The Sip that Killed Socrates: Poison Hemlock
What is the most famous drink in history? The single most notorious sip? We are not speaking categorically. No. Neither water, coffee, tea, nor beer fit the bill on this one. Rather, which isolated act of drinking has held the historical gaze most intensely? The wine at the last supper is famous, but it’s being drunk was diluted into twelfths. Dr. John Pemberton’s first sale of Coca Cola in 1886 leaves a sure mark on us today, but even his name is obscured in history. That leaves winding deeper and deeper in history until we arrive in the year 399 BC. The most famous sip in history is that of Socrates and his voluntary draught of hemlock. Having been sentenced to death for corrupting the youth of Athens, the great thinker chose his preferred death. Before learning his philosophy, modern students learn of his death. After forgetting his virtues, adults recall but one thing, a drink of hemlock.
Hemlock. There are many who can recall the name of Socrates’ herbal downfall, but few know precisely what this poison is. While we may associate it with the dignified suicide of Socrates, hemlock has been a common poisonous herb for a long time. In Plato’s Phaedo, which recounts the death of the great philosopher, the hemlock poison arrived in a cup from a jailer who was well versed in the creation of this drink. Socrates and his co-conversant Crito both acknowledge the long history of prisoners who had died from this poison, because it was one of the main forms of death penalty in ancient Athens. Artifacts at the site of the philosopher’s death include small cups used for the poisoning of less famous and long-forgotten prisoners.
The hemlock poison, we learn from the Socrates’ jailer in the Phaedo, had been ground from the plant in the measure of one dose–enough to kill just one man. Socrates drank it and slowly lost feeling from his feet up through his legs, until he turned cold and died. In his book Death in the Garden, Michael Brown describes this form of the death penalty: “The Athenian method of inflicting the death penalty was for the convicted person to drink a goblet of hemlock juice. If using fresh hemlock, you simply mash the stems with a pestle and mortar, a kitchen whizzer would do equally well today, and strain the juice into the goblet.” Perhaps the poison was used because it was so easy to brew a deadly tea out of the hardy hemlock.
Hemlock, as it turns out, is not only an ancient poison, the plant from which the poison is derived, Conium maculatum, is increasingly more common in the United States. The plant is originally native to the Mediterranean but arrived in the States with European settlers (perhaps as a decorative plant thanks to its white flowers). Today it is considered invasive.
Sources Cited
Brown, Michael. Death in the Garden : Poisonous Plants & Their Use Throughout History, Pen & Sword Books Limited, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/jhu/detail.action?docID=5716215.
Chen, Hsien-Yi, et al. “Rapid Respiratory Arrest after Ingestion of Poison Hemlock Mistaken for Wild Celery.” Clinical Toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.), vol. 55, no. 2, Feb. 2017, pp. 155–156. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/15563650.2016.1248843.
https://slate.com/technology/2014/08/poisonous-plants-socrates-drank-hemlock-tea-as-his-preferred-mode-of-execution.html
https://classical-inquiries.chs.harvard.edu/the-last-words-of-socrates-at-the-place-where-he-died/
Read More:
Avoiding the Aztec Taboo of the Fifth Pulque
In ancient Aztec times, the Fifth Pulque was considered taboo. If you drunk exceedingly. you could be severely punished. Pulque, called octli in Aztec times, is still alive and well as a traditional beverage in Mexico. But drinking five pulques can be challenging, especially because the beverage continues to ferment inside your stomach. Often, Mexicans attribute gastrointestinal cleansing properties to the drink.
Boozy Ingenuity: making pineapple wine
As the pineapple supply dwindled, prices skyrocketed. The USDA reports that pineapple prices tripled in South Africa from 28 cents per kilogram to over 90 cents. If the government would not allow the South Africans to buy their booze, they would use some Mzansi ingenuity to make it at home. For this purpose, they required pineapples.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Alcohol: Thomas Jefferson’s Spirited Legacy
Thomas Jefferson did so many great things in his life that they often cloud his alcoholic accomplishments. Jefferson was the greatest wine lover of his time! He also became a locally renowned brewer of ale. While he did not drink hard liquor, America’s first book on distillation was even dedicated to the President. His love of these drinks came from an understanding that they were farm products.