Nepenthe ( grc, νηπενθές, ) is a fictional medicine for sorrow – a "drug of forgetfulness" mentioned in ancient
Greek literature and
Greek mythology, depicted as originating in
Egypt.
[.]
The
carnivorous plant
Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans
Protozoa (singular: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a group of single-celled eukaryot ...
genus ''
Nepenthes
''Nepenthes'' () is a genus of carnivorous plants, also known as tropical pitcher plants, or monkey cups, in the monotypic family Nepenthaceae. The genus includes about 170 species, and numerous natural and many cultivated hybrids. They are mos ...
'' is named after the drug nepenthe.
In the ''Odyssey''
The word ' 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': , , i.e. "not" (
privative prefix
A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...
),
and , from , , i.e. "grief, sorrow, or mourning".
[.]
In the ''
Odyssey'', νηπενθές φάρμακον : (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.
In modern times prior to the 20th century it was accepted that
Indian hemp was the nepenthe.
Quoting the passage cited above in his 2015 novel ' (''Compass''), French writer identifies nepenthe with
opium
Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...
. Likewise, in ''Forbidden Drugs'', Philip Robson writes: "What else could Helen of Troy’s nepenthe have been but opium?"
The problem with identifying the drug as opium, however, is that by the time of Homer, it already had a long history of use by the Greeks, whereas nepenthe was something unknown to them.
References
{{Reflist
Odyssey
Mythological medicines and drugs