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Egyptians ate lettuce to boost sex drive


Could lettuce really be an aphrodisiac? The Ancient Egyptians seemed to think so (Image: iStockphoto)

The ancient Egyptians used lettuce as an aphrodisiac, according to an Italian researcher who claims to have solved a century-old archaeological puzzle.

Lettuce has been known for its mild sedative and painkilling effects since Greek and Roman times.

It owes its Latin name lactuca to lac or milk, the plant's bitter white sap or latex, which is mentioned in many ancient treatises.

As early as 430 BC, Greek physician Hippocrates described the opium-like effects of the sap.

And according to Dioscorides Pedanios, a Greek naturalist and military surgeon to the armies of the Roman emperor Nero in the 1st century AD, lettuce would drive out libidinous images of dreams.

Pliny the Elder, in the 2nd century AD, also wrote about lettuce's ability to dampen sexual desire. He wrote in his Natural History that lettuce is "sleep-inducing, can cool sexual appetite as well as a feverish body, purge the stomach, and increase the volume of blood".

Yet Egyptian bas reliefs put a different spin on the use of lettuce: the plant appears as an offering to the ancient Egyptian deity Min.

Invariably depicted with a large, erect penis, Min was the god of fertility and sexuality. For more than a century, archaeologists have wondered why a vegetable used to calm dreams was associated with the exuberant Min.

First, find your lettuce

To solve the riddle, Italian ethnobotanist Giorgio Samorini, editor of the journal Eleusis of the Civic Museum in Rovereto, identified the type of lettuce represented in the ancient Egyptian bas reliefs.

"I came to the conclusion that it was a wild lettuce, known as Lactuca serriola," Samorini told the Italian daily Il Corriere della Sera.

This wild lettuce is a dandelion-like weed with bitter leaves and comes from the sunflower family Asteraceae, the progenitor of cultivated lettuce, usually called L. sativa.

"The two species should really be only one since there is no good reason to separate the cultivated from the wild. They can easily interbreed and there are no major genetic differences between them," says biologist Professor Richard Kesseli of the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

First cultivated by the ancient Egyptians, L. serriola can be found throughout Europe, Asia, and North Africa, Canada and the US in the wild, on roadsides and along walls.

Yet it is not easy to recognise it as a lettuce. The plant has oblong, prickly-edged, leaves with a milky sap that runs when broken off.

Next, take the right dose

Samorini tested the phytochemicals present in the latex, or lactucarium, with a series of experiments, and discovered that lettuce has a double, opposite effect, depending on the dose.

"Tests showed that 1 gram of lactucarius induces calming and pain killing effects because of the presence of lactucin and lactucopicrin. At the highest doses [2 to 3 grams], the stimulating effects of tropane alkaloids prevail," says Samorini.

"This finally solves an ethnobotanical riddle and explains the association between Min and lettuce."

Typical tropane alkaloids are atropine, hyoscyamine, scopolamine and cocaine.

According to Samorini, tropane alkaloids present in L. serriola can be also found in plants of the nightshade family, such as the legendary mandrake, long reputed for its magic and aphrodisiac powers.

Further tests on the pharmaceutical properties of lettuce are needed to evaluate Samorini's claims.

The results are intriguing, says Kesseli, but he has doubts.

Tags: sexual-health, archaeology