Claudius, Emperor

Humans also learned that poisons could be obtained from plants. In classical Rome, for example, mushrooms were the poison of choice and were expertly used by Agrippina, wife of Emperor Claudius and mother of Nero. Agrippina had Lollia Paulina put to death because Claudius, in a careless moment, remarked on Lollia s beauty. 

Arsenic has long been recognized as a poison, and was reputed to have been used by Agrippina to assassinate the Roman emperor Claudius and by the Roman emperor Nero to kiU Claudius son Britannicus. In the latter case, after the first attempt had failed and had instead aroused suspicion, the arsenic was put into the water used to cool his soup rather than into the soup itself which was tested by a taster. In the seventeenth century a woman by the name of Tofana produced arsenical powders which became known as les poudres de succession , as they were used to remove obstacles like rivals, husbands, and so on. The powders contained arsenic sulphide, aconite, box, caustic lime, powdered glass, and honey. She is reputed to have committed some 600 murders. Her most well-known poison was Aqua Tofana, probably a solution containing arsenic and lead. 

The first of these was to the Kings of Judah through Joseph of Arimathea. The second was to the Roman Emperor Claudius through Emperor Constantine and his son Ambrosius Aurelianus. The gloriously named Ambrosius Aurelianus had an intriguingly magnificient title he was the Prince of the Sanctuary. 

Interestingly, the Roman physicians Claudius Galenus (129-199 AD) and Scribonlus Largus (court physician to the Roman emperor Claudius) had already described In their collections of medical recipes (around 47 AD) the use of electric shocks with the Atlantic electric ray Torpedo nobiliana) for the treatment of gout. 

Some famous victims of poisoning include Socrates (hemlock) and Cleopatra (snakebite). The Emperor Claudius (Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germani-cus) was said to have been poisoned by his wife. Some... 

KSser, Das rdmische Privatrecht, 2 225, and note 9. A law of Leo I (JCod, 5.30.3), issued in 472, claimed that Constantine was the emperor who abrogated the rules of Claudius and reestablished the traditional agnatic system. 

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