History
Use of the opium poppy predates written history. Images of opium poppies have been found in ancient Sumerian artifacts (circa 4000 BC). The making and use of opium was known to the ancient Minoans. Its sap was later named opion by the ancient Greeks, from where it gained its modern name of opium.
Opium was used for treating asthma, stomach illnesses, and bad eyesight. The First and Second Opium Wars between China, the British Empire and France took place in the late 1830s through the early 1860s, when the Chinese attempted to stop western traders smuggling opium into their country.
Many modern writers, particularly in the 19th century, have written on the opium poppy and its effects, notably L. Frank Baum in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Thomas de Quincey in Confessions of an English Opium Eater
The French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz used opium for inspiration, subsequently producing his Symphonie Fantastique. In this work, a young artist overdoses on opium and experiences a series of visions of his unrequited love.
Opium poppies (flower and fruit) appear on the coat of arms of the Royal College of Anaesthetists.
Read more about this topic: Papaver Somniferum
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We may pretend that we’re basically moral people who make mistakes, but the whole of history proves otherwise.”
—Terry Hands (b. 1941)
“The principal office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity.”
—Tacitus (c. 55–c. 120)
“Literary works cannot be taken over like factories, or literary forms of expression like industrial methods. Realist writing, of which history offers many widely varying examples, is likewise conditioned by the question of how, when and for what class it is made use of.”
—Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956)