Louise Cilliers

POISONS, POISONING AND THE DRUG TRADE IN ANCIENT ROME

The first recorded instance of poisoning in ancient Rome occurred in 331 BC when, during an epidemic, a large number of women were accused of concerted mass poisoning. Overreaction of the community in times of stress particularly, when scapegoats for unexplained phenomena are sought, might have played an important role in this and many subsequent incidents of suspected poisoning. Rome represented a culture steeped in superstition, fear and mythology with virtually no scientific means of retrospectively proving or disproving alleged poisoning. The drug trade in antiquity is briefly reviewed, from the Marsi and rootcutters who collected materials, and the intermediary herbalists and drug pedlars, to the physicians and other prescribers of drugs. There was a general lack of proper knowledge, which led to much abuse and death of patients. The distinction between these professional groups was often vague and physicians were generally not held in high regard. From authoritative writings of Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Pliny and others it is evident that the Romans were aware of a very large number of toxic (and assumed toxic) substances, of plant, animal and mineral origin, but it is evident that the poisoners of ancient Rome almost exclusively made use of plant (and to lesser extent animal) products, and not mineral poisons. A brief overview of the recorded crimes by poison, and known poison dispensers of the time is given. Poisoning probably reached a maximum during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, when the Julio-Claudian emperors in particular achieved great notoriety, and a wide variety of specific and “universal” antidotes came into vogue.

Breast cancer in antiquity.

Cancer of the breast, seen by Galen as the commonest cancer of his time, was probably first mentioned by Hippocrates in the 5th century BC. A single case history was described but no specific treatment mentioned. For centuries no further cases were described, until Cato, 2nd century BC, advocated cabbage poultices for all tumours and breast cancer in particular. Aëtius of Amida probably first described Pagets cancer of the nipple. By the 2nd century AD treatment comprised a variety of local applications, systemic medicaments, venesection and surgery. Surgical resection first described by Celsus and subsequently by Leonidas (usually combined with cautery) proved curative when applied early in the disease.

Measles in antiquity and the Middle Ages

Although no longer a formidable epidemic disease, measles is still responsible for up to 2 million deaths per annum – mainly among children in developing countries. It is an ancient disease, long confused with smallpox, from which it was clearly differentiated only in the 10th century. In this paper, the place of measles in the medical history of antiquity and the Middle Ages is reviewed.

Poisons, Poisoners, and Poisoning in Ancient Rome

Abstract Our knowledge of poisonous substances known to the ancient Romans is derived from the records of various contemporary writers. The Greek scholar, Theophrastus, associate and successor of Aristotle as head of the Lyceum (4th century BCE) led the way in identifying plants with medicinal (and poisonous) properties. In the 1st century CE, Dioscorides of Anazarbus wrote his famous herbal, De materia medica, which superseded all existing literature in classifying remedies and drugs from the vegetable, animal, and mineral kingdoms. This work, which dealt with close to 1000 drugs, became the standard text for centuries to come. Information on poisons can also be gleaned from the writings of the poet Nicander (2nd century BCE), the army physician Scribonius Largus (150 CE), the encyclopedist Pliny the Elder (2379 CE), another encyclopedist, Cornelius Celsus (1st century CE), and the famous physician and philosopher Galen (2nd century CE).

Akhenaten, a unique pharaoh

Akhenaten was a unique pharaoh in more ways than one. He initiated a major socio-religious revolution that had vast consequences for his country, and possessed a strikingly abnormal physiognomy that was of note in his time and has interested historians up to the present era. In this study, we attempt to identify the developmental disorder responsible for his eunuchoid appearance.

Lead Poisoning and the Downfall of Rome: Reality or Myth?

Abstract Lead was known to the ancients from at least the fourth millennium BCE, but its utilization increased markedly during Roman times, when it became a health hazard. Lead was used extensively in plumbing, domestic utensils were made of lead and pewter, lead salts were used in cosmetics, and a grape juice concentrate commonly used as a sweetener was prepared by preference in lead containers. Roman writers commented on the toxicity of lead, but classic chronic lead poisoning was first described in the seventh century CE. The authors thus suggest that chronic lead poisoning did not contribute significantly to the fall of the Roman Empire.

Bees, honey and health in antiquity

In antiquity bees and honey had a very special significance. Honey was indeed considered to drip from heaven as the food of the gods. As an infant Zeus was fed on honey in the cave of Dicte, by bees and the beautiful Melissa, whose name became the Greek word for “bee”. When the ancient Romans wished you luck they said “May honey drip on you!” and for the Israelites Palestine was a “land of milk and honey” (Forbes 1957:85-87). In his Georgics Vergil likened the inhabitants of the new Golden Age to an orderly swarm of bees (Johnson 1980:90-105), and the word “honeymoon” probably derived from the ancient custom of newlyweds to drink mead (honey-wine) for a month after their wedding (Hajar 2002:5-6). Allsop and Miller state that even today honey is popularly associated with warmth, nostalgia, goodness and flattery (1996:513-520). In this study the origins of apiculture (bee-keeping) and the status and uses of honey in antiquity are analysed – with emphasis on its assumed value as a health promoting agent.

History of Medicine: The history and pathology of crucifixion

In antiquity crucifixion was considered one of the most brutal and shameful modes of death. Probably originating with the Assyrians and Babylonians, it was used systematically by the Persians in the 6th century BC. Alexander the Great brought it from there to the eastern Mediterranean countries in the 4th century BC, and the Phoenicians introduced it to Rome in the 3rd century BC. It was virtually never used in pre-Hellenic Greece. The Romans perfected crucifixion for 500 years until it was abolished by Constantine I in the 4th century AD. Crucifixion in Roman times was applied mostly to slaves, disgraced soldiers, Christians and foreigners – only very rarely to Roman citizens. Death, usually after 6 hours – 4 days, was due to multifactorial pathology: after-effects of compulsory scourging and maiming, haemorrhage and dehydration causing hypovolaemic shock and pain, but the most important factor was progressive asphyxia caused by impairment of respiratory movement. Resultant anoxaemia exaggerated hypovolaemic shock. Death was probably commonly precipitated by cardiac arrest, caused by vasovagal reflexes, initiated inter alia by severe anoxaemia, severe pain, body blows and breaking of the large bones. The attending Roman guards could only leave the site after the victim had died, and were known to precipitate death by means of deliberate fracturing of the tibia and/or fibula, spear stab wounds into the heart, sharp lows to the front of the chest, or a smoking fire built at the foot of the cross to asphyxiate the victim/ S Afr Med J 2003: 93:938-941

The De medicina , a 4th/5th-Century Poem of Gallo-Roman Origin, Rediscovered

In 1536 a short poem with the title De medicina was published in Basel by Janus Cornarius in the editio princeps of Marcellus Empiricus’ De medicamentis liber.1 Cornarius based his edition on the Codex Laudunensis 4202 (9th/10th century), a manuscript which in the centuries after the publication suffered damage, losing inter alia the preface which contained the only evidence about the author of the work.3 In the course of the following centuries the authorship of the poem was variously ascribed to Vindicianus, Marcellus and Serenus Sammonicus, which gave rise to a protracted polemic in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. In this article the question of authorship will be discussed, followed by a translation and brief commentary on the poem.

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE DEMISE OF ROMAN INFLUENCE IN NORTH AFRICA, 5th/ 6th CENTURY AD

When one thinks of the once mighty Roman Empire, a vision of the proverbial “eternal city” of Rome with its beautiful white colonnaded marble buildings comes to mind. However, Rome did not last eternally, in fact, more than 200 years before the traditional date of the “fall” of the Roman Empire in the West (AD 476), the Golden Age of Rome had shifted towards the southern shore of the Mediterranean, to the previously rather neglected provinces of North Africa. From the 2nd century AD until it was overrun by the Vandals in the 5th century, Roman North Africa enjoyed a period of unequalled prosperity; during the Vandal reign Roman influence still endured in small measure, followed by a brief renaissance under the Byzantines in the 6th century, but after the Arab conquest in the late 7th century it vanished as completely as if the Romans had never set foot in North Africa. The exceptional prosperity of North Africa at a time when the rest of the Empire was already in a state of decline, and the complete disappearance of any Roman influence whatsoever on the culture and language of a region which was at the time the most Romanized of all the Roman provinces, will be discussed in this article.