An Herb that was Mortal

By Chelsie Vandaveer

May 14, 2002

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In 38 BCE, Mark Antony went to Egypt to visit Cleopatra VII, the last ruler of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Julius Caesar was dead; his nephew Octavian was now Caesar; Rome was divided in its loyalties.

Sisyphus Pushing His Stone up a Mountain, 1731
Bernard Picart
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Antony's youth was one of intemperate behavior, drunken parties, and familiarity with other men's wives. He had settled down when tamed by Fulvia, his first wife. Plutarch (Lives trans. John Dryden) wrote of Antony, "...the last and crowning mischief that could befall him came in the love of Cleopatra...."

Antony was to check the advances of the Parthians in Mesopotamia. He began with sixty thousand Roman foot-soldiers, ten thousand horsemen, and another thirty thousand soldiers from other nations. Even though winter was approaching, he had pushed the campaign ahead so he might spend the winter with Cleopatra.

Antony failed to make provisions, so it was in the winter that his men were scavenging food. Plutarch describes the event, "And when they tried vegetables and roots, they found such as are commonly eaten very scarce, so that they were constrained to venture upon any they could get,...they chanced upon an herb that was mortal, first taking away all sense and understanding.

"He that had eaten of it remembered nothing in the world, and employed himself only in moving great stones from one place to another...as if...a business of the greatest importance. Through all the camp there was nothing to be seen but men grubbing...at stones....But in the end they threw up bile and died, as wine...which was the one antidote, failed."

It is thought the herb was nightshade (Atropa belladonna Linnaeus) or a related species. Scopalamine found in these plants could explain the hallucinations. There is an interesting phenomenon reported by observers of tropane alkaloid poisonings: the hallucinations are often related to beliefs. Perhaps, Antony's soldiers, without provisions, cold, and far from home, felt the war as futile as the Greek legend of Sisyphus. (See Herbal Folklore, October 29, 2001)

North Carolina State University has posted of photograph of deadly nightshade. To view the photograph, click on the link:

Click here to view the photograph

Massachusetts Institute of Technology has posted Plutarch's story of the life of Antony. To read this compelling biography, click on the link:

http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/antony.html

University of Colorado-Boulder has the translation of the myth of Sisyphus posted by Wes Morriston. To read the myth, click on the link:

http://stripe.colorado.edu/~morristo/sisyphus.html

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