Aconite – a Poison, or a Medicine? Ancient and Early Byzantine Testimonies

Aconite (Aconitum napellus) was one of the most notorious, poisonous plants in ancient world. Its dangerous, lethal power – present leaves, roots, stem, and tuber well known to Greeks Romans from earliest times. Evidence this phenomenon is not only archaeological findings, but also many writings biographies, poems, legal codes, etc. However, precise detailed accounts come treatises written by botanists, physicians encyclopaedists, like Theophrastus, Nicander, Pliny Elder, Dioscorides, or Galen, early Byzantine authors, Oribasius, Aetius Amida, Paul Aegina. In their testimonies, can find descriptions aconite, its influence on human body (and animals), remedies for affected people. contrast, there are few passages these sources that inform readers about healing properties aconite. According fragments, carefully administered, aconite could be helpful some therapies, use extremely hazardous, as even a small part plant kill man.