Cannabis use has a long documented history in Greece.
The ancient Greek historian Herodotus documented between 450 and 420 BCE, the cannabis use among the nomadic Scythian tribes that habitually traversed northern Greece and Asia Minor.
Cannabis fiber was widely used in the manufacture of rope, sailcloth, and other textiles.
In 70 CE, the physician Dioscorides recorded cannabis in his pharmacopeia. Cannabis was extensively used in Greek medicine by this time. Veterinary medicine used cannabis particularly to treat sores and wounds in horses.
The Peloponnese region, particularly the area of Kalamata, is well known for the quality of its unique sativas with long, compact buds and a reddish tint. The first reference to cannabis cultivation in the area dates from circa 200 BCE when the historian Pausanias stated that the crop was grown around Elis in the western Peloponnese.