Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

ariel · 27th November 2017, 10:49 PM

I am wondering what kind of poison might have been applied to those balls.
Obviously, it was applied at the very late right before the battle: heat, UV light, humidity,rain, dust, dirt would degrade the organic constituents. The contact with internal tissues must have been very short, and no poison that comes to my mind would kill instantaneously ( otherwise, what's the purpose?)

Hamlet was killed by the most toxic poison Claudius could find. However, before his death he was able to dispatch both Laertes and Claudius. Commodus stabbed Maximus with a poisoned blade. All of us know how it ended....

27th November 2017, 10:49 PM	#15
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	I am wondering what kind of poison might have been applied to those balls. Obviously, it was applied at the very late right before the battle: heat, UV light, humidity,rain, dust, dirt would degrade the organic constituents. The contact with internal tissues must have been very short, and no poison that comes to my mind would kill instantaneously ( otherwise, what's the purpose?) Hamlet was killed by the most toxic poison Claudius could find. However, before his death he was able to dispatch both Laertes and Claudius. Commodus stabbed Maximus with a poisoned blade. All of us know how it ended....