Roman Poisoner

Roman Poisoners were professional assassins who were well known during the Roman Empire.
They facilitated assassinations by developing poisons to be inserted into or coated on food served at meal times.

Locusta (c.54-69 CE)
- Locusta’s preferred poison was Hemlock.
- 54 CE She was probably hired to poison the Roman Emperor Claudius, either with a bowl of mushrooms or through a feather, on instructions by Claudius’ fourth wife, Agrippina the Younger.
- 55 CE She was hired by Nero to poison Claudius’ son, Britannicus, then granted immunity. She was possible hired by Nero to eliminate many other of his enemies.
- 69 CE Galba, successor to Nero, had her executed.
Canidia was a contemporary of Locusta and Martina.
- Canidia preferred Hemlock in Honey.
Martina, a contemporary of Locusta and Canidia. They acted as a Trio according to Horace Satires 1.8.1

Hemlock was one of the poisons favoured by the Roman Poisoner Locusta and her associates.
In 399 BCE, Socrates was executed by being administered ‘State Poison’ which was Water Hemlock.
Within 15-30 minutes of Hemlock Poisoning the initial symptoms are nausea, vomiting, pain and loss of feeling in certain limbs. This is then followed by a series of worsening involuntary seizures with death resulting from respiratory failure within 2-3 hours.

Deadly Nightshade or Belladolla was another poison used in Ancient Rome.
It was rumoured to have been used by Livia Drusilla on her husband Augustus and by Agrippina the Younger on her husband Claudius.

In Ancient Greece, water Hemlock was the preferred poison. However, during the Roman Empire water hemlock was replaced by Arsenic.
In 82 BCE Sulla, the Roman Dictator had to pass the Lex Cornelia, a Law against Poisoning, because poisoning had become commonplace in Politics.
A Greek Physician in one of Nero‘s Legions, Dioscorides, wrote about the use of Arsenic as a Poison during the first century CE.

Mithridatium was an antidote that may or may not have worked against Arsenic.
It was brought back by Pompey from the East after his defeat of Mithridates VI of Pontus (135-63 BCE).
Fearing assassination, Mithridates had concocted this recipe against all known poisons. The recipe was translated by Pompey’s Freedman and it became well known in the Roman Empire.
It consisted of 65 ingredients:
- Herbs such as Rhubarb, Parsley, Hypericum and Rose leaves.
- Spices such as Cinnamon, Ginger, Saffron, Spikenard, Myrrh, Frankincense and Cardamom.

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.
Similar to Mithridatium, Theriac consisted of over 70 ingredients:
- Including myrrh, saffron, ginger, castor, cinnamon, honey, wine, opium and included the flesh of vipers, as a cure for snake bites.