Arrow poisons from plants

Arrow poisons are used to poison arrow heads or darts for the purposes of hunting. Poisoning arrows was & is practiced everywhere except in Australia
Monkshood, Ranunculaeceae. Used since time of Neanderthals. For shooting wild beasts, the tubers of Aconitum are boiled in water. Resulting liquid, viscous and poisonous, is smeared on sharp arrowheads for the quick killing of both human beings and animals. in the jungles of Assam, Burma & Malaysia, main plant sources are Antiaris, Strychnos & Strophanthus

Caribs of the Caribbean used poisons made from the latex of the Manchineel tree (Hippomane mancinella) or Sandbox Tree (Hura crepitans), both members of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae In Africa arrow poisons are made from plants that contain cardiac glycosides, such as Acokanthera (possessing ouabain), oleander (Nerium ol), milkweeds (Asclepias), Strophanthus, rosary pea Curare for preps containing tubocurarine derived from the bark of Strychnos toxifera, Chondrodendron tomentosum or Sciadotenia
toxifera . Curare is a blocks nicotinic acetylcholine receptors on the postsynaptic membrane of the neuromuscular junction actiong as a muscle relaxant that can paralyze the respiratory system.

Arrow poisons from animals

Arrow poisons are used to poison arrow heads or darts for hunting. was & is practiced everywhere except in Australia Arrow frogs. The poison is generally collected by roasting the frogs over a fire, but the batrachotoxins are powerful enough to dip the dart in the back of the frog without killing it Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert use arrow poison is derived from the larva of beetles of the genus Diamphidia. It is applied to the arrow either by mixing it with plant sap to act as an adhesive, The toxin is slow attacking and large animals can survive 45 days before succumbing to the effects. Also plants like Adenium.
Holthouse's book "Cannibal Cargoes" describes a canoe, with body of a man rotting in the sun for putrefaction to collect. Wounds with tetanus infection by tetanospasmin, a neurotoxin produced by obligate anaerobic bacterium Clostridium tetani. As the infection progresses, muscle spasms develop in the jaw

Arrow poisons from plants

Arrow poisons are used to poison arrow heads or darts for hunting. was & is practiced everywhere except in Australia contains a cardiac glycoside named antiarin, which is used Arrow frogs. The poison is generally collected by as an arrow poison called roasting the frogs over a fire, but the batrachotoxins upas: UPAS tree are powerful enough to dip the dart in the back of the frog without killing it Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert use arrow poison is derived from the larva of beetles of the genus Diamphidia. It is applied to the arrow either by mixing it with plant sap to act as an adhesive, The toxin is slow attacking and large animals can survive 45 days before succumbing to the effects. Also plants like Adenium.
Holthouse's book "Cannibal Cargoes" describes a canoe, with body of a man rotting in the sun for putrefaction to collect. Wounds with tetanus infection by tetanospasmin, a neurotoxin produced by obligate anaerobic bacterium Clostridium tetani. As the infection progresses, muscle spasms develop in the jaw

Arrow poisons for Homo sapiens the enemy

Hunting with bow and arrow occurred when few people & lots of prey was around Killing human competitors with bow and arrow when too many people around to sustain hunting. War is the systematic killing competitors from the same species is human, occurs only in Homo sapiens

Biological warfare in the history of our World

Greeks considered Gauls, Scythians and NAfricans as barbarians partly because they used poisonous projectiles. In Greek toxicon = poison, toxon = arrow helenion & minon unidentified arrow poisons of the Dacians hellebores or Christmas roses were used as arrow poisons buttercup Helleborus orientalis & lily representative Veratrum album plants not easy to gather: causing sneezing & blisters, hellebores were used as panacea since they had an immediate purgative effect. Aconitum = monkshood was another arrow poison of the Gauls (and even the Neanderthals 50 000 years before them). Also moors used it against the Spaniards in the 12 century. Gauls rapidly pulled arrow out of the prey. Hyoscyamus = henbane another badly smelling weed used by the Gauls powerful alkaloids hyoscyamine & scopolamine cause seizures, psychosis & death. used on arrows against other humans in war. Adrienne Mayor: Greek fire, poison arrows & scorpion bombs. Biological and chemical warfare in the ancient world. The overlook Press, Woodstock,USA

Biological warfare in the history of our World

Conium maculatum = hemlock juice containing coniine was used on Scythian arrows where it is active for many days.
Belladonna = deadly nightshade was known as strychnos to the Romans (today Strychnos is a genus of trees occurring both in SAm and Asia) it was used as a drug smeared upon your spear or lance (Pliny the elder reported use by Roman soldiers and auxillaries) where it is active for > 30 years.

Taxus baccata = yew is a gloomy tree with berries (= cones) containing alkaloids & sudden death by stopping the heart. Rhododendron sap was known as alternative arrow poison containing neurotoxin that can be extracted from flowers, but also presented as poisonous food in the form of honey. Scythian archers with poisonous darts (snake venom) defeated Persian army under Darius, + 333 BC the Grand army of Alexander the Great, & even a Roman one.

Biological warfare in the history of our World

590 BC Destruction of the town Kirrha during the First Sacred war to protect the Oracle of Delphi. The water pipes to the besieged town were cut off and then resembled providing water poisoned with hellebore plants. Weakened by diarrhea the defenders were too distracted to hold the walls

Pestilencia manu factq = man-made pestilences shows awareness to be under biological attacks by external and internal enemies; e.g. Christians suspected to burn Rome under Nero in order to speed up the prophesized end of the world. Emperor Marcus Aurelius died from Babylonian plague in AD 180, in 189 AD 2000 people/day died in Rome similar to US 2001 scare of anthrax. Babylonian plague 165-180 AD was witnessed by Galen ( smallpox). Roman expedition against Parthians. 164 AD Temple of Apollo in Greek city of Seleuceia at the Tigris river was ransacked by Roman soldiers under Cassius A golden chest was opened in the temple and ..Greek temples of Apollo had white rodents & some priests like Nicander were leading toxicologists. Thousands of Romans perished including the remarkable emperor Marcus Aurelius

Temples were depositories of toxins, pathogens & vaccines

The End of Rome due to Bio-weapons?

Romans were alert to biological attacks by external and internal enemies: Christians attempted to burn Rome under Nero in order to speed up the prophesized end of the world. The Great Fire of Rome July 19, AD 64 burned for five days destroying 10 of the 14 districts of Rome. Babylonian plague 165-180 AD was witnessed by Galen ( smallpox. Roman expedition against Parthians. 164 AD Temple of Apollo in Greek city of Seleuceia at the Tigris river was ransacked by Roman soldiers under Cassius A golden chest was opened in the temple . Thousands of Romans perished including the remarkable emperor Marcus Aurelius 2000 people/day died in Rome similar to US 2001 scare of anthrax. Emperor Marcus Aurelius died from Babylonian plague in AD 180, in 189 AD

No trace of the Empire in the 5th century!

455 After new Emperor breaks marriage proposal Vandals plunder Rome for 2 weeks

Biological warfare in the history of our World

Indians invented a special assassination weapon- poison maidens. They send dancing girls contact with whom = death. Alex the Great was a chosen recipient of such a girl in 327 BC.
Pontic honey = was used by the ancient Georgians (Colchis, Pontus) to poison Pompeys Roman soldiers which were pursuing Mithridates to the Crimea. Mithridates was a Greek king & a leading toxicilologist. He designed the universal antidote to prevent himself from being poisoned. When he killed himself with poison his end was painful. World war 1 & 2: Churchill uses poisonous gas against the Kurds when Britain occupied Iraq in 1918. Later repeated by Saddam Hussein after armistice with US. During WWII CSS/CIA tried to pacify Hitler by injecting female hormones into his veggies (he was a belligerent vegetarian and antialcoholic). 2002 Pentagon develops mind-altering pacifying volatiles that can be sprayed or shot with bullets/grenades. This can be used against a population mixed with terrorists.

Greek Fire
Roasting limestone CaCO3 produces a crumbling residue of CaO calcium oxide or quicklime. When this is sprinkled with water it will turn into Ca hydroxide CaOH and develop heat with the potential of self ignition. The combination of quicklime & sulfur was creating self-igniting materials Incendiary coating of arrows = were made from resins, tar, petroleum & sulfur.
Smokes: Chinese have devised burning mixtures with sulfur and arsenic that were used to kill large infestations of insects. They also developed the smoke ball for warfare. One successful receipt was to mix pine resin, charcoal and sulfur with powdered root of Aconitum monkshood, croton beans (cathartic purgative from Euphorbia fam.), hallucinogenic hemp, etc.

Alum is a bisulfate of potassium and aluminum known to the ancient sailors to fire-proof the wood of their ships against attacks with napalm in the form of Greek fire. A means to fire-proof materials or to extinguish fires was vinegar (at that time sour vine). Alternatively, when sour wine was poured over hot rocks of limestone or marble in a siege, these rocks would disintegrate.

Toxins of Chemical & Biological Warfare

Chemical warfare = is the use of poisonous drinks and gases and incendiary materials like napalm or Greek fire.
Smoking arrows and balls: Chinese devised burning mixtures with sulfur and arsenic that were used to kill infestations of insects. They developed smoke balls for warfare. One successful receipt was to mix pine resin, charcoal and sulfur with powdered root of Aconitum monkshood, croton beans (cathartic purgative from euphorbia fam.), hallucinogenic hemp Biological warfare = is the use of living organisms as weapons such as bacteria, viruses, elephants, war dogs, horses, wasp nests, toxins from plants and animals as in arrow poisons and catapulted ammunition. Diodorus describes Alexanders Army encountering war elephants of Indian King Porus and the siege of Harmatelia (todays SW Pakistan) in 326 BC. The warriors had smeared their spears swords and arrows with snake venom from Vipera russelli. The wounded Greeks went numb, exper convulsions, vomited bile and a purple-green gangrene to horr. death. After a plant was found as antidote by Alex the Greeks defeated the barbarians.

Toxins in Biological Warfare

198 AD emperor Septimius Severus began 2nd Parthian war for Mesopotamia he failed to take two desert strongholds in todays Hatra (near modern Mosul in Iraq): a double-walled fortress with 90 large + 163 small defense towers surrounded by desert. When the Romans breached the first wall & ascended the second one, clay pots rained upon them. Shattering they released deadly insects that stung the soldiers into eyes and exposed skin (Herodian). Why did the Romans give up so fast & close to victory??? Romans were exposed to heat, double-shot catapults , poisonous insects, and burning naphta a refined oil form the desert. Assassin bugs Reduvidae are predatory bloodsucking insects that inject lethal neurotoxins into the victim liquefying the tissue. Favorite biotool of antique rulers for torture. US developed a human tracking device during Vietnam war which was based on the sound a bug emits when he detects humans at a distance of 500 yards . Scorpions can fly in strong winds (Pliny). Some scorpions have deadly poison. They exhaust their poison when attacked with sticks etc. , can then be collected and recover their poison within a day. Aelian reports that you can sprinkle scorpions with Aconite powder upon which stunts & shrivels them temporarily. They can be revived by sprinkling them with white hellebore powder.

Greek Fire
Fire darts shot from bows (Marcellinus 4 th century AD): hollow cane shafts reinforced with iron and punctured with holes for oxygen access were filled with bitumen (petroleum products like asphalt, tar, naphta, & nat oil). The effect was enormous against cavalry and war elephants. Fire lances of China (900 AD) were bamboo tubes filled with charcoal sulphur, saltpeter thrown towards the enemy acting like a 2 min flame thrower
Lucan (1st century AD) torches dipped in oil & sulphur were thrown onto ships Roman naval torches were the Molotov cocktail of antiquity.

Siege of Syracuse: Greek Scientist Archimedes had soldiers polish their bronzen shields and focus the sun rays upon Roman ships blockading the harbor. 1975 experiment was repeated by I Sakkas. 60 sailors with shield-like mirrors ignited a wooden ship at 50 m distance. Noxious smokes from burning feathers (Asia) , pepper seeds ( Am), sulphur (SO2, lime dust (CaCO3) were used during tunneling warfare (attacker tried to tunnel under the walls and have them collapse).

Incendiary Warfare -Resins

Plant-derived incendiaries: Pine pitch flammable resin tapped from conifers. Later resin was distilled to turpentine. Resin fires burn hot and stick to their target. Arrows can be dipped into resin before igniting & firing them. Later sulphur (brimstone = burning stone found near volcanoes and hot springs) & charcoal were added for endurance (Spartans, Chinese). No other substance is as easily ignited as sulphur (Pliny). Burning sulphur creates acrid smelling SO2 a poisonous gas. Chinese added saltpeter = nitrates.
Burning arrows & catapult spears advanced into hollow cane tubes (Chinese fire lance) filled with resin + later bitumen causing great carnage (see use in battle against some Germanic tribes shown in Hollywoods Gladiator )

Naval varnish: colophon = black residue of turpentine (tar) boiled down with sharp vinegar. Ignites ships caulking and burns on the water surface.
212 BC engineer mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse devised heat rays against Romans by using polished bronze mirrors to inflame Roman ships.
1972 Greek engineer Sakkas repeated this with 60 mirrors for ship 50 m away.

Greek Fire
Roasting limestone CaCO3 produces a crumbling residue of CaO calcium oxide or quicklime. When this is sprinkled with water it will turn into Ca hydroxide and develop heat with the potentil of selfignition. The combination of quicklime & sulfur was creating self-ignitng materials Incendiary coating of arrows = were made from resins, tar, petroleum & sulfur. Smokes: Chinese have deviced burning mixtures with sulfur and arsenic that were used to kill large infestations of insects. They also developed smoke ball for warfare. One successful receipt was to mix pine resin, charcoal and sulfur with powdered root of Aconitum monkshood, croton beans (cathartic purgative from euphorb fam.), hallucinogenic hemp,

Alum is a bisulfate of potassium and aluminum. known to the ancient sailors to fire-proof the wood of their ships against attacks with napalm in the form of Greek fire. A means to fire-proof materials or to extinguish fires was vinegar (at that time sour vine). When sour wine was poured over hot rocks of limestone or marble in a siege, these rocks would disintegrate.

Greek Fire
Pyr automaton or self-igniting fire was a new line of weapons around 70 BC. Sulphur (brimstone), quicklime and bitumen were combined for pyrotechnic tricks. Torches drenched in sulphur, tar & quicklime were thrown into the Tiber River while continuing to burn!

Julius Africanus (170 AD) sulphur, salt resin, charcoal, asphalt & quicklime are mixed into a paste which is smeared at night on the siege engines. Dew in the morning will ignite it
Fountains of fire: Oil pits and lakes existed in ancient Mesopotamia, Arabia and the black sea. Baba Gurgur in todays Iraq had burned continously from 660 BC to 1927 AD.

Islamic armies had units of naffatuns responsible for shooting naphta projectiles into burning cities. 1190 siege of crusader castle Acre naffatuns shot naphta grenades & then ignited them by burning arrows. Naffatuns wore protective clothing containing asbestos fibers sued their leader for lung cancer damage

Greek Fire
Kallinikos (513 AD) fled Muslim occupation of Syria to Constantinople where he designed a new weapon for the Roman Navy Greek fire. It broke the naval siege of the Muslims in AD 673 & 718. Kallinikos great feat of engineering is lost to modern science and history.
Greek fire was the ultimate weapon of the time. There was no real countermeasure (protecting ship boards with wet hides). It was equivalent to modern napalm by thickening the petroleum with resin etc.

One of many possibilities of design of the secret naphta weapon of the Byzantine Navy