Mithridatium

History

  • Mithridatium was composed of 65 ingredients.
  • After his defeat by Pompey, the original recipe was taken back to Rome and translated by Pompey’s Freedman.
  • Mithridatium became very well known during the Roman Empire and was a favourite medication in Imperial circles and with the Roman Upper Classes in Rome and Alexandria.
  • However, the recipe was altered or added to by various physicians, and no two recipes that have survived today are the same. The number of ingredients varies, but all the recipes are dominated by spices from the East.
  • After the Fall of the Roman Empire Mithridatium continued to be well known under the Arab Conquest where it was translated into Arabic.
  • Later, it returned to Europe in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Although the original version was lost, a number of the various recipes have come down to us.

Recipes in Ancient Sources

  1. One version was described by Celsus in his De Medecina (c.30 CE) as the ‘Antidotum Mithridaticum’. He was writing during the reign of Tiberius.
  2. Scribonius wrote a version in his ‘Compositiones’ (Medicinal Recipes), and he was writing during the reign of Claudius.
  3. Another version was described by Pliny the Elder in chapter 29 of his Natural History (c.77 CE) as containing 54 different ingredients, although he was sceptical about its effects.
  4. Nero‘s doctor, Andromachus, wrote up another version of the recipe.
  5. Dioscorides, a Physician in one of Nero‘s legions, published a recipe in 64 CE as part of ‘De Materia Medica’ – ‘Regarding Medical Materials’, a Medical Encyclopedia in 5 volumes.
  6. Marcus Aurelius‘ doctor Galen, also wrote down a version of the recipe.

Ingredients

  • Amongst the 65 ingredients, Mithridatium contained the following Herbs and Spices:
    • Herbs:
      • Rhubarb, Parsley, Hypericum and Rose leaves.
    • Spices:

Theriac

  • Theriac was another version of Mithridatium, contained up to 70 ingredients.
  • Galen relates that Marcus Aurelius took the antidote Theriac on a daily basis to maintain his well-being.
  • It was invented by the physician to Nero, called Andromachus.
  • The 70 ingredients included:
    • Myrrh, saffron, ginger, castor, cinnamon, honey, wine, opium and the flesh of vipers, as a cure for snake bites.

 

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