| This dissertation offers an historical study of the many aspects of venenum in ancient Roman society from the early republic through the second century A.D. Poisons, both specifically named and in general, appear in various medical texts of the Greco-Roman world. Works by Dioscorides, Celsus, Pliny the Elder and Galen, for example, all deal with poisons in some fashion. Many sources of law from both the republic and the principate define the crime of poisoning and its attendant penalty. Cases were tried in both the court established by the lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis and the Roman senate. References to poisons also appear in more general texts of history and literature.; This study is topical, dealing in turn with the terminology, natural history, legal, political, and social aspects of poison. While special emphasis is given to political and legal questions of poison, significant effort has been made to establish the general working knowledge of poison in Roman society. The poison lore collected in both specialist and non-specialist writing of the era, indicates that this essentially agrarian society had significant knowledge of poisonous substances. Such knowledge was not limited to the educated elite, but was widespread throughout various segments of Roman society. |
