Toxic Shock! I am shocked I haven’t made a post on ancient toxicology before

Back in 2000-2001 I wrote my honours thesis on the xenophobic perception of poisoners in the classical world. While honours theses are not always a big deal once one has gone on to further post-graduate research, this thesis is rather beloved to me because it was what I leant while working on it led to a fascinating discussion with Kai Brodersen who invited me to join him in working on the toxicology section of the English translation of the Medicina Plinii, which led to my translation and commentary of the whole text. So, yeah, that honours thesis has had a huge influence of my further research.

I am currently preparing to discuss toxicology and compound remedies with students and decided to see what I had already blogged and found nothing. There was a small discussion when I blogged about the March for Science "Ancient Scientific Research" in 2017, but no proper toxicology blog. I was shocked given how influential this topic has been on my academic career. 

I am currently working on a chapter unrelated to this topic, so when students suggested the topic of poisons in antiquity for a discussion, I figured I could use material I had gathered for a lecture to The University of Queensland's Friends of Antiquity alumni group entitled Mithridatum and Theriacs: Toxicology and Brand Recognition in the Roman World. I had not looked at this particular research since I gave that lecture in 2016, so I had a look to see what I could reuse. 

Mithridatum (plural is Mithridata) is a term which developed for a series of compound drugs which were originally a prophylactic against poisons but ends up being used for poisoning and multiple medical complaints. It is named after the Pontic king, Mithridates, who was recorded as conducting toxicological research to ensure that he could not be assassinated by poison. If you would like to know more about the 1500 years of history about the brand development of the term Mithridatum, you can read a paper I wrote for the Friend's of Antiquity's journal Nova: "Mithridates, Mithridatum, and the Success of a Lie." I will discuss Mithridates further in a follow-up blog after my discussion with students on Wednesday evening. Whereas Theriac (from theriaca) started out as a treatment for poisons and venoms, which evolved into the English term treacle (yes treacle - I found that truly surprising).

So, how am I planning to adapt lecture material for what is meant to be a discussion?

Well, I will be adapting the handout I used then which mostly consisted of recipes for compound by adding material about how these compound drugs were compounded and used. This meant I had to make a quick translation of directions for making and using Mithridatum from Scribonius Largus, a Latin pharmacological writer, and manipulating the Loeb translation of the Latin medical writer Celsus. My handout also included four prescriptions recorded by Galen in his On Antidotes, but Galen did not record how the drugs were compounded or dosages which I had not actually noticed before: another example of how assumed knowledge influenced the recording of this kind of material. 

Writing this blog has made me realise I need to double check information regarding the people to whom the recipes were attributed. My review of current research on toxicology since I last looked at this topic has shown me that I might be able to add to what I had in 2016. I will probably spend my weekend double checking that.

But the biggest difference I will make is once again use my collection of ancient medical ingredients. I expanded my collection in preparation for this discussion. While I had previously had following ingredients:

• Saffron: bought from the supermarket.
• Myrrh: bought Mudbrick Herb Cottage online nursery.*
• Frankincense: bought from the same online nursery.*
• Rue seeds: collected from a plant I bought from Mudbrick Herb Cottage. I wish I had thought to dry some leaves as this plant has subsequently gone to the plant underworld.
• Cretan dittany: bought from an international online store through etsy.*
• Galbanum: bought from the same international online store.
• Mastic gum: bought again from the same international online store.
• Parsely seeds: harvested from my plant just before it died.*
• Dill: dried from some my brother brought home from a workmate.
• Poppy seed: bought from the supermarket.*
• Long pepper: bought from an online spice merchant in Melbourne through ebay.*
• Dried rose leaves: dried from a plant in the garden.
• Iris seeds: collected from a seed pod in my garden. Given that irises normally have a rhizome, I was surprised to find a seed pod.

I figured I needed to add to this given the nature of Mithridata, so I visited my local specialist spice store (Daily Needs Rice & Spices) at Forest Lake. Surprisingly, Inala doesn't have a specialty spice shop, at least of which I am aware. From there I managed to find:

• Liquorice root
• Fennel seeds
• Dried ginger roots
• White pepper
• Cinnamon sticks
• Cardamom pods
• Gum Arabic

A number of herbs I had to find elsewhere. I revisited Mudbrick Herb Cottage's online store. There I managed to get:

• Dried St. John's wort
• Dried Gentian root

I looked elsewhere online and found a Perth online store, Nyx Apothecary, selling all kinds of herbs and spices in small amounts! While this store advertises itself as "Australian witchcraft supplies", the overlap between ancient pharmacology and witchcraft certainly exists. There's a reason I study ancient magic in addition to ancient medicine. Here I managed to obtain (in addition to other ancient materia medica not included in Mithridata):

• Dried horehound
• Dried hyssop 
• Dried Shepherd's purse
• Aniseed: Mudbrick Herb Cottage also had it available, but only 200 gram's worth which was far more than I needed.
• Cassia

Please note that all bolded material medica represent ingredients common to all the Mithridatum recipes I have collected, although not necessarily in the form I have. I do not have opium which is what some recipes call for instead of poppy seed. Some recipes call for dried rose instead of dried rose leaves. The recipes call for parsley, not parsley seeds, so that might be a ring-in, but hey, I collected those seeds and dried them, so they are going on a trip to Uni. Some recipes specify gum Arabic, while others just state gum, so I am bringing my Mastic gum, as it might have been used. I thought of this after I took this rather lovely staged photograph, which I have no intention of retaking to include it.

All pretty looking collection. I bought the repro spoon at Queensland Museum years ago 

I have gathered as many Mithridatum ingredients as possible to give students a more sensory understanding of ancient pharmacology. Many of these herbs and spices are quite pungent, and I think giving students the experience of this is worthwhile. There has been a greater move towards experiential approaches to history, and I think it has a lot to offer when trying to understand the past, and this is an easy way to introduce people to this concept.

While some of my older ingredients are just in attractive jars and vials, all of my recent purchases I have measured out into 1 drachma weights (3.4 gram) amounts. The older ingredients marked with asterisks have been measured as such. I think this is also informative as it allows people to understand the volumes of ingredients being compounded in these mixes. When you look at the sheer volume of a drachma weight of herbs, it helps you to understand why it is most likes that dried ingredients were used. These compounds were expensive, so they must have had a long shelf-life. Maybe I will buy some dried parsley, weight out a drachma's worth and then compare the same weight of fresh. See that idea is why blogging is good - I hadn't thought of doing that before I started writing this.

So with the exception of a possible dried parsley vs fresh parsley inclusion, which upon reflection I probably will not do for Wednesday night owing to my appointment at the Fryer Library to look at an apparently precious inter-library loan prior to the meeting, I have gathered all my Mithridatum ingredients to share with participants. I just added up 27 ingredients from my lists above, and I am pleasantly surprised. Even more surprising, it all fits in one of my wooded boxes.

All packed up

While 27 ingredients does sound very impressive, I will share a list of the ingredients which are shared in common with the six Mithridatum recipes I plan to discuss:

• murra*/σμύρνα myrrh 
•  crocum*/κρόκος saffron 
•  zingiberi*/ζιγγίβερις ginger 
•  cinnamomom*/κιννάμωμον cinnamon 
•  thus*/λιβᾶνος frankincense 
•  thlapsi/θλάσπις shepherd’s purse 
•  selis*/seselis*/σέσελις hartwort 
•  opobalsamum/ὀποβαλσάμος balsam tree juice 
•  iuncus/schoenus/σχοῖνος rush 
•  costum*/κόστος costus 
•  galbanum/χαλβάνη resinous all-heal juice 
•  terebenthinae resina/ τερμίνθινης/τερμινθίνιδος ῥητινης turpentine/ terebinth/terebinth resin
• castoreum*/καστορίον beaver oil 
•  hypocistidis sucus*/ὑποκυστίδος χυλός hypocystus juice 
•  styrax*/στύραξ storax (liquid balsam) 
•  opopanax/ὀποπάναξ juice of all-heal (Hercules’ woundwort) 
•  casia*/κασία cassia 
•  daucum*/δαῦκος carrot (seed)
• commis/cummi/gummi/κόμμι gum 
• papaveris lacrima*/ὄππιον/ὀπίου μηκωνεὶου/μήκων/μηκωναρίου σπερματος poppy juice/opium/poppy seeds 
•  cardamomum/καρδάμςμον cardamom 
•  gentiana/γεντιανή gentian 
•  rosa/ῥοδὠν rose 
•  acorus/ἄκορον yellow/sweet flag ͋ 
•  acacia/ἀκακία acacia 
•  hypericon*/ὑπερικόν St John’s wort 
•  vinum/οἶνος wine 
•  mel/μέλι honey 
• * Not included in Scribonius Largus. It is thought that his recipe is incomplete in the manuscript.
•  ͋  Might or might not be the same plant. Identified differently today. 

When you look at the common ingredient list, my collection isn't that remarkable sadly. What did surprise me was that I could not buy edible carrot seeds in Australia. I did not buy seeds you could plant because the last time I did that for a presentation, in that case it was cucumber seeds, they were bright pink as they had been treated with something to encourage their germination. I will not make that mistake again. See this old dog can learn new tricks!

I will follow up with another blog after Wednesday.