What do a canteen worker and a beautiful French marquise have in common? What unites a jealous wife and a resident of ancient Rome? Only one thing - the ability to masterfully kill. Cunning and simple-minded, beautiful and nondescript, lucky and not so, they all used poisons to achieve their goals. So, the top of the five most famous and cruel poisoners of all time!
Fifth place - Soviet poisoner Tamara Ivanyutina.
On March 17, 1987, students and teachers of the 16th school in the city of Kiev felt unwell after lunch in the school cafeteria.
Several people have died with signs of acute food poisoning. A criminal case was opened into their death, during which the terrible truth about the canteen worker, an unremarkable woman, Tamara Ivanyutina, became known. For fifteen years she, her mother and sisters sent their spouses and relatives to the next world. The motives for their crimes were not only selfish. Tamara herself added poison to the schoolchildren's food only because they were noisy in the dining room and refused to arrange tables before dinner. A relative who reprimanded Tamara's mother died suddenly; her sister's annoying husband died, leaving the grieving widow an apartment. For forty non-lethal poisoning and thirteen with lethal poisoning, Ivanyutina's parents and sister were sentenced to imprisonment, and Tamara herself was sentenced to death.
The fourth place is the suspicious wife Vera Renzi.
Everyone knows that jealousy does not lead to good. A Hungarian poisoner named Vera Renzi was convinced of this from her own experience.
Pathologically jealous and suspicious, Vera often quarreled with her husband, finding more and more evidence of his betrayal. Finally, she was so tired of it that she chose to dilute his wine with arsenic. She got away with this murder, and soon Vera got married a second time. The old story repeated itself with the new husband. Vera preferred to act by the already familiar method. Disappointed in men, she decided henceforth to limit herself only to easy connections, but every time she killed her lovers, suspecting them of treason. She hid the corpses in the basement, and when the son who came to visit saw the coffins standing in a row, Vera chose to poison him too. The murders were revealed when the wife of one of Vera's lovers reported to the police. During the search, thirty-two coffins were found - that is how many men fell victim to the jealousy of the touchy Vera. Unlike the other poisoners of our top, she was lucky - Vera Renzi was sentenced to imprisonment and died in prison.
Third place - the greedy Marquise de Branville.
A loving daughter and an exemplary wife - this is how the beautiful Frenchwoman Marie-Madeleine, the Marquis de Branville, appeared to her contemporaries.
Married at the behest of her father, the Marquise de Branville did not love her husband and soon after the marriage she had a lover, a certain Monsieur de Saint-Croix. He was fond of alchemy and aroused her interest in poisons. The first victims of the marquise were her own maids, and then the beggars, on whom the woman experienced various poisons. When she found that the necessary composition had been found, she poisoned her father, followed by her sisters and two brothers, thus remaining the only heiress of a huge fortune. Soon, her beloved spouse went for relatives, and when Marie-Madeleine had a falling out with her lover, she tried to solve the problem in the usual way. Already under trial, the beautiful marquise confessed that she had poured poison into many of her acquaintances, and also planned to poison her own daughter. Shocked by her crimes, all of Paris demanded the execution of the Marquise de Branville, which took place on July 17, 1676.
Second place: Locusta - the woman who poisoned the emperor.
Rome is the cradle of culture. Its educated inhabitants knew a lot about poetry, music and literature, as well as elegant murder.
One of the most famous Roman poisoners was Locusta. A lot of sonorous coins migrated to her chest, because the poisons were worth a lot, but they were cooked conscientiously. Some of her poisons acted quickly, instantly killing a person, others prolonged his agony for several hours, or even days, so that death seemed natural. It is not surprising that such skill did not go unnoticed, and soon Agrippina, the wife of Emperor Claudius, took advantage of Locusta's services. After eating porcini mushrooms, the emperor felt unwell, and the second portion of the poison led to his death. But Agrippina did not rest on this and, clearing the way to the throne for her son Nero, poisoned his rival, the emperor's son from his first wife. Nero did not last long in power, and during the reign of the next emperor Locust was executed.
First place: three mistresses Tofana and their little family secret.
The Tofana family, originally from the Italian city of Palermo, has proven that poisoning can be done as a family business.
In a small cosmetic shop, the founder of the dynasty, Tufania, traded lipsticks and ointments for beautiful ladies, and at the same time, powder, dissolving it in water, could get rid of an unloved husband or a rich relative who did not want to die. When a sufficiently perceptive observer was found, who compared the visits of wives to Tufania's shop and the sudden death of their husbands, the poisoner was seized and executed, at the same time being declared a witch. The family business was continued by her daughter, Theophania, who invented the famous poison, the composition of which is still unknown - "Neapolitan water", which has no taste or smell. This poison was very popular among women, but the husbands did not like it, so Theophany was executed. The sad fate of mother and grandmother did not prevent the third lady Tofana, Julia, from continuing to mix and sell poisons. Unfortunately, her fate was also cut short by the executioner's ax, and the secret of "Neapolitan water" was lost - probably for the better. 
Traces of polonium found on Yasser Arafat's belongings reminded of the most common murder weapon - poisons.
The death of famous people, especially if there is even the slightest reason to doubt its natural nature, always arouses suspicion. The most common weapon of conspirators has always been poison, because in most cases it allows the poisoner to remain in the shadows.
How they feared poisoners and poisons in antiquity is clearly demonstrated by the story of King Pontus MithridatesVI, who, not wanting to repeat the fate of his father poisoned by enemies, from childhood accustomed his body to various poisons. He regularly took poisons, gradually increased the doses and, over time, accustomed his body to them.
When Mithridates needed to end his life, he had to throw himself on the sword, because the poisons were powerless to kill him. It is not known how true this legend is, but addiction to poisons in toxicology is still called "mitridatism".
The mystery of the death of Alexander the great
Alexander the Great died in Babylon on June 13, 323 BC at the 33rd year of life. The most sensational version of death, naturally, is poisoning. The main accused is one of Alexander's wives, who allegedly poisoned him with a little-known poison at that time, obtained from the strychnine plant. According to the writer-historian Graham Phillips, Persian princess Roxanne poisoned her husband for taking another wife. Perhaps she was jealous of the famous bisexual ruler and his lover Hephaestion, whom he, as the ancient authors unanimously say, loved more than all the wives put together.
“The first symptoms of the disease were intense excitement and trembling,” writes Phillips in Alexander the Great Murder in Babylon. - Then there was a sharp pain in the stomach. The king fell to the floor, writhing in convulsions. Alexander was tormented by a strong thirst, he was delirious. At night he had hallucinations, he had convulsions ... "
The symptoms of Alexander the Great's disease are similar to strychnine poisoning. This neurotoxic venom disrupts the nerves that control the muscles. It was unknown in the West at the time because it was derived from a plant that only grew in the Indus Valley. Alexander visited India two years before his death. Roxana accompanied her husband on that trip. It is known that she was very interested in local customs. They say that the queen even visited the sacred grove, where the local priests took small doses of strychnine. Thanks to the poison, they saw hallucinations that they considered revelations of the gods.
Emperor Claudius was poisoned with mushrooms
Poisoning was especially popular in Rome. There was even a "trade union" of food takers. And the Romans clinked glasses only so that the wine splashed from one goblet to another and to show that it was not poisoned.
Emperor Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, or Claudius, was married five times. The last wife of the 57-year-old emperor in 48 was the 32-year-old niece Agrippina... She dreamed of getting rid of her son Claudius Germanicusand persuade her husband to adopt Nero, her son by her first husband.
On October 13, 54, after another well-fed dinner, Claudius fell ill. He was dead 12 hours later.
The first rumors of poisoning by his wife appeared shortly after the death of Claudius. Nero himself hinted at the poisoning. After the Senate deified Claudius, Nero, who had already become emperor, remarked that “mushrooms are undoubtedly the food of the gods. After eating mushrooms, Claudius became divine. "
In imperial Rome, mushrooms were very popular. Ordinary Romans ate easier mushrooms, and preferred to know special ones, bright orange in color, and called - "Caesar".
Agrippina had the motive and opportunity to poison her husband. She could easily mix poisonous mushrooms into a drunken husband's dish.
All symptoms: bloodshot eyes, shortness of breath, indomitable vomiting, profuse salivation, severe stomach pains and low blood pressure indicate poisoning with the alkaloid muscarine, which affects the central nervous system. The body loses a lot of fluid, the pressure drops sharply, and the person dies. Now those who have poisoned with muscarine are successfully treated with atropine, but two thousand years ago no one knew about this antidote.
According to another version, Agrippina poisoned Claudius with poison prepared by the famous poisoner Locustoy.
The wheel of history has completed a thousand-year cycle
Poisoning regained immense popularity on the banks of the Tiber a millennium after the fall of the Eternal City, during the reign Rodrigo Borgia, better known as pope AlexandraVI.
The Borgia used a special poison called cantarella, which most likely contained arsenic, copper and phosphorus salts. Alexander VI, on whose orders hundreds of unwanted people were killed, himself fell at the hands of the conspirator. Soon after celebrating the 11th anniversary of the accession to the throne of Saint Peter, Alexander with his son Cesare planned to poison the cardinal Adriana Corneto... They went to dinner at the cardinal's palace. The owner, who knew about the fate prepared for him, changed the goblet with the deadly poison. Cesare and Alexander, who did not notice the substitution, drank the poisoned wine and the next day they became very ill. According to one of the legends, a young and physically strong Cesare, having been ill for several days, recovered thanks to baths from the blood of just slaughtered bulls, whose blood absorbed poisons. Alexander, who was 72 years old, died after four days of torment.
Devoted servant Burchard transferred the body to a small palace chapel, where it lay for several days. August 1503 was remembered by the Romans for the terrible heat. When the servant returned to the chapel to prepare Alexander for the funeral, the body was already blackened and greatly swollen. With great difficulty they managed to push him into the coffin.
Mother and wife of Ivan the Terrible became victims of poisoners
Our ancestors also actively used poisons to achieve their goals. It is known, for example, that the mother and the second wife of the king died of poison Ivan the Terrible... According to the etiquette of that time, noble women were supposed to appear at official events with white faces. This whiteness was achieved with the help of whitening and other cosmetic products made on the basis of mercury, arsenic and lead. Most medical ointments and medicines then also contained large doses of heavy metals.
The grand duchess Elena Glinskaya, second wife Basil III and the mother of Ivan the Terrible, ruled Moscow on behalf of his spouse until his death, which came under very suspicious circumstances in 1538. Scientists have found in the red hair taken from the cap of the Grand Duchess, much more mercury than there was in the hair of noble women of those times.
Anastasia Romanova, the grandmother of the first Russian tsar from the Romanov dynasty, married Ivan the Terrible in February 1547, two weeks after his coronation. The circumstances of her death at the age of 26 suggest that she was hardly caused by natural causes.
Spectral analysis of the queen's well-preserved light brown hair showed a very high content of mercury salts. It is more than a thousand times higher than the norm. The high content of mercury salts was confirmed by the analysis of pieces of shroud taken from a stone sarcophagus.
Mozart ate cutlets?
According to the number of versions and theories, about one and a half hundred, death Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, undoubtedly stands apart from other mysterious deaths of famous people. The composer died on December 5, 1791 in Vienna at the age of 35.
According to legend, before his death, Mozart told his wife Constance that he was poisoned, but did not name the killer. They started talking about the poisoning almost the next day. The poison was also called - aqua toffana, the main component of which is arsenic. Although now the more widespread version is that most likely it was mercury. There is even a version that Mozart accidentally killed himself, taking mercury for syphilis and miscalculating the dose.
There was no shortage of suspects. Italian composer became the main candidate for the role of the killer Antonio Salieriwho was supposedly jealous of a more talented colleague. Alas, this version lacks the most important thing - the motive.
German scientists in the XIX-XX centuries believed that Mozart was poisoned by the brothers Masons, whose society he joined in December 1784. Supporters of this version believed that the composer angered the free masons by revealing their secret rituals in The Magic Flute.
Death of Napoleon
Death Napoleon gave birth to legends and secrets no less than his bright life. The health of the ex-emperor, exiled to Saint Helena, deteriorated sharply in the fall of 1820. He complained of severe stomach pains, weakness and frequent bouts of nausea.
A year earlier, two servants died under mysterious circumstances. Napoleon openly said that they were poisoned and that he would be the next victim of the assassins. He died on May 5, 1821. The cause of death in the official conclusion is stomach cancer, from which Napoleon's father died in 1785. However, according to conspiracy theorists, Napoleon's disease is like two peas in a pod similar to arsenic poisoning.
Evidence of poisoning was sought in Napoleon's hair. Analysis showed an almost 40-fold increase in arsenic content. Most likely, it was mixed into the wine. Fatal for Napoleon could be the combination of arsenic and the laxative calamel with which the doctors treated him.
The version of deliberate arsenic poisoning has many opponents. According to one version, everything is to blame ... the wallpaper from the emperor's bedroom, in which a high content of arsenic was found. It was used in those years to make green pigment. In the humid atmosphere of Saint Helena, fungi on the walls could cause arsenic to release from the paint.
Napoleon's hair could also absorb arsenic from the wood that was used to heat the fireplace. He could receive a dangerous dose, even holding cartridges in his hands, which at that time contained a lot of this metal.
The increased content of arsenic in the emperor's hair could also be caused by his addiction to wine. Winemakers dried the barrels with an arsenic-based substance.
There is even a theory that doctors cured Napoleon. According to this version, he was poisoned with potassium tartrate, a colorless poisonous salt that was given to him as an emetic.
Umbrella prick
Many consider the murder of a dissident writer from Bulgaria to be the loudest poisoning of the 20th century Georgy Markov, who left his homeland in 1969 and lived in London.
While waiting for the bus at the stop at the Waterloo Bridge on September 7, 1978, Markov suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right hip. He looked back and saw a man hastily lifting an umbrella from the ground. The stranger, who spoke with a heavy accent, apologized for the awkwardness and took a taxi.
In the evening, Markov developed a high fever, acute stomach pains and severe diarrhea. The patient's condition deteriorated rapidly. The doctors were powerless. Three days later, Markov died in the hospital.
On autopsy, pathologists found a tiny, punched metal capsule that contained poison. She was supposed to dissolve and destroy all traces, but for some reason this did not happen. Judging by the volume of the capsule, it contained 425-450 mg of ricin. This dose is enough to poison six people.
Polonium tea
The most famous victim of poisoners in recent years, ex-lieutenant colonel of the FSB Alexandra Litvinenko, as well as Yasser Arafatseems to have been poisoned with polonium.
All three weeks after the poisoning in November 2006, doctors believed that Litvinenko had been poisoned with thallium, and only three hours before his death from acute heart failure, traces of polonium-210 were found in his urine. This radioactive element in small doses causes the appearance of malignant tumors, and in large doses it disrupts the activity of the bone marrow, the digestive system and other vital organs.
The British police considered the main suspect of the Russian businessman Andrey Lugovoy, who at one time also served in the FSB. Polonius could have entered Litvinenko's body along with the poisoned tea.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, Litvinenko could have poisoned Boris Berezovsky, Leonid Nevzlin and other people.
In addition, there is a version about the poisoning caused by careless handling of polonium, the intermediary in the sale of which could allegedly be a former FSB lieutenant colonel.
As long as human society exists, so many of its individual representatives are looking for the most effective ways to send neighbors to their forefathers. Poisons play an important role here. It is not known who first thought of treating an opponent with poisonous mushrooms. Perhaps it was the leader of some ancient tribe, and a certain “mushroom man” from his retinue had previously experienced the deadly properties of specific mushrooms ...
Fatal legacy
First, let's go to Italy in the 15th century, because this country occupies a significant place in the history of poisoning. In 1492, the Spanish ruling couple, Isabella and Ferdinand, who dreamed of having support in Rome, spent a fantastic amount at that time - 50 thousand ducats to bribe the cardinal conclave and to elevate to the papal throne their protégé, a Spaniard by birth, Rodrigo Borja (in Italy his called the Borgia). The adventure was a success: Borgia became pope under the name of Alexander VI. The Dominican monk Savonarola (accused of heresy and executed in 1498) wrote about him as follows: "While still a cardinal, he gained notorious fame thanks to his numerous sons and daughters, the meanness and vileness of this offspring." What is true is true - along with Alexander VI, his son Cesare (later cardinal) and daughter Lucretia played an important role in intrigues, conspiracies, and the elimination of unwanted persons (mainly by poisoning). Pope Julius II, who occupied the Holy See since 1503, testifies to the poisoning of noble and not so people. Let us quote literally one of the chroniclers. “As a rule, a vessel was used, the contents of which could once send into eternity an inconvenient baron, a wealthy minister of the church, an overly talkative courtesan, an overly joking valet, yesterday a devoted murderer, today still a devoted lover. In the darkness of the night, the Tiber took in its waves the unconscious bodies of the victims of the cantarella. "
Here it is necessary to clarify that "cantarella" in the Borgia family was called a poison, the recipe for which Cesare received from his mother, the Roman aristocrat Vanozza dei Cattanei. Probably, the composition of the potion contained white phosphorus, copper salts, arsenic. Well, and only then some so-called missionaries brought from South America the juices of plants so poisonous that it was not difficult for any papal alchemist to prepare murderous mixtures with a variety of properties from them.
Death rings
As legends say, either Lucretia or Alexander VI himself had a key that ended in a tiny point. This point was rubbed with poison. The key was handed over to the intended victim with a request to open some secret door "as a sign of absolute trust and favor." The tip only slightly scratched the guest's hand ... That was enough. Lucrezia also wore a brooch with a hollow needle, like a syringe needle. Here the matter was even simpler. An ardent hug, an accidental prick, an embarrassed apology: "Oh, I'm so awkward ... This brooch of mine ..." And that's all.
Cesare, who tried to unite the principality of Romagna under his rule, was hardly more humane. The above-mentioned chronicler tells about him: “His audacity and cruelty, his entertainment and crimes against friends and foes were so great and so well-known that he endured everything in this regard with complete indifference. This terrible curse of the Borgia lasted for many years, until the death of Alexander VI put an end to it and allowed people to breathe freely again. " Cesare Borgia owned a ring containing a cache of poison that was opened by pressing a secret spring. So he could quietly add poison to the glass of his companion ... He also had another ring. On the outside, it was smooth, and on the inside it had something like snake teeth, through which the poison entered the blood when shaking hands.
These famous rings, like others belonging to the ominous Borgia family, are by no means fiction, some of them have survived to this day. So, one of them bears a monogram of Cesare and his motto is engraved: "Do your duty, no matter what happens." A sliding panel was mounted under the frame to cover the poison cache.
Boomerang effect
But the death of Alexander VI could be commented on with sayings: "Don't dig a hole for another, you yourself will fall into it", "For what you fought, you ran into it," and so on in the same spirit. In a word, it was like this. The wicked pope decided to poison several cardinals he disliked at once. However, he knew that his meal was feared, so he asked Cardinal Adrian da Corneto to give him his palace for the feast. He agreed, and Alexander sent his valet to the palace in advance. This servant was supposed to serve glasses with poisoned wine to those whom Alexander himself would indicate with a conventional sign. But something went wrong with the poisoners. Either Cesare, who was preparing the poison, confused the glasses, or it was a valet's mistake, but the killers themselves drank the poison. Alexander died after four days of torment. Cesare, who was about 28 years old, survived but was left disabled.
Cobra strikes
Now let's take a look at France of the XVII century, where no less monstrous events took place. "Poisoning," wrote Voltaire, "persecuted France during its glory years, just as it happened in Rome during the best days of the republic."
Marie Madeleine Dreux d "Aubré, Marquis de Branville, was born in 1630. At a young age she married, everything was fine, but a few years after her marriage, the woman fell in love with the officer Gaudin de Sainte-Croix. Her husband, a man of broad views, this connection was not at all shocking, but her father Dreux d'Obre was indignant. At his insistence, Saint-Croix was imprisoned in the Bastille. And the Marquis harbored evil ... She told Sainte-Croix about her father's enormous condition and about her desire to get it, having finished with the obnoxious old man. And so this terrible story began.
In conclusion, Sainte-Croix met an Italian named Giacomo Exili. He introduced himself as a student and assistant of the famous alchemist and pharmacist Christopher Glaser. And this Glaser, it should be noted, was a very respectable figure. The personal pharmacist of the king and his brother, who not only enjoyed the patronage of the highest aristocracy, but also arranged public demonstrations of his experiments with the highest permission ... But Exili said little about these aspects of his teacher's activities, more about himself. Whether or not Giacomo lied about his proximity to Glaser, he said he ended up in the Bastille for "closely studying the art of poisons."
Sainte-Croix in love just needed that. He saw a chance to learn this "art" and with open arms went to meet the Italian. When Sainte-Croix was freed, he presented the Marquise with recipes for "Italian poisons", which soon, with the help of a number of knowledgeable (and poor) alchemists, were embodied in real poisons. From that day on, the fate of the Marquise's father was a foregone conclusion, but the officer's young beloved is not so easy to act without a firm guarantee. The Marquise became a selfless nurse at the Hotel Dieu hospital. There, she not only tested the poison on patients, but also made sure that doctors could not find traces of it.
The Marquis's father was carefully killed, feeding him small portions of the poison for eight months. When he died, it turned out that the crime was committed in vain - most of the fortune passed to his sons. However, nothing could stop the reptile - the one who started killing usually does not stop. The young beauty poisoned two brothers, a sister, a husband and children. Her accomplices (the same alchemists) were arrested and confessed. By that time, Saint-Croix could not help his beloved in any way - he had died long before that in the laboratory, having breathed in vapors of the potion. The Marquise tried to flee France, but was captured in Liege, exposed, tried and executed in Paris on July 17, 1676.
Queen of Poisons
And soon the baton of poisoning was taken by a woman known as La Voisin. Her "official" profession was fortune-telling, but she earned fame for herself as the "queen of poisons." La Voisin told her clients: "Nothing is impossible for me." And she predicted ... But she did not just prophesy to the heirs the imminent death of their wealthy relatives, but helped to fulfill (not for nothing, of course) their predictions. Voltaire, prone to derision, called her drugs "powders for inheritance." The end came when La Voisin became involved in a conspiracy to poison the king. After her execution, arsenic, mercury, plant poisons, as well as books on black magic and witchcraft were found in the secret room of her house.
However, the collapse of the poisoner and the widespread knowledge of the circumstances of this helped little and taught few people. The 18th century and the reign of Louis XV did not rid France of conflicts that were resolved with the help of poisons, just as no era has rid any country of them.
They were a fairly common type of crime. About the epidemic of poisoning in 331 BC e. and Titus Livy recounts in his "History" about 100 patrician poisoners captured by a slave woman.
During the principate, the number of murders by poisoning increased to such an extent that a special college was created for food takers who provided their services to both the court and nobles, patricians and just rich people who had reason to fear for their lives. Also at this time, the ancient tradition is reviving - to clink glasses so that the wine from one glass splashes into another. It was believed that the poisoner would not take risks in order not to die from his own art.
Caligula proved to be a deep expert in poisoning. The mad emperor spent hours mixing poisons, making new formulas, and then testing them on slaves and his real and imagined opponents. It is known that when in one of the battles a gladiator was slightly wounded in the production of a Dove, Caligula immediately tried one of his new mixtures on an open wound, was pleased with the result and wrote down a new poison under the name of "pigeon" in his list of poisons. Caligula sent poisoned treats to senators suspected of scheming against him.
"Until now, it was about the ruler, then we will have to talk about the monster" - wrote Suetonius about him. After the death of Caligula, there was a chest filled to the brim with poisonous substances, which the emperor Claudius, according to one of the versions, ordered to burn along with the contents and recipes of Caligula regarding the manufacture and use of poisons. According to another version, the chest was thrown into the sea, after which poisoned fish were nailed to the shore for several days.
Death of Claudius
It is not known whether Locusta took part in the imperial fun, but already at the time of Claudius her name was well known in the city. Apparently, she was a professional poison maker who provided services to anyone willing to pay for them.
It is believed that she used extracts and infusions of poisonous plants - aconite, hemlock, in her recipes. It is likely that she knew the "king of poisons" - arsenic oxide, since the emperor Caligula ordered to deliver a huge amount of this substance to Rome for his alchemical experiments and, most likely, also used arsenic for its intended purpose.
It was rumored that Agrippina resorted to Locusta's help for the first time, wanting to take over the legacy of her husband, Passien Crispus, who died under rather dark circumstances. However, this has never been proven, and the first documented murder committed with her help was the poisoning of Claudius.
Ancient authors differ somewhat on the details, but everyone agrees that the poison was mixed with a dish of porcini mushrooms - a delicacy especially loved by the emperor. Agrippina had to hurry. Her son from his first marriage, Nero, on whose behalf Agrippina was going to rule after the death of her husband, could at any time lose the right to the throne. As you can see, the young man, accustomed to the fact that his every desire is immediately fulfilled, exceeded the measure, and Claudius gradually grew cold towards him and repented that, having succumbed to the persuasion of his wife, adopted Nero and married him to his daughter Octavia. Suetonius says that Claudius drew up a new testament in favor of his own son Britannicus and answered Agrippina's reproaches: "The Roman people need a real Caesar."
One way or another, Locusta prepared a fast-acting poison on the order of the empress, but Claudius began to vomit; Fearing that he would be able to avoid death, the doctor Claudius, a Greek named Xenophon, inserted a poisoned feather into the emperor's throat.
What do you think is the secret weapon of weak women and the most powerful men, obvious enemies and close friends? What, as world experience shows, is most effective in resolving conflicts? Without a doubt, the answer is poison. It would not be an exaggeration to say that, as we know human civilization, the same number of years of history of poisoning. Confused and endless. Few in any area of \u200b\u200bknowledge have been made so many outstanding discoveries, inherently criminal and inhuman, apparently because of the most demanded by the mighty of this world ...
The first information about the use of poisons we find in ancient Greek myths. The greatest heroes of Hellas - the Argonaut Jason and the warrior Hercules - were poisoned by their loving wives. They suffered an agonizing death from clothing soaked in poison, paying for adultery with the dearest price - with their lives. Thus, women for the first time proved their undoubted superiority over the stronger sex and opened the season of hunting for unfaithful husbands, who from now on should have thought hard, starting an affair on the side, since its ending could be very sad.
The most ancient poisons were undoubtedly those of plant and animal origin. Many dangerous creatures - snakes, spiders, centipedes - have coexisted with humans from time immemorial, and over time he learned to use their deadly weapons to his advantage. It is to the East - the focus of all conceivable poisonous creatures - that mankind owes the emergence of the most sophisticated methods of reprisal against the unwanted.
One of the most ancient can be considered the following method: at night several snakes were thrown into the enemy's tent, which, in search of warmth, crawled under a person sleeping on the ground. As soon as he moved, the disturbed snakes bit him. For the fellow tribesmen of the stung, his death seemed natural and accidental. The likelihood of success increased many times over if the king cobra was used as a weapon. The amount of poison introduced by her is extremely large. She simply "pumped" the victim with poison until seizures and paralysis appeared. Death came almost instantly. No less deadly weapon was the chain viper, the poison of which caused profuse bleeding in a person from the nose, mouth, eyes, usually ending in death.
With the advent of papyrus and parchment, this technique changed: poisonous insects or cubs of krait and pam were started to be wrapped in a scroll intended for the enemy. When an attempt was made to open it, a swift attack took place, to put it mildly, unfriendly and well-armed creatures. With all the ensuing consequences ...
After some time, people learned to get poison from snakes and preserve it. In dry form, it lasts up to 20 years, without losing at all its deadly properties. There was, however, one small snag: the snake venom acted only if it got into the blood. It was necessary to inflict a wound in order to send his enemy to the forefathers, and the drunk poison did not produce any harmful effect.
Human thought found a worthy solution - plant poisons were used. Our ancestors had an excellent understanding of the pharmacopoeia, distinguishing life-threatening plants - like upas tree (anchara), strophanthus, strychnos, chilibuhi - from safe ones. Already at the dawn of civilization, people knew how to compose drugs, in small doses they acted as a medicine, and in large doses - like a poison.
The tribes of tropical Africa have since ancient times used the fruits of poisonous physostigma as "court beans" called "ezera". The suspect was given a decoction of these beans to drink. Death meant confirmation of the charge; otherwise, the subject was considered acquitted. We add from ourselves that there were few such lucky ones: the fruits of physostigma (also known as Calabar beans) contain the strongest toxin "physostigmine", which leaves almost no chance of survival.
The palm in the art of poisoning belonged to the Egyptian priests, who had solid knowledge of medicine. They have developed a unique powder that is barely visible to the human eye. He was poured into bed, and as soon as it was scratched, he penetrated into the blood, causing its infection. The skin turned black, and after a while the person died. A mysterious death - by the will of the Gods who do not know pity, who were on a short leg with the priests. Pharaohs came and went (sometimes suspiciously at a young age), and the priests remained the true masters of Egypt. Their power rested on knowledge and superstition, and therefore they were omnipotent.
The sons of Hellas also preferred herbal poisons, such as hemlock or hemlock. The roots of these poisonous plants were carried with them by many noble citizens, just in case of emergency. When the roots were taken inside, breathing stopped, death came from suffocation. Not the easiest death, but sure. The Greeks were even ready to part with their lives by a court verdict, rather than be punished in some other way. In 399 BC. Socrates, the greatest philosopher of antiquity, was sentenced to civil execution by poisoning - for "the introduction of new deities and for the corruption of youth". The last thing he tasted was cicuta.
The knowledge of the Greeks in toxicology (from the Greek "toxicon" - poison) was drawn mainly from Asia and Egypt. There was a mutually beneficial exchange of prescriptions for toxic substances. The result of this "barter" was the death of one of the most talented military leaders of antiquity - Alexander the Great. Most likely, he was poisoned by the Indian poison "bih", in 323 BC. at the age of 33. This poison is known for killing gradually, sucking out life, drop by drop, imperceptibly and painlessly.
At the same time, attempts were made to neutralize the effect of poisons. They are associated, first of all, with the name of the Pontic king Mithridates-VI Eupator. In the 1st century BC. this glorious satrap, who was in a panic fear of poisoning, began to accustom his precious organism to potent toxins, taking inside insignificant, time after time increasing, doses of "arsenokon" - arsenic. Thus, Mithridates developed a strong immunity to most of the toxic substances known at that time, earning unfading glory in the memory of his contemporaries.
Less skillful rulers limited themselves to requiring their entourage to "kiss the cup" - that is, to sip several sips of wine from it, thus proving that it was not poisoned. Doctors of antiquity noticed that in case of poisoning, the intake of emetics, laxatives, bile and diuretics helps. They also knew absorbent substances that absorb and remove poisons from the body.
In ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and India, patients with poisoning were prescribed charcoal, clay, crushed peat. In China, a thick rice broth was used for the same purposes, enveloping and protecting the mucous membranes of the stomach and intestines. For snakebites, the root of Asia Minor pallidum was used as an antidote (antidote). He is mentioned by Theophrastus - "the father of botany".
Poison not only saved from enemies, but also saved from shame. He killed without pain, did not cripple, perhaps that is why he was so fond of the fairer sex. Women preferred to die beautiful and young, and this could only be guaranteed by poison. Thus the sun of Cleopatra, the heiress of the ancient pharaohs, went down. She gave herself a bite to an Egyptian cobra-hae hidden in a fruit basket. She was forced to commit suicide by the complete impossibility of breaking free. Cleopatra chose to die so as not to be dishonored by the Roman legionaries. A beautiful woman, she died beautifully - royally, with her head held high.
Toxicology was further developed in the writings of the Roman physician Galen. His compatriots borrowed a lot from the conquered peoples of Asia Minor. They were the first to turn common poisoning into real science. The Romans discovered a way of food poisoning. River lamprey soup, cooked in a certain way, completely replaced the poisonous drugs of the priests. A personal chef could turn out to be a tool in the hands of ill-wishers, and then it was impossible to escape.
The first decades of the new era were marked by a series of suspicious deaths of the august persons. In 23, the son of the emperor Tiberius, Julius Drusus, dies, then the Britannicus, the son of the emperor Claudius. In the 54th year, Claudius himself dies under strange circumstances. All of them were poisoned, and the last two were poisoned by one woman. Her name is Agrippina. The greatest poisoner of the Roman Empire was not insane or pathologically bloodthirsty, she did it for the sake of her own child, which she had taken from Claudius. Having removed Britannica, the son of the emperor from his first marriage, and then Claudius himself, she was going to clear the way for him to the throne. Despite all the tricks, Agrippina's son never became Caesar.
The way Agrippina removed competitors cannot but arouse admiration: she fed both father and son with toxic mushrooms. Their action turned out to be too weak. Then the "loving wife" summoned her Aesculapius. He, as an emetic, introduced Claudia into the throat of a bird's feather. The emperor and his son did not even suspect that it was saturated with "akanite" poison. Blue buttercup - its second name - has been known since time immemorial. In China it was used to poison arrows, in Nepal they poisoned wells with water (so that they would not fall to the enemy), in Tibet this plant was recognized as the "king of medicine". The alkaloid "acanitine" is found in all parts of the flower. Even honey containing acanitine pollen is poisonous. Apparently this made him popular among poisoners. Cheap, convenient and practical!
The achievements of antique toxicologists would have sunk into oblivion if they had not been in demand by barbarians striving for civilization. Poisons equally faithfully served both the Roman Caesars and the leaders of the Hunnic tribes. Poisoning as a form of political struggle got its true scope in the Asian states. In the East, sending the closest relative to the ancestors in Heaven was always revered as something self-evident. Elderly fathers, without any twinge of conscience, killed newly born children, and young heirs of parents who were too late on the throne, and all for the sake of power.
In 1227 Jochi, the eldest son of Genghis Khan, the Shaker of the Universe, suddenly passed away. Beloved son, the most talented and capable, was cunningly drunk with the potion. On whose conscience his death is - only God knows, but the fact that the younger sons of the kagan were the winners is an indisputable fact. Someone from their entourage - whether on their own initiative, or following an order - did their best to eliminate a dangerous competitor.
By this time, Chinese poisons were in vogue. They acted for sure. Some poisons were killed immediately after ingestion, while others decomposed the body for months or even years, bringing unbearable pain and suffering. The Chinese were considered unsurpassed experts in toxicology. They knew how to compose the most complex compositions from a variety of herbs, roots, fruits, and process them in a special way, achieving the desired effect. The belief in the omnipotence of the pharmacologists of the Celestial Empire was so strong that many believed in the existence of a poison they had invented that turned people into dwarfs. Legends about this nightmare potion have been passed down from century to century, exciting the minds of ordinary people.
Chilling stories were told about the secret Muslim order of the assassins. This underground organization terrified the entire Middle East with its political assassinations. At the head of the order was Shah al-Jabal - the Old Man of the Mountain. For nearly 200 years (from the 11th to the 13th centuries), the assassins terrorized the rulers of the Central Asian states, inflicting punitive blows where no one expected them. They even penetrated into Europe, sowing fear and death around them. Assassins actively used poisons to achieve their political goals. One of the many victims of the order was the legendary Mamluk Sultan Baybars, who was killed in 1277 in Damascus. Poison was trivially poured into a bowl of wine. The audacity with which this was done apparently contributed to the success. The most banal, to be sure, poisoning, although the simplest solutions, as history shows, are often the most effective ...
A new word in the art of poisoning was brought by the Japanese brothers of the assassins - ninjutsu spies. A secret technique of "death touches" was developed by the masters of this school. It consisted in the fact that the scouts covered their brush with a special strengthening compound prepared on the basis of milkweed juice, after which they applied a thin layer of transparent poison. As soon as in the course of a conversation or a duel, the "poisoned hand" touched the mucous membrane of the enemy - lips, eyes, tongue - as he received an incompatible portion of the poison isolated from the fruits of sikishima or duffniphyllum seeds. A milkweed-based balm served as protection against the all-pervading poison, preventing it from being absorbed into the skin of the hand. The balm kept the poison for only 4 hours. The slightest delay threatened the death of the ninja himself.
The Spaniards and Italians - Borgia, Medici, Sforza - won the sad fame of the best European poisoners. The first place, of course, belongs to the aristocrats of the Borgia family. Their insidiousness was incredible: they easily and uncommon invention sent their opponents to the next world, regardless of their age or their social status in society. The poisoning turned Borgia into a carefully staged performance, where evening horseback riding, sumptuous feasts, hugs and kisses were just a prelude to sophisticated murder.
The Borgia were of Spanish origin, but they made their name in Italy, holding the highest positions in this country for almost two centuries. They got the secrets of trouble-free poisons from the Moors, who, in turn, took them out of Arabia. Having cut a peach in half, Caesar Borgia ate half of it himself, and offered the other to the guest. When he died, as it is customary to say "under strange circumstances," Caesar showed himself to be cheerful and healthy for all the reproaches and accusations.
The most senior poisoner in the family was Rodrigo Borgia (Caesar's father), who is also Pope Alexander VI. This vicious and voluptuous old man amused himself by poisoning the cardinals subordinate to him, testing on them the intricate recipes of old alchemists, such as Nikolai Mireps, Paracelsus or Arnaldo de Vilanova. The guests invited to the Pope for dinner sat down at the table with great caution, for his skill in poisoning was unsurpassed. It was it that ruined him. Alexander VI died in August 1503, having been poisoned by his own poison, which was intended for Cardinal de Carnetto, but by mistake fell on the Pope's table. With his death, the Borgia family withered away, leaving the historical scene.
The baton was taken over by the Medici Florentines - bankers, dukes and rich. Their family coat of arms adorned with red balls - a reminder of their origin. For they were pharmacists. The Medici family recipe has survived: "If you make a hole in a peach tree and drive in arsenic and realgar, sublimated and infused in vodka, then this has the power to make its fruits poisonous." In a similar way, in the 16th century, Cardinal Ippolito Medici was poisoned by his own nephew Alessandro.
The "dogs of the Lord", monks of the Catholic Jesuit order, also owned similar techniques. They were never shy of means, fighting the apostates in all available ways. Among them, and such: sentenced to death by a secret Jesuit court was presented with a gift of a precious tome, the leaves of which had previously been treated with tasteless poison. Turning over the stuck together pages and wetting his fingers with saliva, the bookworm thereby killed itself without even knowing it. To eliminate knights and hunters, poisoned weapons were intended, for dandies and women - cosmetics and clothing treated with poison.
Truly, rings filled with a deadly potion have become a universal poisoning agent. Some of them had barely noticeable thorns, pricked on which one could fall asleep forever. The poison could be anywhere: in a scarf, in a button on a camisole, under a cuff or on the tip of a knife. Many aristocrats got rid of annoying suitors in the simplest way, as it seemed to them, by pouring an explosive decoction of henbane and belladona into a glass of wine. By the way, belladona means "beautiful lady" in Italian, which testifies to its wide popularity among loving Italians.
But the French women were not a miss. Four years apart, 17th century France was shaken by two criminal trials involving two fragile women. The first criminal case concerned Marie Madeleine de Branville, nee d ^ Obre. Her story is reminiscent of an adventure novel. The very young Marie Madeleine is married to the aged Marquis de Branville. Then she gets herself a lover named Sainte-Croix, but soon he is put behind bars. There he meets an Italian alchemist, a great connoisseur of poisons. Sainte-Croix receives some secrets from him and passes them on to Marie Madeleine.
Soon, an incomprehensible illness begins to bother the Marquise's father, Mr. D'Obre. He suddenly dies, writing off all his property not to his daughter, but to his sons. One after another, they die painfully, going to the next world young and full of strength. This becomes suspicious, the bodies are opened, but nothing is found. And it is only by chance that the solution to the mysterious deaths of men of the d'Obre family becomes known. Sainte-Croix dies after inadvertently inhaling mercury vapor in his secret laboratory. Investigators find a box with poisons in his office. In the will of Sainte-Croix, only one name was indicated - to transfer the box to Marie Madeleine. The young marquise was arrested, but managed to escape from prison for bribes and hide abroad. A few years later, she was nevertheless arrested, and in 1676 she was sentenced by the Supreme Court to beheading.
A year later, the famous "poison case" began in Paris. Marguerite Monvoisin, the jeweler's wife, appeared before the secret tribunal of France. She was found guilty of manufacturing and selling toxic substances. The scandalousness of the process was made by the fact that the main customers of the poisons were the courtiers of Louis XIV. Among the customers were the favorites of the king - Madame de Montespan and Madame de Soissons. In the Monvoisins estate, investigators discovered a rich collection of drugs and embryos of 2500 miscarriages, poisoned by aristocrats with the help of "medicines" by an enterprising jeweler. Having received a royal instruction "not to look at faces", in 1680 Marguerite Monvoisin was sentenced to death.
However, the dubious honor of the largest poisoner of all times and peoples belongs not to the French, but to the Italian. Signora Tofana managed to send about 600 people to Heaven in her life. Catherine de Medici and Bona Sforza are far behind. Brilliant women and outstanding poisoners. On account of each of them - a good dozen corpses. They actively fought for power, and only those who interfered with them were elected victims of their intrigues. Nothing personal - only state interests. For all the similarities, the methods they used differed. Catherine de 'Medici preferred poisonous perfumes and poisoned gloves, and Bona Sforza preferred classic powders, roots and drops.
One of the most popular and demanded poisons of that era was "anamirt cocculus". The fruits of this tree were exported from India, and were called "fructus kokuli" in Medieval Europe. The pyrotoxin contained in them caused convulsions, which resulted in inevitable death. This poison was widespread in the south.
Northern kingdoms - Denmark, Norway, Sweden, England - got along with improvised "means": poisonous mushrooms and plants of the local flora. Let us remember Shakespeare: Hamlet's father accepted his death, being poisoned by the "damned henbane juice."
Whose property
So deeply hostile to our blood
That, fast as mercury, it penetrates
Into fit gates and body passages
And it rolls up abruptly and suddenly,
Living blood ...
A stunning medical report on toxic poisoning in its drama. However, in the above lines, Shakespeare made a serious mistake: henbane juice does not coagulate blood. The alkaloids it contains - atropine, hyoscyamine, scopolamine - are by no means hemolytic poisons, but nerve agents. The symptoms of poisoning in the father of the Danish prince would have been completely different - delirium, a sharp excitement of the central nervous system, convulsions, and only then death.
If Shakespeare's murderer of the king was his own brother, then from the Spaniards, as a rule, the current monarch was taken for poisoning. With the help of an ordinary drug enema and a family poison called "Recuskat in Paz", King Philip II disavowed the claims of his son Don Carlos to the throne. The young man gave his soul to God, and the fanatic father himself was subsequently "fed" with poison by his last wife, who did not forgive Philip for frequent adultery. It is difficult to recall another such case when a murderer was punished with the same weapon with which he himself killed. Justice prevails. Sometimes...
In parallel, the methods of protection were also improved. To remove the poison from the body, medicine of the Middle Ages recommended abundant bloodletting. Two or three cups of blood discharged from a vein increased the likelihood of recovery, however, not always. The most prudent nobles tested suspicious food and drink on dogs, considering them the best indicators of the presence of poison. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. the fashion for licking arsenic, once bequeathed by Tsar Mithridates, has returned. The desired effect was achieved after many months of exercise, when the number of licks reached 40-50 per day. Only after this did the body acquire immunity to poisons. This science was learned mainly by diplomats who were at the forefront of the political struggle and therefore risked their own lives more than others.
The confrontation of the European powers for spheres of influence at other times acquired a clearly toxicological character. In 1748, knowledge of the characteristics of tropical fish helped the French to defend the island in the Indian Ocean from the claims of the British crown. Preparing for the assault, 1,500 English soldiers were cordially fed with reef perch, extraordinary in taste and ... inedible. That is how - without the expense and shots - a few natives hired by the French easily knocked out a full-blooded regiment of the royal army.
The British turned out to be extremely vindictive and patient, for they waited 70 years to get even for their humiliating defeat. In 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte dies on Saint Helena. Somehow too fleeting. Even then, suspicions arose that he died a violent death. It was a blow to the very heart of France, which idolized its genius. An indirect confirmation of this version is the fact that an increased concentration of arsenic has already been found in Napoleon's hair.
The mechanism of poisoning was most likely as follows: small doses of arsenic were added to food and drink by the general of retinue Charles Montolon. This caused stomach pains, and the doctors prescribed mercury chloride - calomel - to Napoleon as an anesthetic medicine. In combination with hydrocyanic acid, which is in almonds, calomel becomes poison. And in March 1821, almonds were suddenly added to Napoleon's syrup. On May 3 of the same year, the emperor was immediately given 10 grains of mercury chloride - three times the maximum dose! He died on May 5, 1821. And a healthier person would not have withstood such concentrations, what can we say about the sick and far from young Napoleon Bonaparte ...
By that time, Europe was experiencing a sharp surge in interest in poisons. Such strong toxins as strychnine, brucine, hydrocyanic acid have already been synthesized. Classic poisons - like hemlock and curare - outlived their last days, retreating into the world of legends and legends. Private initiative gave way to state interests, and the development of poisons began to be taken seriously.
The peak of discoveries came in the 20th century. Poisons turned out to be the most effective tool for dealing with political opponents - cheap in production and absolutely reliable in use. It is not surprising that research in this area was entrusted to supervise the special services.
Within the walls of the RSHA - the Main Imperial Security Directorate of Nazi Germany - the toxin phelosilaskinase was developed. Death came with symptoms similar to typhoid fever, but what is most interesting is that the presence of the poison could not be determined by any examinations. Felosilaskinase was supposed to be used to eliminate Germany's enemies, but the ongoing war and the fall of the National Socialist regime did not allow the leaders of the Third Reich to use this formidable weapon to the fullest.
In the thirties, a closed special laboratory "X" was formed under the central apparatus of the NKVD of the USSR, which was personally patronized by GG Yagoda and LP Beria. The topic of research of KGB toxicologists, no matter how difficult it is to guess, is poisons. Moreover, such, it is impossible to determine the presence in the blood of which is impossible by any pathological autopsies. The laboratory was headed by a certain doctor of medical sciences, also a major of state security, Maryanovsky.
The poisons of his development acted unmistakably, because they were tested on prisoners sentenced to death of the Lubyanka internal prison. They caused death through cardiac muscle paralysis, cerebral hemorrhage or vascular occlusion. Judging by some information, Menzhinsky, Kuibyshev, Gorky were killed by the products of this special laboratory.
Special drugs were also used to eliminate "enemies of the people" who took refuge in the West. In 1957, the ideologist of the People's Labor Union, Lev Rebet, was eliminated - he was sprinkled in his face with a jet of some kind of poisonous gas that caused cardiac arrest. In October 1959, KGB agents killed the OUN leader Stepana Bandera in the same way. The public outcry caused by these operations in Western Europe forced the KGB leadership to abandon the practice of political assassinations outside the USSR. But a holy place is never empty. The Americans took up the baton.
Having become interested in the experience of the Soviet special services, the CIA began research in the field of creating instant poisonous substances. The first order for such drugs came in the summer of 1960, when the White House ordered the removal of Fidel Castro. Cigars, the favorite variety of the Cuban leader, were chosen as a means of liquidation. The CIA pharmacologists suggested treating them with poison and presenting them through an agent embedded in his entourage as a gift from his Latin American comrades.
In the arsenal of the Central Intelligence Agency there were such highly effective poisons as fluacetate soda, lead tetraethyl, potassium cyanide, but the choice fell on the botulism toxin type "D" - the strongest of all known toxins of animal origin. 10 milligrams of this substance can kill the entire population of the globe. Fidel died immediately, as soon as he took a poisoned cigar in his mouth. But the secret operation failed - the Cuban counterintelligence officers worked professionally, who managed to reliably block all approaches to Castro.
There was a lull for 18 long years, until in September 1978 in London the dissident Georgy Markov was killed at the hands of Bulgarian intelligence. He was killed by an umbrella shot with a tiny bullet poisoned with a ricin derivative. This poison is known for the fact that there is no antidote for it, and the symptoms of poisoning resemble the flu, which makes it extremely difficult to identify. A platinum-iridium ball, smaller than a pinhead, was stuffed with one milligram of ricin. And although Markov was immediately taken to the clinic, it was no longer possible to save him.
Suspicions immediately fell on the KGB - the Bulgarians did not possess such sophisticated technology, but its functions (as it turned out later) were limited only to the technical support of the operation. At the request of the Bulgarian comrades, they were provided with an umbrella-blowpipe and a micro-bullet with ricin. That was the end of the KGB's involvement in the murder of Markov. But the story with "Kamera", a semi-mythical subdivision of the First Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR, which, according to the information of defectors, was engaged in the development of special drugs, did not end.
Officially, all structures in the state security organs responsible for the creation of toxins and poisons were closed in 1953, but whether this was in fact is unknown. For "this mystery is great." And we will learn about it, at best, about 100 years later, when all the direct participants in the events and their closest relatives will go to another world, and the archives will be thoroughly cleaned up. Everything that, one way or another, relates to poisons, from time immemorial, is considered classified information, not intended for publicity. This is an unwritten, but strictly enforced taboo, the violation of which is akin to the imposition of a death sentence. And therefore there are so many fables on this topic, and so little truth ...
