Simply dipping arrows in the pure venom would be deadly enough. Then, declares Aelian, the victim’s “brain dissolves and drips out his nostrils and he dies a most pitiable death.”įeeling queasy? That reaction was exactly the intention of poison arrow makers in antiquity. The pure amber venom causes violent convulsions. The black poison causes a lingering, wasting death over years from spreading necrosis and suppurating wounds. These two poisons of the Purple Snake should be kept separate, as they kill in different ways, both dreadful. After three days, this foul liquid jells into a deep black substance. When the snake eventually dies, replace the first pot with another to catch the watery serum flowing from the carcass. To extract the venom, you suspend the live viper alive, head down over a bronze pot to catch the dripping poison, which congeals and sets into a thick amber-colored substance. A primitive viper with short fangs and small venom sacs, Azemiops is described by herpetologists as “docile but dangerous.”Īccording to Aelian, collecting the toxins of the Purple Snake for making poison was complex. The body, dark blue-black with red bands, appears purple especially when the scales reflect light or if a preserved specimen is observed. Azemiops feae is the only tropical Asian venomous snake with a distinctive white head. The Purple Snake matches the description of a rare, white-headed viper of China, Myanmar, and Vietnam, unknown to science until 1888. He was struck by two details in Aelian’s description: the remarkable white head and the habitat in the “hottest part of Asia.” Aelian’s information must have come to Rome from travelers on the Silk Route. But if this reptile were to vomit on your leg? The entire limb putrefies and you die, quickly or “little by little.”Īelian’s Purple Snake had never been identified. According to the Roman natural historian Aelian (ca AD 200), this snake from the “hottest regions” of Asia had deep purple body and a head “as white as milk.” It was described “almost tame” and unable to strike with fangs. One of the most feared poisons in classical antiquity was obtained from the so-called Purple Snake. By Adrienne Mayor (Wonders & Marvels contributor)
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