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
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“It is true that this man was nothing but an elemental force in motion, directed and rendered more effective by extreme cunning and by a relentless tactical clairvoyance .... Hitler was history in its purest form.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
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—Erma Brombeck (20th century)