The presentation will address a longstanding debate concerning the botanical identity of the Vedic Soma. I will resolve this through a review of the anthropological, religious, linguistic and chemical evidence that eliminates alternative candidates, leaving ergot-infected cereal as the logical solution.

I will begin with an historical overview of the ergot fungus in the religious traditions of the Old World. Beginning with the discovery of fermentation and the production of an hallucinogen from ergot by early hunters and gatherers and the subsequent medicine-man complex, that over time developed into the religious traditions of ancient civilization, including the consumption of the Soma plant by the Vedic priests and the Kykeon in the rites at Eleusis in ancient Greece. The linguistic evidence will demonstrate a continuity across Indo-European languages, specifically between terminology shared by the ancient Greek and Vedic cultures. The chemistry involved in the production of a non-toxic hallucinogen from the poisonous ergot fungus will also be addressed, including the conformity of the proposed method to the evidence that exists in the ancient historical record regarding the production of Soma and the Kykeon.