Hemlock growing in 5th century BCE Greece
Hemlock (Conium maculatum) is a highly poisonous plant, though it has been used medically since antiquity.[1]
History[]
5th century BCE[]
Given hemlock's high toxicity, ingesting too much of it leads to a quick death.[2][3] During the Peloponnesian War, the pirates who took over the island of Keos avoided the looming famine by forcing everyone over the age of 60 to drink a concoction made of hemlock, killing them.[4] At another point during the same conflict, the healer Hippokrates asked the misthios Kassandra to gather some hemlock for his elderly patient Pentheus.[2] Hemlock was also used to execute Sokrates in 399 BCE.[5]
1st century BCE[]
In the 1st century BCE, the scientist Melina used hemlock and hellebore to concoct a poison which caused the sacred crocodiles of Krokodilopolis' Temple of Sobek to become ill, irritable, and bleed from their eyes.[6]
Renaissance[]
When the Italian Assassin Ezio Auditore upgraded his Hidden Blade include poison, it originally used distilled hemlock, but he later replaced it with henbane.[7]
American Revolution[]
The deadliness of hemlock was also utilized by the Assassin Ratonhnhaké:ton during the American Revolution, as his arsenal included small knives coated with a poison derived from the hemlock.[8]
Behind the scenes[]
The same model is used for both hemlock and moly in Assassin's Creed: Odyssey.
Appearances[]
- Assassin's Creed: Renaissance
- Assassin's Creed III
- Assassin's Creed: Origins
- Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
- Discovery Tour: Ancient Greece
References[]
- ↑
Conium maculatum on Wikipedia
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Assassin's Creed: Odyssey – Too Much of a Good Thing
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Odyssey – A Night to Remember
- ↑ "Assassin's Creed: Odyssey – Worlds: Paradise Islands". Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, Ubisoft. Accessed 20 May 2020.
- ↑ Discovery Tour: Ancient Greece – Tours: The Agora of Athens: "Judicial Court"
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Origins – Sobek's Tears
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Renaissance
- ↑ Assassin's Creed III