Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Mithridate
open-in-new
<h2 id="origins">Origins</h2> <p>Mithridates' father was assassinated by poisoning, according to some at his mother's orders. After this, Mithridates's mother held regency over <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Pontus/Bt2spMtI">Pontus</a> until a male heir was of age. Mithridates was in competition with another brother, whom his mother favored, for the throne.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a> Supposedly during his youth he began to suspect plots against him at his mother's orders and was aware of her likely connection with his father's death. He then, supposedly, began to notice pains during his meals, and suspected his mother had ordered small amounts of poison to be added to his food in order to cause his health to deteriorate while avoiding notice of intent to kill him slowly. After other assassination attempts, he fled into the wilderness.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a> </p><p>While in the wild it is said that he began consuming non-lethal levels of poisons and mixing many into a remedy to make him immune to many poisons.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a> </p><p>In keeping with most medical practices of his era, Mithridates' anti-poison routines included a religious component supervised by <i>Agari</i>, or <a href="/facts/Scythia/eXXF7lPd">Scythian</a> <a href="/facts/Shaman/Kq60HV3J">shamans</a> who never left his side.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="formulation">Formulation</h2> <p><a href="/facts/Aulus_Cornelius_Celsus/USXyDvQC">Aulus Cornelius Celsus</a> details one version of the antidote in <i><a href="/facts/De_Medicina/Toq1RU3r">De Medicina</a></i> (ca. AD 30). 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 contained: </p> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Costmary/NbY9QgrR">costmary</a>, 1–66 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Sweet_flag/fe0fCHbI">sweet flag</a>, 20 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Hypericum/4GVkRXhp">hypericum</a>, 8 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Natural_gum/nyNzLTuc">Natural gum</a>, 8 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Ferula/wYcPwYyu">sagapenum</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a> 8 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Acacia/Lw9T7Hy6">acacia</a> juice, 8 grams</li> <li>Illyrian <a href="/facts/Iris_(plant)/gFaCSoqF">iris</a> (probably <i>I. germanica</i>),<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15"><sup>15</sup></a> 8 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Cardamom/P6c7X8fk">cardamom</a>, 8 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Anise/ut9oIv42">anise</a>, 12 grams</li> <li>Gallic <a href="/facts/Nard_(flower)/5BNovKRa">nard</a> (<i><a href="/facts/Valeriana/zjmSuFNd">Valeriana</a> italica</i>),<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16"><sup>16</sup></a> 16 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Gentian/LAGxp2pP">gentian</a> root, 16 grams</li> <li>dried <a href="/facts/Rose/00sLwePY">rose</a> leaves, 16 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Poppy/fpEmoH6V">poppy</a>-tears (<i><a href="/facts/Papaver_rhoeas/ATBzxtwF">Papaver rhoeas</a></i>, a wild poppy with low opiate content),<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17"><sup>17</sup></a> 17 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Parsley/q6xqWokU">parsley</a>, 17 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Cinnamomum_aromaticum/FardkW1u">cassia</a>, 20–66 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Saxifrage/1fLFLyTF">saxifrage</a>, 20–66 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Darnel/njzsrhpk">darnel</a>, 20–66 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Long_pepper/jg9zacrz">long pepper</a>, 20–66 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Storax/HQ8jDNYU">storax</a>, 21 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Castoreum/SFTTFDm5">castoreum</a>, 24 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Frankincense/QwuSAvvd">frankincense</a>, 24 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Cytinus/68nUp6SL">hypocistis</a> juice,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18"><sup>18</sup></a> 24 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Myrrh/QLTBxGjc">myrrh</a>, 24 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Opopanax_(genus)/oXjJITh0">opopanax</a>, 24 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Malabathrum/LQdJhtGu">malabathrum</a> leaves, 24 grams</li> <li>flower of <a href="/facts/Juncus_effusus/812KnNe3">round rush</a>, 24–66 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Turpentine/ME2Lgu0K">turpentine</a>-resin, 24–66 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Galbanum/sKes0pKJ">galbanum</a>, 24–66 grams</li> <li>Cretan carrot seeds, 24–66 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Nard_(flower)/5BNovKRa">nard</a>, 25 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Opobalsam/5szLMbdz">opobalsam</a>, 25 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Shepherd%2527s_purse/tRopJUPc">shepherd's purse</a>, 25 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Rhubarb/DDhM5G5U">rhubarb</a> root, 28 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Saffron/wjB3p2ld">saffron</a>, 29 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Ginger/ljRLQ4Nd">ginger</a>, 29 grams</li> <li><a href="/facts/Cinnamon/Aag9baI6">cinnamon</a>, 29 grams</li></ul> <p>The ingredients are then "pounded and taken up in <a href="/facts/Honey/jnRSlNEF">honey</a>. Against poisoning, a piece the size of an <a href="/facts/Almond/oArfgmdq">almond</a> is given in wine. In other affections an amount corresponding in size to an <a href="/facts/Nelumbo_nucifera/gQUJV3wG">Egyptian bean</a> is sufficient." Of these ingredients, Illyrian iris, darnel, and rhubarb were not commonly found in other versions of the antidote.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19"><sup>19</sup></a> However, Celsus' formulation, written 100 years after the death of Mithridates, was one of the first published. Galen called the antidote "<a href="/facts/Theriac/7Khkxmhy">theriac</a>" and presented versions by Aelius (used by Julius Caesar), <a href="/facts/Andromachus_(physician)/8GnwBS2W">Andromachus</a> (physician to Nero), Antipater, Nicostratus, and Damocratis. The Andromachus formulation closely resembles that of Celsus.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20"><sup>20</sup></a> </p><p>The manufacture of antidotes called mithridate or <a href="/facts/Theriac/7Khkxmhy">theriac</a> (English "treacle") continued into the nineteenth century. <a href="/facts/Ephraim_Chambers/Jw3pGdyb">Ephraim Chambers</a>, in his 1728 <a href="/facts/Cyclopaedia%2c_or_an_Universal_Dictionary_of_Arts_and_Sciences/RUFoBtqc">Cyclopaedia</a>, says "Mithridate is one of the capital Medicines in the Apothecaries Shops, being composed of a vast Number of Drugs, as <a href="/facts/Opium/JzHUtced">Opium</a>, <a href="/facts/Myrrh/QLTBxGjc">Myrrh</a>, <a href="/facts/Agarikon/vbjb8DTz">Agaric</a>, <a href="/facts/Saffron/wjB3p2ld">Saffron</a>, <a href="/facts/Ginger/ljRLQ4Nd">Ginger</a>, <a href="/facts/Cinnamon/Aag9baI6">Cinnamon</a>, <a href="/facts/Spikenard/5BNovKRa">Spikenard</a>, <a href="/facts/Frankincense/QwuSAvvd">Frankincense</a>, <a href="/facts/Castor_oil_plant/qGDbcxn6">Castor</a>, <a href="/facts/Black_pepper/6MMqGwm4">Pepper</a>, <a href="/facts/Gentian/LAGxp2pP">Gentian</a>, &c. It is accounted a <a href="/facts/Cordial_(medicine)/0p3bCfa0">Cordial</a>, <a href="/facts/Opiate/IHfQkMkU">Opiate</a>, <a href="/facts/Sudorific/c5zARtaT">Sudorific</a>, and <a href="/facts/Alexipharmic/l9rHGlko">Alexipharmic</a>". <a href="/facts/Petrus_Andreas_Matthiolus/LUjtKPRX">Petrus Andreas Matthiolus</a> considered it more effectual against poisons than <a href="/facts/Venice_treacle/7Khkxmhy">Venice treacle</a>, and easier to make.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:21" href="#fn:21"><sup>21</sup></a> Late versions of the antidote incorporated dried blood or the dried flesh of lizards or <a href="/facts/Viperidae/rS5298vz">vipers</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:22" href="#fn:22"><sup>22</sup></a> or <a href="/facts/Malabathrum/LQdJhtGu">Malabathrum</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:23" href="#fn:23"><sup>23</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="criticism">Criticism</h2> <p><a href="/facts/Pliny_the_Elder/grx67ghR">Pliny</a> (<i><a href="/facts/Natural_History_(Pliny)/bMp2te1A">Natural History</a></i>, XXIX.24–25, ca. AD 77) was skeptical of mithridate and other such <a href="/facts/Theriac/7Khkxmhy">theriacs</a> (panacea potions), with their numerous ingredients: </p> <blockquote><p>The Mithridatic antidote is composed of fifty-four ingredients, no two of them having the same weight, while of some is prescribed one sixtieth part of one denarius. Which of the gods, in the name of Truth, fixed these absurd proportions? No human brain could have been sharp enough. It is plainly a showy parade of the art, and a colossal boast of science.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:24" href="#fn:24"><sup>24</sup></a></p></blockquote> <h2 id="in-literature">In literature</h2> <p>In <a href="/facts/A._E._Housman/YVLXWSBU">A. E. Housman</a>'s collection of poetry titled <i><a href="/facts/A_Shropshire_Lad/HfcS0zcV">A Shropshire Lad</a></i> published in 1896, there is a poem about King Mithridates and his antidote's amazing abilities: </p> <blockquote> <p>There was a king reigned in the East: There, when kings will sit to feast, They get their fill before they think With poisoned meat and poisoned drink. He gathered all that springs to birth From the many-venomed earth; First a little, thence to more, He sampled all her killing store; And easy, smiling, seasoned sound, Sate the king when healths went round. They put <a href="/facts/Arsenic/k1c4f44D">arsenic</a> in his meat And stared aghast to watch him eat; They poured <a href="/facts/Strychnine/oaAfW1xP">strychnine</a> in his cup And shook to see him drink it up: They shook, they stared as white's their shirt: Them it was their poison hurt. —I tell the tale that I heard told. Mithridates, he died old.[6] </p> </blockquote> <p>In the Diary of <a href="/facts/Samuel_Pepys/hDTU7fjk">Samuel Pepys</a>, entry for 9th April 1664; Pepys writes at the end of the day “by the help of mithridate slept very well” having been unwell the previous night and also having vomited during the day. </p> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Mithridatism/b7VPK8qj">Mithridatism</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Theriac/7Khkxmhy">Theriac</a></li> <li>Faroug antidote</li> <li><a href="/facts/Electuary/M33p0pjP">Electuary</a></li></ul> Look up <i>mithridate</i> in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>"Pair of Drug Jars". The J. Paul Getty Museum. Retrieved 26 January 2006. <a href="http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=1407" target="_blank">http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=1407</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Ciaraldi, Marina (2000). "Drug preparation in evidence? An unusual plant and bone assemblage from the Pompeian countryside, Italy". Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 9 (2): 91–98. doi:10.1007/BF01300059. S2CID 85196684. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>"Mithridate". <a href="http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&entity=HistSciTech000900250210&isize=L" target="_blank">http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&entity=HistSciTech000900250210&isize=L</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Adrienne Mayor, "Greek Fire, Poison Arrows & Scorpion Bombs" Overlook 2003" <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>"Mithridate". <a href="http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&entity=HistSciTech000900250210&isize=L" target="_blank">http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&entity=HistSciTech000900250210&isize=L</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>"Theriac: medicine and antidote". <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15125416/" target="_blank">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15125416/</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Kellwaye, Simon. 1593. A defensatiue against the plague contayning two partes or treatises.... 32. <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Nature. 14 September 1989. 115/1. <a href="/wiki/Nature_(journal)" target="_blank">/wiki/Nature_(journal)</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Sci. Monthly. Sept 1932. 244/1. <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Adrienne Mayor. The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy. p.68 <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>Adrienne Mayor. The Poison King: the life and legend of Mithradates, Rome’s deadliest enemy. p.69 <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>McGing, B. C. (1986). The Foreign Policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill. p. 43. <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>mayor, Adrienne. Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World. New York, Overlook Duckworth, 2003; p. 148 <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:14"><p>Identified as a fetid gum resin obtained from a species of Ferula <a href="/wiki/Ferula" target="_blank">/wiki/Ferula</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:15"><p>M. Grieve, A Modern Herbal, 1931 <a href="http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/i/irises08.html" target="_blank">http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/i/irises08.html</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:16"><p>Anthony Dweck, "A listing of the Valerianaceae family", in Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Industrial Profile, 1996 [1] <a href="http://www.dweckdata.com/Published_papers/Valerianaceae.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.dweckdata.com/Published_papers/Valerianaceae.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:17"><p>Stata Norton, Molecular Interventions 6:60–66, 2006 <a href="http://molinterv.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/6/2/60" target="_blank">http://molinterv.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/6/2/60</a> <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:18"><p>probably th juice of Cytinus hypocistis: Culpeper, The Complete Herbal, 1654 <a href="http://www.medherb.com/culpeper_names.html" target="_blank">http://www.medherb.com/culpeper_names.html</a> <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:19"><p>Stata Norton, Molecular Interventions 6:60–66, 2006 <a href="http://molinterv.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/6/2/60" target="_blank">http://molinterv.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/6/2/60</a> <a href="#fnref:19" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:20"><p>Stata Norton, Molecular Interventions 6:60–66, 2006 <a href="http://molinterv.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/6/2/60" target="_blank">http://molinterv.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/6/2/60</a> <a href="#fnref:20" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:21"><p>"Mithridate". <a href="http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&entity=HistSciTech000900250210&isize=L" target="_blank">http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&entity=HistSciTech000900250210&isize=L</a> <a href="#fnref:21" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:22"><p>Nature. 14 September 1989. 115/1. <a href="/wiki/Nature_(journal)" target="_blank">/wiki/Nature_(journal)</a> <a href="#fnref:22" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:23"><p>Dunglison, Robley. 1848. Medical lexicon. A dictionary of medical science. <a href="/wiki/Robley_Dunglison" target="_blank">/wiki/Robley_Dunglison</a> <a href="#fnref:23" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:24"><p>Grout, James. "Mithridatum". Encyclopaedia Romana. Retrieved 26 January 2006. <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/aconite/mithridatum.html" target="_blank">http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/aconite/mithridatum.html</a> <a href="#fnref:24" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>