The Chemical Muse

The Chemical Muse uncovers decades of misdirection and obfuscation to reveal the history of widespread drug use in Ancient Rome and Greece.

In the city-states that gave birth to Western civilization, drugs were an everyday element of a free society, used in medicine, religious ceremonies, and war campaigns.

Hillman shows how drugs influenced and inspired artists, philosophers, and politicians whose ideas formed the basis for civilization as we know it.

He argues for intellectual honesty in acknowledging drug use in ancient societies despite today's conflicting social mores.