It’s likely that the toxins present – probably insect and reptile venoms, arsenic, mercury and others – were in tiny, non-lethal amounts. Like Mithridates’ practice of self-dosing with poisons and protectors, Mithridatum contained both toxins and their counterparts. 2 With approximately 40 ingredients, it certainly aimed to protect Mithridates and his friends from ‘all poisons and toxins’. Mithridates’ personal physician Crateuas, perhaps collaborating with his ruler, formulated a much sought-after universal antidote and dubbed it ‘ Mithridatum’.

His practice of taking a bit of poison regularly toward acquiring a tolerance bears his name – mithridatism. 1 His experimental methods would now be considered dubious at best, including self-dosing with poisons and their supposed antidotes. Mithridates has been called the first experimental toxicologist, with his primary goal being the creation of ‘a “universal antidote” to make himself and his friends immune to all poisons and toxins’. Mithridates’ fears spurred him to action – both as poisoner and poison scholar. His father was poisoned by his enemies and it has been said he had good reason to fear his mother would dispatch him in the same fashion. His name was Mithridates VI (c.132–63 BCE) and, like his father before him, he became King of Pontus, a state along the Black Sea. Source: Courtesy of the J Paul Getty MuseumĪs ornate as the life-saving mixtures they contained: 16th-century jars for mithridatum (left) and theriac (right)

Universal antidote