Cicuta virosa
Cicuta virosa, also known as Cowbane or water hemlock, is a poisonous plant that was used in ancient Greece as a method of capital punishment (the state poison). Most famously, the Greek philosopher Socrates drank a cup of hemlock infusion at his execution in 402 BC.
The typical dose, however, was not always immediately fatal. Sometimes it was necessary to administer a second cup of the poison.
- ...having drunk all the Hemlock juice, the quantity was found insufficient and the executioner refused to prepare more unless he was paid 12 drachmas.
- --from an account of the execution of Phocian
See also
