A note on Conium maculatum L., the plant that defeated Alexander the Great

To the Editor:

I read with interest the article entitled: “Was the death of Alexander the Great due to poisoning? Was it Veratrum album?”¹ This article is quite interesting and the authors should be complimented for the significant amount of work they have done. The purpose of this letter is to call attention to the need for some clarification on the name of the plant described in this article. Schep et al. state: “If Alexander the Great was poisoned, Veratrum album offers a more plausible cause than arsenic, strychnine, and other botanical poisons”.¹ I have been studying the pharmacotoxicological properties of the medicinal plants of Asia for the last 15 years and Veratrum album L. could not have been used to poison Alexander the Great simply because that poisonous herb does grow near the Euphrates but in high altitude areas of Eurasia.² Besides, according to Flavius Arrianus, Alexander died after 11 days of fevers following a visit to the swamps of the Euphrates river with delirium, attempt of suicide, profound weakness, aphasia and quadriparesis, symptoms which are hallmarks of Conium maculatum L poisoning.^3,4 Poison hemlock was in fact a popular plant for the making of “death-drinks” amongst ancient Greeks as mentioned by Pliny the Elder as “Cicuta venenum est, publica atheniemsium poena invisa, ad multa tamen usus non omittendi”.⁵ In line, Pliny the Elder relates a letter written from the physician Androcyde, to Alenxander as “Vinum potaturus, rex, memento to bibere sanguinem terra, cicuta hominum est venenum, cicuta vinum”, which suggests that Alexander the Great was advised to drink wine as antidote to Conium maculatum L.⁵ Therefore the statements implying that Veratrum album offers a more plausible cause to the poisoning Alexander the Great should be reconsidered.

Declaration of interest

The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the paper.