Kykeon
Ancient Greek drink
Kykeon (Ancient Greek: κυκεών, kykeȏn; from κυκάω, kükáō; "to stir, to mix") was an Ancient Greek drink of varied description. Some were made of water, barley and naturally occurring substances. Others were made with wine and grated cheese. It is widely believed that kykeon refers to a psychoactive brew, as in the case of the Eleusinian Mysteries. A kykeon was used at the climax of the Eleusinian Mysteries to break a sacred fast, but it is also mentioned as a favourite drink of Greek peasants.
Ancient sources and description
Kykeon is mentioned in Homeric texts: the Iliad describes it as consisting of Pramnian wine, barley, and grated goat's cheese. In the Odyssey, Circe adds some honey and pours her magic potion into it. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the goddess refuses red wine but accepts kykeon made from water, barley, and pennyroyal.
Pennyroyal, a type of mint, was supposed to have digestive properties: In Aristophanes' Peace Hermes recommends it to the hero who ate too much dry fruit and nuts. Pennyroyal was also said to have medicinal qualities for women, acting as a contraceptive and abortifacient and in birthing and nursing the newborn.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Kykeon” as ancient Greek drink. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as ancient Greek drink. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q908041. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kykeon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.