Mithradatium

A review of a new book about Mithradates, one of the bitterest enemies of the Roman Republic, reminded me of his famous antidote against all poisons. Mithradates came from one of those royal families in which death by poison was all too common a fate, and he became obsessed with avoiding that end. He was long rumored to take this "universal antidote" every day. After the Roman general Pompey defeated him, a recipe for the antidote was, so we read, found in his cabinet and taken back to Rome. Wikipedia gives one formulation of Mithradatium thus:

Aulus Cornelius Celsus details one version of the antidote in De Medicina (ca. 30 AD). A recent translation is as follows: "But the most famous antidote is that of Mithridates, which that king is said to have taken daily and by it to have rendered his body safe against danger from poison. It contains costmary 1·66 grams, sweet flag 20 grams, hypericum, gum, sagapenum, acacia juice, Illyrian iris, cardamom, 8 grams each, anise 12 grams, Gallic nard (Valeriana italica), gentian root and dried rose-leaves, 16 grams each, poppy-tears (Papaver rhoeas, a wild poppy with low opiate content) and parsley, 17 grams each, casia, saxifrage, darnel, long pepper, 20·66 grams each, storax 21 grams, castoreum, frankincense, hypocistis juice (Cytinus hypocistis), myrrh and opopanax, 24 grams each, malabathrum leaves 24 grams, flower of round rush, turpentine-resin, galbanum, Cretan carrot seeds, 24·66 grams each, nard and opobalsam, 25 grams each, shepherd's purse 25 grams, rhubarb root 28 grams, saffron, ginger, cinnamon, 29 grams each. These are pounded and taken up in honey. Against poisoning, a piece the size of an almond is given in wine. In other affections an amount corresponding in size to an Egyptian bean is sufficient." Of these ingredients, Illyrian iris, darnel, and rhubarb were not commonly found in other versions of the antidote. However, Celsus' formulation, written 100 years after the death of Mithridates, was one of the first published. Galen called the antidote "theriac" and presented versions by Aelius (used by Julius Caesar), Andromachus (physician to Nero), Antipater, Nicostratus, and Damocratis. The Andromachus formulation closely resembles that of Celsus.

So far as we know, this has no effectiveness whatsoever against the poisons available in the ancient world; its legendary status derives mainly from the expense and difficulty of creating it. It was mocked by some skeptics already in the ancient world, including Pliny in his Natural History.

I read about this stuff partly because I keep thinking that Poison would be a great topic for a popular historical book. You know, like Salt or Cod. What stops me is that there seems to be a complete lack of reliable information on poison and poisoning in both the ancient world and the Renaissance. Lots of rumors of poison, but no facts. I can't find out what poisons were actually known, how they were made and administered, and how effective they would have been in those various formulations. So my Poison book would be more about poison as a metaphor for the fear of secrets and covert action, and that would be neither the kind of book that would sell nor the kind I would enjoy writing.