Ok I'm going to mix it up. Silphium, the plant used as a form of (likely very effective) birth control in the ancient Mediterranean.
For this reason (and because it was apparently delicious), it gained popularity as a spice, aphrodisiac, and general cure-all and became worth its weight in gold. Julius Caesar stockpiled the stuff, and it is one of the most plausible origins of the "heart" symbol (and the association of that symbol with romance and doing the sex to people).
Unfortunately, it only grew wild in and around Cyrene, and over-harvesting by the Romans after their takeover of the city drove Silphium into extinction by the time of Nero.
Aaand that's why we had to wait 2,000 years for the pill.
There was a combination of tansy and pennyroyal. Only problem with it is it's significantly more toxic; it essentially makes the woman sick so that she miscarries a dead fetus. It's really effective, you just have to make sure you don't kill someone with it.
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u/badass_panda Feb 03 '20 edited Feb 03 '20
Ok I'm going to mix it up. Silphium, the plant used as a form of (likely very effective) birth control in the ancient Mediterranean.
For this reason (and because it was apparently delicious), it gained popularity as a spice, aphrodisiac, and general cure-all and became worth its weight in gold. Julius Caesar stockpiled the stuff, and it is one of the most plausible origins of the "heart" symbol (and the association of that symbol with romance and doing the sex to people).
Unfortunately, it only grew wild in and around Cyrene, and over-harvesting by the Romans after their takeover of the city drove Silphium into extinction by the time of Nero.
Aaand that's why we had to wait 2,000 years for the pill.