Nepenthe

Nepenthe /nɪˈpɛnθiː/ (Ancient Greek: νηπενθές, nēpenthés) is a fictional medicine for sorrow – a "drug of forgetfulness" mentioned in ancient Greek literature and Greek mythology, depicted as originating in Egypt.^[1]

The carnivorous plant genus Nepenthes is named after the drug nepenthe.

In the Odyssey[]

The word nepenthe first appears in the fourth book of Homer's Odyssey:

Analysis[]

Figuratively, nepenthe means "that which chases away sorrow". Literally it means 'not-sorrow' or 'anti-sorrow': νη-, nē-, i.e. "not" (privative prefix),^[3] and πενθές, from πένθος, pénthos, i.e. "grief, sorrow, or mourning".^[4]

In the Odyssey, νηπενθές φάρμακον : nēpenthés phármakon (i.e. an anti-sorrow drug) is a magical potion given to Helen by Polydamna, the wife of the noble Egyptian Thon; it quells all sorrows with forgetfulness.

Pliny the Elder and Dioscorides believed nepenthe to be the medicinal herb borage.^{[citation needed]}

In modern times prior to the 20th century it was accepted that Indian hemp was the nepenthe.^[5]

Quoting the passage cited above in his 2015 novel Boussole (Compass), French writer Mathias Énard identifies nepenthe with opium.^[6] Likewise, in Forbidden Drugs, Philip Robson writes: "What else could Helen of Troy’s nepenthe have been but opium?"^[7] The problem with identifying the drug as opium, however, is that by the time of Homer the Greeks already had a long history of its use, whereas nepenthe was something unknown to them.^{[citation needed]}

References[]