WEBVTT - How Has Honey Been Used in Warfare?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio Hey brain Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>laurin volgeban in here. In two thousand and eight, a

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<v Speaker 1>middle aged couple decided to spice things up by eating

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<v Speaker 1>raw honey gathered from near Turkey's Black Sea, and then

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<v Speaker 1>ended up in the hospital with symptoms that mimiced heart attacks.

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<v Speaker 1>The culprit mad honey poisoning a little known ailment that

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<v Speaker 1>has brought down ancient armies and in modern times been

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<v Speaker 1>rumored to have a hallucinogenic effect that increases sexual performance.

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<v Speaker 1>So called mad honey is produced by bees that ingest

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<v Speaker 1>the nectar of poisonous plants, specifically ones that contain gray anatoxins.

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<v Speaker 1>These are neurotoxins that are found in various species in

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<v Speaker 1>the heather family, like rhododendrons azalias and mountain laurels. The

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<v Speaker 1>naturally toxic syrup reportedly tastes more bitter than normal honey,

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<v Speaker 1>and the toxic city is stronger in fresh honey gathered

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<v Speaker 1>in the springtime. Variants on mad honey have been found

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<v Speaker 1>in parts of Japan, Nepal, Brazil, North America, Europe, and

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<v Speaker 1>the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey. Mad honey is

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<v Speaker 1>a razor's edge substance that can go from intoxicating to

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<v Speaker 1>lethal in just a few tablespoons, and because potency varies

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<v Speaker 1>from hive to hive, there's no sure way to tell

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<v Speaker 1>when enough is enough. In the case of the couple

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<v Speaker 1>who wound up in the emergency room, increasingly large doses

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<v Speaker 1>of the toxically tinged honey caused acute inferior myocardial infarctions

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<v Speaker 1>aka heart irregularities. While typically not fatal, mad honey poisoning

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't sound fun with symptoms like nausea, vomiting, excessive sweating,

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<v Speaker 1>and dizziness. In rare cases, you could be looking at convulsions,

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<v Speaker 1>low blood pressure, shock, and yes, heart trouble. Documentation of

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<v Speaker 1>this goes all the way back to four once, when

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<v Speaker 1>the ancient Greek commander Xenophon, returning with an army from Persia,

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<v Speaker 1>wrote of his men experiencing an accidental poisoning. Before the

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<v Speaker 1>article this episode is based on, has Stuffworks spoke with

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<v Speaker 1>Adrian Mayer, a research scholar in classics and history of

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<v Speaker 1>science at Stanford University with a specialization in ancient biological

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<v Speaker 1>and chemical warfare. She said Xenophon prided himself on choosing

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<v Speaker 1>healthy and safe campsites in hostile territory. He noted nothing

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<v Speaker 1>unusual about the campsite in Pontus, on the Black Sea

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<v Speaker 1>coast on northeast Turkey, but he did note quote an

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<v Speaker 1>extraordinary number of swarming bees, and said that his men

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<v Speaker 1>soon discovered the hives and gorged on the sweet treat

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<v Speaker 1>of wild honey. He was appalled when a soldier suddenly

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<v Speaker 1>behaved like crazed madmen and collapsed in mass. His entire

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<v Speaker 1>army was paralyzed and incapacitated for days, totally vulnerable to

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<v Speaker 1>possible enemy attack. Luckily for them and this was again

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<v Speaker 1>accidental and Xenophon's army recovered before they could be discovered.

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<v Speaker 1>But ancient armies did use mad honey as a weapon,

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<v Speaker 1>and quite effectively at that. Around sixty five BCE, King Mithriddes,

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<v Speaker 1>the sixth of Pontus set a trap for the invading

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<v Speaker 1>Roman army led by Pompy the Great. The Romans were

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<v Speaker 1>moving along the coast of the Black Sea in present

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<v Speaker 1>day northeast Turkey, the same area that Xenophon had been

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<v Speaker 1>traveling through a few hundred years before. Mithriddeses troops set

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<v Speaker 1>out poisonous mad honeycombs along the route. The Romans fell

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<v Speaker 1>for the tasty trap, and meth Briddes's army attacked and

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<v Speaker 1>killed about a thousand of them once they had been

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<v Speaker 1>rendered helpless by the honey. Eventually, Pompey defeated him and

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<v Speaker 1>ended his expanse into Rome's territories. Supposedly, mith Briddes died

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<v Speaker 1>after being overthrown by his son under guard. He tried

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<v Speaker 1>to kill himself with poison, but was inured to it.

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<v Speaker 1>After years of mild preventive doses, he finally had to

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<v Speaker 1>ask a garb to run them through. There are also

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<v Speaker 1>instances of mad honey being used to make mead as

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<v Speaker 1>a way of stalling encroaching forces. A mead, also called

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<v Speaker 1>honey wine, is made by fermenting honey with water and

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<v Speaker 1>often flavoring the mixture with fruits or spices. A two

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<v Speaker 1>notable occurrences of mad mead as a biological weapon took

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<v Speaker 1>place in the same region we've been talking about. In

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<v Speaker 1>nine forty six, ce Olga of Kiev had his allies

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<v Speaker 1>sneakily offer mead to his Russian foes, then slaughtered all

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<v Speaker 1>five thousand of them once they had collapsed, and in

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<v Speaker 1>fourteen eighty nine a Russian army left behind casks of

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<v Speaker 1>poisoned mead when they abandoned the camp in the face

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<v Speaker 1>of an incoming Potter army then swept back through and

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<v Speaker 1>killed some ten thousand of them. The armies of antiquity

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<v Speaker 1>may have fallen for these literal honey traps because sugar

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<v Speaker 1>wasn't widespread until the seventeen hundred see before the technology

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<v Speaker 1>and enslaved labor that brought the price down for sugar.

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<v Speaker 1>Around that time, the sweeteners were rare and expensive in

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<v Speaker 1>most places, limited to things like maple syrup, dates, and honey.

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<v Speaker 1>So mad honey was a delicious but deadly trojan horse

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<v Speaker 1>or trojan hive. Today's episode is based on the article

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<v Speaker 1>Ridiculous History Ancient armies waged war with hallucinogenic honey on

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<v Speaker 1>HowStuffWorks dot Com, written by Laurel Dove. Brain Stuff is

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<v Speaker 1>production of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and

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<v Speaker 1>is produced by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts my heart Radio,

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