not only
the walls, but also the floors of many rooms of

(1956): 12342; G. G. Babanskaya and Yu. A. Zadneprov

skiy, Arheologicheskie izucheniya A. N. Bernshtama
na Pamire v 1956 g. (The Archaeological Study of
A.N. Bernshtam on the Pamirs, 1956), Trudy Akade
mii Nauk Tadjik SSR (Stalinabad), 91 (1959): 5361; B.A.
Litvinskiy, Raskopki mogilnikov na Vostochnom
Pamire v 1958 g. (Burial Site Excavations on the Eastern Pamirs, 1958), Trudy Akademii Nauk Tadjik SSR
(Dushanbe), 31 (1961): 5062; Litvinskiy, Archaeological Discoveries on the Eastern Pamirs and the Problem
of Contacts between Central Asia, China, and India in
Antiquity (Moscow: Nauka, 1960).
24. In this sense Steins observation concerning the
anthropological type of those buried in the Lop Nur
desert is interesting. He writes, The appearance of
heads and faces clearly suggested the Homo Alpinus

type, which, as Mr. T. A. Joyces analysis of the anthropometric materials collected by me has shown, is best
represented nowadays among Iranian-speaking hillmen of the valleys adjoining the Pamirs. Stein, On
the Ephedra, 502. See also Aurel Stein, Serindia: Detailed Report of Explorations in Central Asia and Westernmost China (London: Clarendon Press, 1921) 3:1351;
and Stein, Innermost Asia, 2:99697.
25. Litvinskiy, Saka Haumavarga, 11526.
26. V. I. Sarianidi, Margush: Drevnevostochnoe tsarstvo v staroy delte Murgaba (Margush: An Ancient
Oriental Kingdom in the Old Delta of the Murgab River)
(Ashgabat, Turkmenistan: T
rkmendwlethabarlary,
2002), 16263.

Plant Images on Stone Seals and

Amulets from Margiana

Sarianidi makes a passing reference to the

image of a narcotic plant on an amulet he found
at the Margiana excavation site.36 Although his
reference is brief, he is famous for pointing only
to information that is significant. 37 The image
under consideration is seen on stone amulets
and on cylindrical seals at temple and burial
sites. After comparing these images with the
actual plant that still grows in the region, I am
convinced that the artists who created these
artifacts must have been inspired by aesthetic
values as well as the cultic qualities of the plant
and its uncommon properties. It is sound to say

27. Ibid., 163, my translation.

31. Ibid., 17475.

28. Viktor Sarianidi i ego Margiana (Victor Sarianidi

and His Margiana), Turkmenistan, 15 (2006), www
.turkmenistaninfo.ru/?page_id=6&type=article&
elem_id=page_6/magazine_33/260&lang_id=ru.

32. Ibid., 189.

29. See N. R. Meyer-Melikyan, Analysis of Floral Remains from Togolok 21, in Margiana and Protozoroastrism, by V. I. Sarianidi (Athens: Kapon, 1998), app.
2, 17879.
30. V. I. Sarianidi, Protozoroastriyskiy hram v Margiane i problema vozniknoveniya zoroastrizma (A
Proto-Zoroastrian Temple in Margiana and the Problem of the Emergence of Zoroastrianism), VDI, 188
(1989): 158.

333

Sacred Plants and the Cultic Beverage Haoma

replica of the temples of Togolok-1 and Togolok21. The architectural composition of the temple
consists of a central yard and its surrounding
corridors, a special room for producing the
sacred beverage, an elevated ground with vessels imbedded into it, and remnants of gypsum
coating used for preserving the objects. Laboratory analysis of the vessels contents revealed the
remains of hemp.33 The temple of Dzharkutan,
in northern Bactria, also shows similar architectural characteristics.34 The distiller room at this
site is especially important for this discussion. A
small room, it stands alone, separate from the
rest of the structure. 35 In the later period this
construction is immured and completely covered with gypsum. The presence of this room
at the temple suggests that the liquid was a sacred intoxicant with ritualistic significance. The
evidence from Margiana, Togolok-1, Togolok-21,
Gonur, and Dzharkutan shows that these temple
communities produced the beverage that was
often referred to as haoma.

Kazim Abdullaev

the fortress inside the temple were thoroughly

coated by white gypsum, which indisputably
indicates their special importance.27 The presence of this room close to the haoma room suggests the ritualistic nature of these activities.
Togolok-21, located south of Gonur, is a
monumental temple structure. At this site, several special rooms also were found where clay
vats with ceramic basins had been imbedded
into the ground. Cisterns coated by gypsum,
similar to the gutters in the temple of Togolok1, were also discovered. The walls of vats were
coated to prevent liquid leakage. At another
Gonur temple the same kind of vats were found
in which, botanists argued, grass used for the
preparation of soma-haoma was soaked.28 These
vats were large and contained microscopic twigs
of ephedra. The rock graters and pestles in
some of the rooms preserved excessive amounts
of microscopic grains of poppy.29 The discovery
of strainers in the same locales completes the
list of objects needed for producing intoxicating
and hallucinogenic beverages. As this evidence
shows, for the inhabitants of Margush country,
the ingredients used in this process were poppy
and ephedra. A special kind of Ephedra intermedia still grows in the foothills of Kopet-Dag. It
is sound to assume that, in antiquity, the plant
reached the southeastern Kara-Kum desert from
here.30 This evidence asserts that the temple of
Togolok-21 produced and consumed intoxicating beverages that were used in the temple rituals and ceremonies. This is the first time that
archaeological findings establish this practice as
far back as antiquity.31
Similar evidence was found elsewhere in
Gonur, which is known as the capital of Margush
country.32 The temple at this site is a miniature

33. Ibid. See also N. R. Meyer-Melikyan and N. A. Avetov, Analysis of Floral Remains in the Ceramic Vessel
from the Gonur Temenos, in Sarianidi, Margiana and
Protozoroastrism, 1767 7.
34. Grenet, O kornyah zoroastrizma, 17071. Grenet
investigates the similarities between the cult characteristics of the temples of Togolok-21 and Dzharkutan.
35. A. A. Askarov and T. Shirinov, Rannyaya gorodskaya
kultura epohi bronzy yuga Srednei Azii (Samarkand,
Uzbekistan: Izd-vo Instituta arheologii, 1993), 108.

36. V. I. Sarianidi, Pechati-amulety murgabskogo

stilya (Seals-Amulets of the Murgab Style), Sovetskaya arheologiya, no. 1 (1976): 4268.
37. Sarianidi, My Answer to Lamberg-Karlovsky.

334

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that these artists were connected with the cult.

The existence of these artifacts further reinforces the hypothesis that the haoma plant had
a central place in the lives of the Saka Haomavarga of the Margiana region.
An amulet bearing the image of an ephedra was found at the Gonur excavation site. The
image is engraved on both sides of a greenish,
square piece of stone. 38 Sarianidi misidentifies
the image as a saxaul, a typical desert plant that
grows on the plains of Central Asia.39 Comparing
this image with a range of plants confirms that it
bears an unmistakable resemblance to the bush
of ephedra, whose thick branches sprout from
its short stem.40 The same image is engraved on
a stone seal from the settlement of Auchin-1.41
Another example in this category is a seal from
the lower part of the Murgab River.42 The other
plants in this category are hemp (cannabis)
and poppy, whose remains were detected in the
temple complexes of Gonur and Togolok.43 One
such artifact is a cylindrical seal with the image
of a poppy engraved on one end.44 This seal was
discovered at the burial settlement of Togolok-1
in a vessel together with two Murgab-style amulets. This discovery represents the first case of
joint findings at a funeral complex. Images of
poppies appear on other forms of decorative
and applied artifacts such as at the Sapallitepa
site (16001400 BC) south of modern Uzbekistan, a considerable distance from Dzharkutan.
In this genre, a popular motif was depicting the
globe of the poppy, mainly on a hairpin.45 This
is meaningful because the medicinal and thera-

38. Sarianidi, Pechati-amulety, 51, figs. 1112. The

amulet is flat, has a lentil-like form, and measures
1.7x1.6x0.8 cm. There are two open-ended holes in
the alternate angles.
39. Sarianidi, Pechati-amulety, 51. White saxaul
(Haloxylon persicum) and black saxaul (Haloxylon
aphyllum) grow in the desert area of Central Asia.
Saxauls grow as bushes or as small trees, to a height
of 1.512.0 m., with forked branches and segmented
fragile young offshoots. The plants leaves are green
in summer and dull gray to brown in autumn. Its flowers are bisexual and grow on short twigs in the cavities of squamiform bracts.
40. The ephedra plant, from the family of Ephe
draceae, is a long-standing, branchy, evergreen bush
with a height of 2050 cm. Its ligneous stems grow
vertically from the base, with segmented, smooth
green branches. Its flowers are small and unisexual
and are assembled into small spikelets. This plant

peutic properties of the plant were expected to

transfer through its image to the area that was
hurt or vulnerable in order to heal and protect
that area. The discovery of such artifacts confirms that, just as narcotic plants were celebrated
in ritualistic rites and esteemed for their appearance in the holy texts, they enjoyed popular appeal for their healing qualities.
The Haoma Plant in the Sacred Texts

In the texts of the older Avesta, the Gathas,

there are some references to the concrete properties of the haoma plant. It is noted that it is
yellow (zairi-gaona, golden) and grows in the
mountains: I make my claim on thee, o yellow
one, for inspiration. I make my claim on thee
for strength; I make my claim on thee for victory; I make my claim on thee for health and
healing when healing is my need (Hom-Yasht,
9.17).46 The Zend-Avesta speaks about haoma,
and especially white haoma, in mythical terms
and locates the plant in a cosmological geography: haoma grows in the Vorukasha sea and is
guarded by the fish Kara.47 However, the text
does not specify whether white hom is an actual divine plant revered for its hallucinogenic
properties, which correspond to a fantastic, cosmic world. The Rig-Veda provides an excellent
parallel in the form of soma whose preparation
involves different kinds of herbs. The Zoroastrian liturgical texts refer to haoma in conceptual and abstract terms but are clear about its
narcotic qualities that induce physical and psychotropic effects.

grows in the steppe and desert zones; in the plains;

on cliffs, chalky, bare terrain, pebbles, and lime; and
in sandy and rocky soils.
41. Sarianidi, Pechati-amulety, 5253, figs. 16a, 16b,
16g.
42. I. S. Masimov, Novye nahodki pechatey epohi
bronzy s nizoviy Murgaba (New Findings of Bronze
Age Seals in the Lower Murgab), Sovetskaya arheologiya, no. 2 (1981): figs. 4 and 9.
43. They are Cannabis of sativa L. and Cannabis indicaL., respectively. From the Cannabaceae family,
this annual grassy diclinous plant grows from 30 to
180 cm., and in tropical climates up to 5 m., with a
vertical branchy stem. When its hemp is ripened, its
leaves separate and exude a strongly reeking resin
that contains hallucinogenic alkaloids. The difference
between resin cannabis and fiber cannabis is determined by a climatic factor.

4 4 . V. I. Sarianidi, Siro-H et tskie bozhestva v

Baktriysko-m argianskom panteone (The SyroHittite Deities in the Bactrian-Margian Pantheon),
VDI, 188 (1989): 20, fig. 5: 1, 2.
45. A. A. Askarov, Drevnezemledelcheskaya kultura
epohi bronzy yuga Uzbekistana (Early Farming Culture
of the Bronze Age in Southern Uzbekistan) (Tashkent:
Fan, 1977), 100.
46. From The Sacred Books of the East, trans. Lawrence Heyworth Mills, American ed. (1898).
47. Arthur Christensen, LIran sous les sassanides (Copenhagen: Levin and Munksgaard/Ejnar Munksgaard,
1936), 13654.

48. For the epithet duraosa- (cf. Vedic durosa-) , see

H.W. Bailey, Dvara matinam, BSOAS 20 (1957):
4959; Ilya Gershevich, An Iranianists View of the
Soma Controversy, in Mmorial Jean de Menasce,
Philippe Gignoux and Ahmed Tafazzoli, eds. (Louvain, Belgium: Fondation Culturelle Iranienne, 1976),
49; and Mary Boyce, A History of Zoroastianism, vol. 1,
Under the Achaemenians (Leiden: Brill), 162n102.
49. W. Belardi, The Pahlavi Book of the Righteous
Viraz, Tome 10 (Rome: Biblioteca di ricerche linguistiche e filologiche, 1979), 116, 119, 211n6. This beverage
with the special properties is encountered in the expression mang i besaz.
50. That the hallucinogenic properties of the soma
beverage were connected with the fungus fly agarics is R. Gordon Wassons theory. See Wasson, Soma;
Andr Bareau, Journal Asiatique 257 (1969): 17376
(review of Wasson) ; F. B. J. Kuiper, Indo-Iranian Jour-

335

Sacred Plants and the Cultic Beverage Haoma

in Hinduism, Dhyana in Buddhism, and Satoriin

Zen. Going beyond this limit is both a psychedelic and a religious feeling. The highly inspired
worship of original Zoroastrianism is a theological meditation before the re. 53 As discussed
earlier, among the plants of Margiana temples,
cannabis, poppy, and ephedra are psychedelic
substances. Cannabis and poppy belong to the
hallucinogen-opiates group, and ephedra to
the psycho-stimulators. Users of these narcotics
experience euphoria and a sensation of goodness and clemency. These are accompanied by a
sharpening of external and internal sensations.
Noise nds an extraordinary internal echo, and
the conception of time and space is changed.54 In
a state of spiritual ecstasy, one is confident, as if
enjoying the authority of God. Margian Magians
in all likelihood studied these substances and
understood their effect on the human mind and
body. They knew how to combine different hallucinogens and stimulants and consume them in
a specific order to maximize their effect. These
substances were used during ritualistic practices
in which participants repetition of prayers and
incantations took them into special realms of
consciousness where they witnessed vivid visions
and attained religious ecstasy.

Kazim Abdullaev

The Hom-Yasht encodes the name of the

plant but reveals some information on its preparation, which requires the observance of ritual
rites and prayers throughout the process. It is
known that the beverage includes auxiliary ingredients such as milk, the fat of a bull, and barley grains. These ingredients have symbolic and
ritualistic significance and are used for improving the taste, decreasing toxicity, and quenching hunger. A remarkable property of haoma is
expressed in the epithet duraosa (Vedic durosa),
which I. Gershevich translates as pain-killer.48
Another attribute is baesazya, meaning healing or treatment that heals.49 The Avestan
classification of the beverage is very similar to
its Indian counterpart, the soma. 50 In all probability, the beverages hallucinogenic property is
manifested in the visionary meditations of the
Magians: 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.... Moreover, they say that the air is full of
shapes which stream forth like vapor and enter
the eyes of keen-sighted seers.51 These visions
can be induced by the psychedelic effects of a
substance such as haoma or soma. Psychedelic
experience consists of the endurance of uncommon forms of consciousness that take one into
a trance, meditation, and a dream state. 52 The
possibility to expand the consciousness and the
limits of perception enables one to receive information that is otherwise inaccessible to the
mind. Eastern spiritual teachings have designated terms for the tendency of the mind to
prevent this altered state of consciousness from
expressing itself. These terms include Samadkhi

Zoroaster and Haoma

The monotheistic and highly principled demands of the teachings of Zoroaster inevitably
had to address the issue of other deities and
also the ritualistic practices of the ancient cults.
Although it was acknowledged that the cult of
haoma and its use of the cult beverage had an
adverse influence on the spiritual and physical

nal 12 (1970): 27985, review; John Brough, Somaand

Amanita muscaria, BSOAS 34 (1971): 33162 (criticism
of Wassons theory); R. Gordon Wasson, Soma and the
Fly-Agaric: Mr. Wassons Rejoinder to Professor Brough
(Cambridge, MA: Botanical Museum of Harvard University, 1972); John Brough, Problems of the SomaMushroom Theory, Indologica Taurinnensia 1 (1973):
2132; Gershevich, An Iranianists View; and Boyce,
History, 157. See also Grard Fussmann, Pour une
problematique nouvelle des religions indiennes anciennes (For a New Problem on Ancient Indian Re
ligions), Journal Asiatique 41 (1977): 2170; Giuseppe
Tucci, On Swat: The Dards and Connected Problems,
East and West 27 (1977): 9104, nn. 33, 36a.
51. Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers,
trans. R. D. Hicks (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, 1950), 9.

52. Bernard Aaronson and Humphry Osmond, eds.,

Psychedelics: The Uses and Implications of Hallucinogenic Drugs (New York: Anchor Books, 1970), 27779.
53. Mirca Eliade, Histoire des croyances et des ides
religieuses de lge de la pierre aux mysteres dEleusis,
3 vols. (Paris: 1976), 1:329; Gherardo Gnoli, Lichtsymbolik in alt-Iran: Haoma-Ritus und Erloser-Mythos
(Light Symbolism in Old Iran: Haoma Rite and Erloser Myth), Antaios 5 (1967): 52849; Gherardo Gnoli,
Questioni sull interpretazione della dottrina gathica (Disputes on the Interpretations of the Gathic
Doctine), Annali dellIstituto Universitario Orientale
di Napoli 21 (1971): 34170; Gherardo Gnoli, Problems
and Prospects of the Studies on Persian Religion, in
Problems and Methods in the History of Religions, eds.
Ugo Bianchi, C. Jouco Bleeker, and Alessandro Bausani
(Leiden: Brill, 1972), 67101.
54. Aaronson and Osmond, Psychedelics, 13435.

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states of the potential followers of Zoroaster, ultimately the prophet was defeated in his stance
against haoma, whose stupefying properties he
had condemned. The cult of haoma, with its
godly incarnation, was incorporated into the
Zoroastrian religion. 55 The tradition of using
the cult beverage developed over time, with a
focus on the extraordinary influence that the
beverage exerted on the mental condition of
humans to the degree that they were able to
perform wondrous and divine actions. The powerful presence of the cult was such that it was
rehabilitated in later times in the Zend-Avesta
through dialogue between Zoroaster and the
personified, anthropomorphic image of haoma.
Gherardo Gnoli considers this influence in great
detail.56 He notes that Zoroaster condemns the
sacrifice of animals to haoma, an indication that
at some point the need arose for the spiritual
reconsideration of some of the cult traditions
that accompanied the mysterious dedications.
These traditions were some of the common
sources for Indo-Iranian religious practices and
attempts for understanding mental visions, internal self-contemplations, and the appearance
of inner illuminations.57 At the center of this development is the cult of haoma, which Zoroaster
condemns for its stimulating and hallucinogenic qualities (muthrem ahya madahya) (Yasna
48.10). In the Yasnas it is stated that Karapans
break the rules, established for the herdsmans
life (51.14). They train people to the evil matters in order to destroy life (46.11). With the
aid of intoxicating abomination beverage, they
intentionally fool people (48.10). If we assume
that Zoroaster allowed the practice of applying
a hallucinogenic beverage in the Zoroastrian

55. V. N. Toporov, Haoma, in Mify narodov mira

(Myths of the Peoples of the World) (Moscow: Sovetskaya entsiklopediya, 1985), 2:57879.
56. Gherardo Gnoli, Zoroaster in History, Biennial Yarshater Lecture Series, Vol. 2 (New York: Bibliotheca
Persica, 2000), 188.
57. Ibid.
58. Gnoli (Zoroaster, 191n40) indicates that the use of
hallucinogenic means and the connection with the
mental state of followers were subjects of debate
in the Zoroastrian literature between philologists of
ancient Iranian language Henrik Samuel Nyberg and
Walter Bruno Henning. See also J. Aro, Zarathustran
arvoitus, Demavend 3 (1969): 120; and Kurt Rudolph,
Zarathustra, Priester und Prophet: Neue Aspekte der
Zarathustra-bzw. Gth-Forsching, Numen 8 (1961):
81116.

community, then the question arises whether

this practice was the result of simple artificial
experiences or was associated with a spiritual
ecstatic state achieved artificially.58 One should
note that the Gathic type of religious experience, with its structure of internal visions and
insights, is in accord with the Indo-Iranian tradition, which serves as the prototype for creating conceptual doctrines of faith.
The remaining question concerns the
identity of those who consumed the sacred beverage. Whether they were the priests and the
parishioners or only one and not the other is
unclear. According to Gnoli, the rite connected
with the use of haoma is not characteristic of
the ordinary Zoroastrian community. 59 However, in the early stages of the religions formation the prophet complained of the loathsome
potion that fools people in the head, confirming that excessive use of this potion was undertaken by the entire Zoroastrian community.
This point is demonstrated in appendix 3 in
the work by Willem Caland and Victor Henry,
who demonstrate that the worship of haoma
and the offering associated with it were newly
introduced into Zoroastrian Mazdeism. 60 The
status of the priest-Magian, who occupies a special position in the Zoroastrian community and
is entitled to special privileges, is not a focus in
this study; however, it must be noted that the authority of Magian xsatra (the earthly kingdom of
Ahura Mazda), by means of which the priest can
reach enlightenment (cisti), can be obtained
once the priest partakes in the community of
the magi. 61 This uncommon knowledge and
special mode of perception are not transferred
by physical organs and feelings (Yasna 51.16:

59. Gnoli, Zoroaster, 193.

60. Victor Henry, Esquisse dune liturgie indoi ranienne (An Outline of Indo-Iranian Liturgy) in
LAgnistoma: Description complte de la forme normale du sacrifice de Soma (LAgnistoma: A Complete
Description of the Normative Form of Soma Sacrifice),
ed. Willem Caland and Victor Henry (Paris, 19067 ),
2vols., 1:46990; Gnoli, Zoroaster, 79.
61. On the priest-M agian, see Gherardo Gnoli, Lo
stato di maga, Annali dellIstituto Universitario
Orientale di Napoli 15 (1965): 10517; Mircea Eliade,
Spirit, Light, and Seed, History of Religions 11 (1971):
18; J. Duchesne-Guillemin, La rligion des Achmnides (The Religion of Achaemenides), in Achameniden Geschichte (Achaemenid History), no. 68,
5982; Eliade, Histoire, 1:329. On cisti or c ista, see
Emile Benveniste-Renou, Vrtra et Vrtragna: Etude

de mythologie indo-iranien (Vrtra and Vrtragna:

A study of Indo-Iranian Mythology), Cahiers de la
Socit Asiatique 3 (1936): 5663; Henrik Samuel Nyberg, Die Religionen des alten Iran (Religions of Ancient Iran), trans. H. H. Schaeder (Osnabruk: 1966),
71, 81, 440; Geo Widengren, Stand und Aufgaben der
iranischen religionsgeschichte (Leiden: Brill, 1955), 93;
A.Closs, Erlosendes Wissen: Ein kritische Ruckblick von
manis d nysn zu Zzarathutras cisti, in Le origini
dello gnosticismo: Colloquio di messina 1318 Aprile
1966 (The Origins of Gnosticism, Colloquim of Messina
1314 April 1966), supplements to Numen, vol. 12, ed.
U.Bianchi (Leiden: Brill, 1967), 26579, esp. 271.

Poppy Imagery on Ossuary Reliefs

The personages on the ossuaries reliefs were

compared with Amesha Spentas of Avestic mythology in a 1984 study by G. A. Pugachenkova,
with subsequent interpretations in her later
works. 64 Analyzing iconography on ossuaries,
Pugachenkova concludes that they are directly
connected with the cult of corpses (decedents),
with the funeral rites, which existed in Sogdiana. She considers that the personages are
62. Gnoli, Zoroaster, 194.
63. On Daskyleion, see John Curtis and Nigel Tallis,
eds., Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005), 152,
fig. 57.
64. G. A. Pugachenkova, Miankalskie ossuarii
pamyatniki kultury Drevnego Sogda (Miankal Ossuaries: Monuments of Ancient Sogdian Culture), in
Nauka i chelovechestvo (Science and Humanity), ed.
Znanie (Moscow: Znanie, 1984), 7990; Pugachenkova, Les ostoteques de Miankal (The Ossuariesof
Miankal), Mesopotamia 20 (1985): 2965; Pugachenkova, Drevnosti Miankalya (The Antiquities of Miankal) (Tashkent: Fan, 1989), 15674.

65. Pugachenkova, Drevnosti Miankalya, 163, my

translations.
66. Ibid.
67. Frantz Grenet, Interpretatsiya dekora ossuariev
iz Biyanaymana i Miankalya (Interpretation of the
Scenes on Ossuaries from Biyanayman and Miankal),
in Gorodskaya kultura Baktrii-Toharistana i Sogda:
Antichnost, rannee srednevekove (The Urban Culture
of Bactria-Tokharistan and Sogdiana: In Antiquity and
the Early Middle Ages) (Tashkent: Fan, 1987), 4253.

337

Sacred Plants and the Cultic Beverage Haoma

Sogdian clergymen, by their appearance, their

garments, whose attributes are personified by
means of the Amesha Spentas of Avestic mythology, connected with the faith in the arrival
of deceased persons at native places in the days
of the Fervardedzhan holiday. They seemingly
create the dedicatory liturgy, carrying out the
becoming rites, with which their attributes are
connected.65
A n ossuar y from t he sett lement of
Ishtykhan, in the Samarqand region (Uzbekistan), bears a relief composition with the image
of three personages: a man in the center, with a
woman on either side. The female figure on the
right, dressed in a garment with thin folds that
flutter in large waves, represents a female deity.
She stands frontally with her right foot forward,
and in her left hand, raised almost to the level
of the arms, her elbow bent, she holds a pestle
and mortar: cultic objects used for the preparation of the sacred beverage (haoma). In her
right hand, she holds an object that Pugachenkova misidentifies as a pair of pincers.66 This
item is a long stem, bifurcated at its top end. In
spite of the low relief of the image, it can clearly
be seen that the ends of the stem are in globular form. Frantz Grenet argues that this plant
image makes the personages of ossuaries comparable to the Amesha Spenta of Avestic mythology.67 Grenets identification of the plant as
ephedra is, however, questionable. The morphological structure of this plant is completely different and is represented by the densely located
articulations on the thin stems. In my view,
the long stem with the globular box at the end
could be seen as representing the haoma plant.
It is logical to imagine that if in one hand the
personage holds a mortar for preparing haoma,
then the plant in the other hand is haoma or

Kazim Abdullaev

Tam kava vistaspo magahya xsatra nasat vanheus

padebis mananho yam cistim [By the power of the
maga Kavi Vistaspa obtained, on the paths of
the Good Thought, this illumination]). Gnoli is
referring to the concept of the eye of reason and
the inner substance of consciousness (xrateus
doithrabyo), with which Astvat-Ereta (Incarnating of truth, the name of one of three Future
Saviors in the Hymn of Xvarno) in Zamyad-Yast
will make the entire solid world immortal.62
One of the reliefs of the Achaemenid period, at Daskyleion in Turkey, depicts the cult
of the sacred beverage and its offerings, which
involved the participation of accomplished
Magians. 63 The image represents two priests
holding barsoms (bundles of slender tamarisk
branches) in both hands, which are raised in
prayer. In the background, on the platform,
the heads of sacrificial animals, bull and ram,
are resting. Curiously, another component islocated among the fragment to the left of this
procession. Given its long vertical lines, this
component may have been constructed as an
altar or as an entrance into a room. It can be assumed that this was the entrance to a secluded
place where the haoma beverage was prepared
and it was through this passage that the sacrificial animals were taken out into the open.

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poppy, since it can also be argued that the drink

was prepared with poppy as a base ingredient.
Grenet explains that to identify the woman
holding the haoma and the mortar with Hordadt he patroness of watersis problematic
because haoma refers to the plant, but the function of Amurdad (Zoroastrian god, literally immortal) is to safeguard immortality by means
of white haoma.68
In the Hom-Yasht, haoma bears the epithet
removing death. In the pantheon of Amesha
Spenta, as represented on the ossuary reliefs,
Amurdad is mostly accorded the epithet immortal. This is done, specifically, by means of
the white hom, which grows in the Vorukasha
sea and ensures immortality on doomsday.
Soshyans and his assistants will provide offerings for the revival of corpses by killing the bull
Hadyosh, from whose fat and white hom they
will prepare the beverage of immortality and
give it to all people, thus granting immortality to
all. Hordad (or Aurvat, Haurvatat, meaning integrity) personifies the completeness of physical existence and is antithetical to diseases, old
age, and death.69 At the same time, Hordad is
considered the patroness of the aqueous sacred
element. According to Grenet, For those who
know myth and ritual, haoma, just as mortar,
could be associated with water.70 The Yasn
ceremony of the Avestic text describes the cult
emanation of the mortar not only as the tool of
technical value in the preparation of the sacred
beverage but also as the receptacle in which
the different components that form the basis of
haoma are adjoined. Grenet explains: In the
name of good waters we worship by this offering,
containing Haoma, which contains milk, which
contains pomegranate tree, placed according to
rule; in the name of good waters we worship the
water of Haoma. We worship the stone mortar,
we worship the metallic mortar.71

If the plant on the Ishtykhan ossuary is

poppy, then it can be argued that the plant was
used in the preparation of the sacred beverage
haoma in Central Asia and in particular in Sogdiana in the early medieval period. This does
not rule out the inclusion of other ingredients,
such as ephedra, in the prescription of haoma.
This point is supported by evidence from the
temples of Margiana from the Bronze Age. The
relief of Ishtykhans ossuary demonstrates the
use of the poppy image and shows the nature
and peculiarities of this plant in combination
with the mortar and pestle. Other representations of the ossuaries in the same composition
are not as clear or as informed in depicting similar motifs. The reliefs of the Sogdian ossuaries,
especially from the Koshtepa site in southern
Sogdiana, also provide the image of the poppy.
Terra-Cotta Composition from Southern
Sogdiana with the Poppy Worship Scene

Archaeological excavations at the Koshtepa site

discovered a terra-cotta disk dating back to AD
57. The clay disk, typical of the ceramic productions in the region of Kashkadarya, held the
image of a poppy in its center. R. H. Suleymanov
was the first to write about this artifact and accurately determine the image of the poppy and
its cultic significance.72 His classification of this
item in the category of braziers was, nevertheless, inaccurate because the disksimilar to
other objects found in temple excavations and
known to have been used for religious functions
such as libation-ceremonies in Zoroastrian ritual practiceshas a decorative style and does
not bear any trace of fire or of marks produced
by mechanical or physical pressure.73 There
are primitive figurines stuck on the edges and
along the diameter of the disk. Two stems of
columns are raised along the line of its diameter. One is crowned in the upper part by the

68. Ibid., 51.

69. L. Lelekov, Amertat, Mify narodov mira, 1:67.
70. Grenet, Interpretatsiya decora, 51, my translation.
71. Ibid., 52, my translation.
72. R. H. Suleymanov, Drevniy Nahsheb (Ancient Nahsheb) (Tashkent: Fan, 2000), 269, fig. 182.2.

73. The diameter of the disk, over the lower ground

surface, is 29 cm.; the disks height to the edge of the
border is 4 cm.; and the height of the figurines is from
1.5 to 3.0 cm. Moreover, the lower part of the figures
seemingly merges into the overall mass, forming a
border. The height of the poppy together with the
stem-column is 11.5 cm. The height of the altar from
the edge of the border is 10.5 cm.; the height of the
altar to the base of the animals heads is 6 cm. The
thickness of the objects wall is from 1.2 to 1.5 cm.

74. The importance of the terra-c otta composition from Koshtepa is the arrangement of the two
components described above and, precisely, the soc alled altar and poppy. The location of the altar is
clear; however, since the terra-cotta was found, the
arrangement of the poppy has changed twice. The
first version is represented in Suleymanovs Drevniy
Nahsheb (fig. 182.2), where the poppy is placed in the
middlein the row of figures, along the diameter.
The second version is represented in the composition
after a recent restoration, in which the poppy was incorrectly moved to the altar. Finally, the third version was made after the original by the author who
found it, A. Raimkulov. In this, the most reliable version, in my view, the poppy is placed on the edge of
the disks base, opposite the altar.

75. V. I. Sarianidi, Margiana and Protozoroastrism

(Athens: Kapon, 2007), pl. 10, fig. 10.
76. Richard Evan Schultes and Albert Hofmann, Plants
of the Gods: Origins of Hallucinogenic Use (New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1979), 149.
77. Judith A. Lerner, Christian Seals of the Sassanian Period (Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch-archaeologisch
Instituut, 1977); Jeffrey Spier, Late Antique and Early
Christian Gems (Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2007), catalog
nos. 52021.

339

Sacred Plants and the Cultic Beverage Haoma

BC and AD 100. It depicts a group of men dancing around a mushroom effigy.76 The terra-cotta
composition at Koshtepa could be another instance of primitive, vertically confronting figurines with short horizontal hand branches,
making it difficult to study the images anthropomorphic quality. That notwithstanding, if we
take into account the places where the terracotta is chipped, we can conclude that there are
forty figures positioned in the lines and semicircles. This scene reveals a certain procession
that was carried out as the participants lined
up in circles. The hands of the figures are held
in an elongated horizontal gesture, known in
Christian art as oranta. This motif is seen in certain Christian seals from the Sassanian period,
but it is absent from the ancient art of Iranianspeaking people.77 In addition, the reconstruction of the terra-cotta disk composition cannot
be modeled on the basis of Zoroastrian iconography. Although it is difficult to speak about the
details of the figures, who are practically lost
from the artifact, judging by their outlines that
are extant in the continuous rolled mass with
the expansion to the base, one can assume that
they are clad in long dresses that extend to the
heel. The horizontal position of their arms does
not necessarily imply traditional prayer position,
because in prayer the arms are, for the most
part, slightly separated to the sides and bent at
the elbows, and the hands are lifted upward.
A unique model of the art of early medieval Sogdiana, this terra-cotta composition
demonstrates the cultic scene with the ritualistic worship of and offering to the poppy, which
is possibly the personification of haoma. In addition, the number of participants at this cer-

Kazim Abdullaev

head of a poppy, and the other by two animal

heads turned to opposite sides. On the head
inverted away from the composition side, two
round flat reliefs are preserved. A round relief
can be seen near the right and left eyes and on
the forehead. The stem of the column whose
top is designed in the shape of a poppy globe is
dented with curvatures. It is possible to assume
that the column is a symbol for the straight stem
of the poppy plant. The globe of the poppy is
highlighted in the upper part with the crown,
or toothed edge.
The second vertical column is located
along the edge of the disks round base.74 Its
upper part forms a small reservoir whose edge
is designed in the form of six pointed vertical
branches. Below, along both sides of this reservoir, are two animal heads, whose species cannot be accurately determined because of the
primitive style of the design. The animals have
large eyes, and the shape of their heads, with
massive projections that can be interpreted as
horns, make them look like bulls. This disk can
be seen as depicting a round area for a religious
ceremony with an altar, with the heads of the
beasts representing sacricial animals. The base
of the disk represents a round area where the
ritual action was performed. It should be noted
that compositions depicting ceremonial dance
or any action around an object are not popular
motifs in the ancient arts. The rare instances
when these motifs occur include a late Bronze
Age terra-cotta composition from Margiana.75
Other terra-cotta compositions with dance
scenes around a tree are found in Cyprus, dating to 1000 BC. A similar composition is found
in Colima, Mexico, dating from between 300

340

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emony is forty, as suggested by the number of

figures on the artifact. These personages could
be priests (Magians), who moved in a circle,
along with other specific steps and motions, as
they repeated incantations. In this case, the uplifted hands mostly resemble a praying posture.
In spite of the hypothetical nature of this interpretation and the fact that this artifact from
southern Sogdiana is unique among the art of
Central Asia, it holds an exceptional value in offering insight on the religious practices and the
cult rites of the population of ancient Sogdiana.
The scene of the circular procession can be associated with a similar scene described in the
ninth chapter of the Younger Yasna, dedicated
to the glorification of the haoma. This dedication is described through a repetitive and circular diction.78 It is difficult to conclude that the
composition from southern Sogdiana functions
as an illustration of this text, but the ritual of
circuit is completely in accord with the image
illustrated in the terra-cotta.79

knowledge of Central Asian priests in the fields

of botany, pharmacopoeia, and pharmacology.
These subjects call for further investigation. In
the same vein, the accumulation of archaeological sources and newly discovered sources requires a historical interpretative approach at a
qualitatively new level. Such a methodology will
produce new insight on the religious and cultural life of the ancient people who inhabited
the Central Asian region.

Conclusion

The archaeological discoveries in recent decades and the analyses of the artifacts and
other evidence from sites in Central Asia reveal
new information on the ancient religious cultural life of the region, which was home to the
Saka Haomavarga tribe. The ancient regions of
Margiana, Bactria, and Sogdiana still hold archaeological evidence that will constitute new
discoveries, which may confirm or refute the hypotheses and the conclusions that are proposed
by the present article. This study has proposed
arguments that address and raise further questions about the complex nature of the composition of the cult beverage and the level of the
78. Avesta v russkih perevodah (Avesta in Russian
Translations), ed. I. V. Rak (St. Petersburg: Nauka,
1997), 14950.
79. Ibid., 149n4. Zaleman writes: The ritual of the
preparation of the beverage Haoma included actions, which consisted in the fact that the priest accomplished several circuits around the mortar for the
squeezing of the juice of Haoma, reciting in this case
1921 stanzas of Hom-y asht. However, the terracotta representation from southern Sogdiana, if we
allow that in it is present a sacrificial altar and the
image of poppy, more resembles the scene of worship. Theoretically it is not possible to exclude the elements of worship in the process of the ceremony of
the production of the cult beverage.