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It was most likely the flowers of a female plant (that contain the seed) that were thrown on the rocks.

Also, hemp == cannabis.

> Also, hemp == cannabis.

Sure, but plants grown primarily for it's fibers wouldn't have anyting near the THC levels of the skunk mutants grown for narcotic use today

I know people in the industry, and hemp with significant amounts of THC commonly occurs. Unless people in the past were selecting for low THC on purpose, it's likely that THC content in hemp fluctuated and was significant enough to smoke.

I've also purchased hemp for the purposes of consuming CBD, and it got me high.

Cannabis extracts like charas - hash that is made from the resin have been around for thousands of years, and are way more potent than "narcotic skunk mutants".

Herodotus wasn't known for his slavish accuracy, if you know what I mean.

Well, this is at least pretty clear evidence that he didn't inhale.

And besides, it also suggests why any interested readers in the past 2400 years would have been disappointed by the technique and not passed on the know how.

How reliable do you think a translation from over 2 millennia ago is?

So? Clearly they venerated the plant no matter what.