History of Toxicology and Environmental Health

Toxicology in Antiquity II

Philip Wexler

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9780128015063
• eBook ISBN:
  9780128016343
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Public Health, Administration & Care

This volume, Toxicology in Antiquity II, continues to tell the story of the roots of toxicology in ancient times. Readers learn that before scientific research methods were developed, toxicology thrived as a very practical discipline. Toxicologists are particularly proud of the rich and storied history of their field and there are few resources available that cover the discipline from a historical perspective. People living in ancient civilizations readily learned to distinguish safe from hazardous substances, how to avoid these hazardous substances and how to use them to inflict harm on enemies. Volume II explores the use of poison as weapons in war and assassinations, early instances of air pollution, the use of hallucinogens and entheogens, and the role of the snake in ancient toxicology. - Provides the historical background for understanding modern toxicology - Illustrates the ways ancient civilizations learned to distinguish safe from hazardous substances, how to avoid the hazardous substances and how to use them against enemies - Details scholars who compiled compendia of toxic agents

Preface to the Series and Volumes 1 and 2

Phil Wexler

In the realm of communicating any science, history, though critical to its progress, is typically a neglected backwater. This is unfortunate, as it can easily be the most fascinating, revealing, and accessible aspect of a subject which might otherwise hold appeal for only a highly specialized technical audience. Toxicology, the science concerned with the potentially hazardous effects of chemical, biological, and certain physical agents, has yet to be the subject of a full-scale historical treatment. Overlapping with many other sciences, it both draws from and contributes to them. Chemistry, biology, and pharmacology all intersect with toxicology. While there have been chapters devoted to history in toxicology textbooks, and journal articles have filled in bits and pieces of the historical record, this new monographic series aims to further remedy the gap by offering an extensive and systematic look at the subject from antiquity to the present.

Since ancient times, men and women have sought security of all kinds. This includes identifying and making use of beneficial substances while avoiding the harmful ones, or mitigating harm already caused. Thus, food and other natural products, independently or in combination, which promoted well-being or were found to have drug-like properties and effected cures, were readily consumed, applied, or otherwise self-administered or made available to friends and family. On the other hand, agents found to cause injury or damage—what we might call poisons today—were personally avoided although sometimes employed to wreak havoc upon one’s enemies.

While natural substances are still of toxicological concern, synthetic and industrial chemicals now predominate as the emphasis of research. Through the years, the instinctive human need to seek safety and avoid hazard has served as an unchanging foundation for toxicology, and will be explored from many angles in this series. Although largely examining the scientific underpinnings of the field, chapters will also delve into the fascinating history of toxicology and poisons in mythology, arts, society, and culture more broadly. It is a subject that has captured our collective consciousness.

The series is intentionally broad, thus the title History of Toxicology and Environmental Health. Clinical and research toxicology, environmental and occupational health, risk assessment, and epidemiology, to name but a few examples, are all fair game subjects for inclusion. Volumes 1 and 2 focus on toxicology in antiquity, taken roughly to be the period up to the fall of the Roman empire and stopping short of the Middle Ages, with which period future volumes will continue. These opening volumes will explore toxicology from the perspective of some of the great civilizations of the past, including Egypt, Greece, Rome, Mesoamerica, and China. Particular substances, such as harmful botanicals, lead, cosmetics, kohl, and hallucinogens, serve as the focus of other chapters. The role of certain individuals as either victims or practitioners of toxicity (e.g., Cleopatra, Mithridates, Alexander the Great, Socrates, and Shen Nung) serves as another thrust of these volumes.

History proves that no science is static. As Nikola Tesla said, “The history of science shows that theories are perishable. With every new truth that is revealed we get a better understanding of Nature and our conceptions and views are modified.”

Great research derives from great researchers who do not, and cannot, operate in a vacuum, but rely on the findings of their scientific forebears. To quote Sir Isaac Newton, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Welcome to this toxicological journey through time. You will surely see further and deeper and more insightfully by wafting through the waters of toxicology’s history.

Chapter 1

Murder, Execution, and Suicide in Ancient Greece and Rome

Alain Touwaide

Judging from the many cases of poisoning reported in ancient literature involving such notables as Socrates in 399 BCE, Cleopatra in 30 CE, and Nero in 68 CE, one could conclude that the use of poisons for criminal purposes, executions, or suicides was widespread in antiquity. A closer examination of the evidence, however, shows that not all such historical narratives can be accepted at face value. Poisons were certainly used in Socrates’ execution, but the exact details of their use in other cases cannot be verified. Roman laws forbidding the use of poisons clearly indicate that poisons were, in fact, used. However, precise details about the agents used and their methods of administration are rarely available. Also, not only were poisons used in fact but they generated a body of myths and literature blurring the line, in many instances, between reality and imagination.

Keywords

suicide; execution; murder; myths and legends; legislation; imagination

The political, scientific, cultural, and artistic life of the ancient world may be highlighted by such remarkable individuals as Pericles (ca. 495–429 BCE), Aristotle (384–322 BCE), Thucydides (460–395 BCE), and Phidias (490–430 BCE) in Greece, and Augustus (63 BCE; reign. 27 BCE–15 CE), Pliny (23/4–79 CE), and Cicero (106–43 BCE), as well as by Pompeii’s many fresco painters in the Roman world. It also seems to have been punctuated by treacherous murders, summary executions, and self-inflicted death for many reasons ranging from lovesickness to desperation and shame. Many illustrious individuals have been reported to have committed suicide: for example, the Athenian orator Demosthenes (384–322 BCE); the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra (69–30 BCE); even the philosopher Aristotle according to the ancient historian and philosopher Diogenes Laertius and the Byzantine lexicographer and historian of literature Hesychius; and the Carthaginian general Hannibal (247/6–183 BCE).

The case of the Athenian politician and general, Themistocles, (ca. 525–ca. 459) is revealing. According to historical accounts, he committed suicide by drinking bull’s blood, which in antiquity was believed to be highly toxic (and it probably was due to toxins such as botulinum, anthrax, or others resident in cattle). As the story goes, after he defeated the Persian fleet attacking Athens in the Bay of Salamis in 480 BCE, Themistocles was banished from Athens for political reasons and escaped to Persia. There, King Artaxerxes I (reign. 465–424/3 BCE) ordered him to lead a military operation against Greece. Themistocles refused and reportedly committed suicide rather than betray his country. Closer examination of the story reveals, however, that following Themistocles’s death (which probably was due to natural causes) its details were deliberately misinterpreted to save the reputation of an esteemed, victorious general turned traitor. To preserve the memory of his sacrifice, a statue was erected depicting Themistocles slaughtering a bull for sacrifice, thereby perpetuating the legend that he committed suicide rather than attack his native land.

Although suicide, murder, and execution were certainly a reality in ancient life, they were not necessarily as frequent occurrences as popular legend, political propaganda, or other ill-intentioned maneuvers would have us believe. At any rate, the use of lethal substances may be questioned. Often documentary evidence is anecdotal and cannot be corroborated for lack of supplementary and independent sources, or for presenting contradictory or implausible scenarios, as Cleopatra’s death suggests. A suicide carried out through a cobra’s organized biting seems to be more speculative than likely. Ancient medical literature credited cobra’s venom with causing instant paralysis, leading to immediate death. A suicide with no suffering was ideal and would have certainly been the supposedly self-indulgent Cleopatra’s choice. Nevertheless, it is highly improbable that a cobra could have been brought into her apartments without having been noticed. Cleopatra and Egypt were very important to the Roman Empire because of Egypt’s rich resources, especially its abundant agricultural production, which Rome needed to feed its people. Indeed, Cleopatra herself was viewed as a precious political commodity. At the same time, because of her liaison with Marc Antony, who had been defeated by Octavius, the future Emperor Augustus, Cleopatra became politically undesirable. Under these conditions, Cleopatra was kept under strict control in her palace where she could easily be assassinated. Her assassination was extremely risky, for it could well have provoked mob action and have led to Rome’s loss of control over Egypt. Crediting her with suicide—for reasons of desperation, political calculation, or any other reason—was the ideal coverup and so we will probably never know exactly how she died.

Murder was more often committed by stabbing than by poisoning. Caesar (100–44 BCE) is the best example. He was stabbed in plain light, in the Curia, by a group of conspirators, including his adoptive son (“Tu quoque, Brute, fili mi”—“You too, Brutus”). In many other cases, however, toxic substances were used. In the ancient Greek world, sovereigns who succeeded Alexander the Great and divided his empire showed a particular interest in poisoning. Antigonus Gonatas (ca. 320–239 BCE), king of Macedonia, Antiochus III (ca. 242–187 BCE), king of Seleucia, and Ptolemaeus IV Philopator, king of Egypt (ca. 244–205 BCE) were among such kings, together with Attalus III Philometer Evergetes, king of Pergamum (reign. 138–133 BCE). to whom Nicander dedicated one of his poems. According to historical sources, Attalus cultivated medicinal and toxic plants, including henbane, hellebore, hemlock, and aconite. He is credited with testing their toxic properties on individuals who had been sentenced to death. The purpose was not only to prepare poisons and to identify their lethal doses, but also–if not primarily–to make use of them, particularly in a time when political rivalry was intense and coups d’etat were not rare. The most famous among these Hellenistic kings who were manipulators of poisons is without doubt Mithradates VI Eupator, king of Pontus (133; reign. 120–63 BCE). An ambitious and unscrupulous politician, Mithradates had assassinated several members of his court and even members of his family (including his own mother) to preserve his throne. Furthermore, he fiercely opposed the Roman conquest of Asia Minor and inflicted severe defeat on Roman troops. Correctly fearing that he might be poisoned–whether by his own entourage or by the Romans–he absorbed increasing doses of all possible poisons to acquire immunity. He was so successful that, when he was eventually captured by the Romans in 63 BCE and he wanted to kill himself in order to escape the clutches of his captors, he consumed a poison that he always carried with him but did not die. He had no other recourse than to ask his slaves to run him through with a sword.

Poisons were no less common in Rome. As early as 449 BCE, the Lex duodecim tabellarum (Law of the Twelve Tables) prohibited poisons, thus clearly implying that they had been in use. The law probably did not have much effect, as a new one needed to be promulgated in 81 BCE: the famous Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis (Cornelia Law on Assassins and Poisoners). Again, this new legislation did not necessarily prevent poisoning. Indeed, half a century later, the Latin poet Tibullus (ca. 55–19 BCE) wrote an elegy in which he recalled a sickness during which he thought he would die. Imploring mercy from Persephone, the Queen of the Underworld, he proclaimed that he did not poison anybody. Murder by poison even took place within the imperial palace, as is shown by the case of Claudius (10; emp. 41, d. 54 CE). Claudius was known to be fond of mushrooms, and so it was that he was served with an abundant plate of mushrooms, supposedly of boletus, but they might have been mixed with a poison. Whatever the toxic agent used, Claudius did die. It was his second wife, Agrippina (15–59 CE), who initiated plans to get Claudius out of the way so that her son Nero (37; emp. 54; d. 68) would become emperor. Claudius’s poisoning was orchestrated by Agrippina in collusion with a woman named Locusta, who was supposedly from Gaul, had mastered the art of poisons, and had been sentenced to jail for poisoning. Taken out of prison, she helped engineer Claudius’s murder. Ironically enough, she also prepared the poison that Nero himself would later use to kill himself. As for Locusta herself, she was executed under Emperor Galba (24; emp. 68–69), who, in turn, was killed by mutinous soldiers.

With rare exception, the exact nature of the poisons used for murder–whether they were prepared by an expert such as Locusta or by less competent assassins–is not known. The art of compounding poisons seems to have flourished during the first century BCE. Interestingly enough, this period also saw an unprecedented development of compound medicines. The origin of this therapeutic strategy is often attributed to Mithradates. However, a compound medicine appeared earlier in Nicander’s Theriaca, which suggests that such a practice must have predated Mithradates. Whatever the case, the formula for the medicine mentioned in Nicander’s Theriaca was refined by the Cretan Andromachus, who was Nero’s personal physician. It thus seems that, during the first century CE and particularly during Nero’s reign (54–68 CE), a substantial amount of research was done on compounding–and also administering–medicines and possibly poisons by mixing several substances, medicinal or toxic, respectively, together.

If the nature of poisons is unknown in many cases, it might be because poison had a special off-limits status in the ancient world, apart from the evident secrecy of criminal poisoning. Its manipulation was often attributed to individuals who were on the margins of society. Locusta is exemplary from that viewpoint. Women had no rights under Roman law but acquired status only by being married; Locusta was of foreign origin and consequently had even fewer legal rights than most Roman women. At any rate, she lost any possibility of acquiring an official status once she was condemned for her poisonings. Locusta’s case was not unusual. Long before she appeared on the scene, the archetype of the individual at the margins of society who was a user of poisons had arrived in the person of the legendary Medea. A granddaughter of the sun god Helios and of the magician Circe, Medea was the daughter of the king of Colchis, living on the Black Sea, at the eastern edge of the Greek world, at the border of Scythia. She used her singular talents to manipulate poisons in various ways. She first laid eyes on Jason when he arrived at Colchis from Greece during his expedition to conquer the Golden Fleece; Medea instantly fell in love with him. Bu...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Toxicology in Antiquity
• List of Contributors
• Foreword
• Preface to the Series and Volumes 1 and 2
• Chapter 1. Murder, Execution, and Suicide in Ancient Greece and Rome
• Chapter 2. Chemical and Biological Warfare in Antiquity
• Chapter 3. Anthropogenic Air Pollution in Ancient Times
• Chapter 4. Poisoning in Ancient Rome: The Legal Framework, The Nature of Poisons, and Gender Stereotypes
• Chapter 5. Asclepius and the Snake as Toxicological Symbols in Ancient Greece and Rome
• Chapter 6. Drugs, Suppositories, and Cult Worship in Antiquity
• Chapter 7. Kohl Use in Antiquity: Effects on the Eye
• Chapter 8. “Gleaming and Deadly White”: Toxic Cosmetics in the Roman World
• Chapter 9. Poisonous Medicine in Ancient China
• Chapter 10. The Venomous Virgin: Fact or Fantasy?
• Chapter 11. Mushroom Intoxication in Mesoamerica
• Chapter 12. Entheogens in Ancient Times: Wine and the Rituals of Dionysus
• Chapter 13. Entheogens (Psychedelic Drugs) and the Ancient Mystery Religions