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The King Who Was Immune To Poison
The Poison King
In the year 120 BCE, King Mithridates V Euergetes fell down convulsing on the floor and died. The spectacle played out in front of a crowd of people in the royal city of Sinope in the Kingdom of Pontus. One likely spectator to this horrific event was Mithridates VI, the king’s 15-year-old son. Unknown assailants poisoned Mithridates V, with the poison likely being ingested from the food or drink at the banquet. This was a targeted killing and a shocking one, even if it was not uncommon for the era.
At the time, it was suspected that arsenic was the substance used, and the incident had a profound impact on the future king, Mithridates VI. After likely watching his father fall ill and die in front of his court, Mithridates VI decided to make it his life mission to escape the same fate.
Mithridates VI dedicated years of his life to studying alchemy, poisons, and antidotes and transformed himself into the Poison King. He even did something that was nearly unheard of at the time and is still exceedingly rare today. He poisoned himself, purposefully and repeatedly, in order to build up an immunity to potentially lethal toxins. The practice still carries his name to this day, Mithridatism.
