The Poisoned Banquet of Mithridates
At a royal banquet, Mithridates invites his guests to eat—and then reveals the food is poisoned. He alone survives the feast.
The Poisoned Banquet of Mithridates, public domain
The king’s deadly table.
Mithridates VI of Pontus, Rome’s most dangerous enemy in the East, was obsessed with poisons. According to ancient sources, he’d dose slaves, wives—or even dinner guests—just to test new concoctions.
A fatal toast.
Pliny and others claim Mithridates once held a banquet where all the food was laced with poison. He announced the trap only after serving. Survivors? Only those who, like the king, had built up immunity by daily micro-dosing poison.
His legacy: fear and legends.
Mithridates’ name became shorthand for toxic paranoia. Romans later called any antidote a ‘mithridatium.’ No one ever trusted his hospitality again.
Mithridates’ obsession with poison terrified Rome. His legend outlived him—some say he tested every toxin on himself to become unkillable.
