Walnuts, Figs, Rue and Salt: The Daily Antidote Pliny Says Was Found in Mithridates' Handwriting
Mithridates VI Eupator, remembered as Mithridates the Great, was an indomitable foe of Rome — and ancient sources also depict him as a collector of antidotes. Pliny the Elder reports that Pompey found, among a collection of the king's documents, a daily prophylactic written in Mithridates' own hand: two walnuts, two figs, twenty leaves of rue and a pinch of salt, taken fasting.
Pliny also reports that Mithridates devised the habit that made the recipe into a legend: after taking his protective remedies, he drank small doses of poison each day, so that the toxin might become harmless through sheer habituation.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
The fearsome royal prophylaxis, stripped of the crown, is two walnuts, two figs, some rue and a pinch of salt — less a state secret than a snack with a security policy.
The pantry list is the dull part. The idea is the schedule: small daily doses until the poison loses its edge, which is a theory of acquired tolerance rather than a charm. Pliny is reporting the king's practice, not testing it; whether rue and repetition did the work is a separate question, and a much harder one.