The Court of Poisons: Nero, the Archiatri and Locusta, the ‘Witch’
Roman women were often associated with poison: already the Romulean laws provided that the husband could repudiate his wife in case of attempted poisoning. In the Republican era, several trials saw women involved and sometimes convicted in large numbers for using venenum against unsuspecting citizens. In the imperial age the relationship between women and venenum took on new and peculiar connotations: an interesting example is the events connected with the death of Emperor Claudius in which protagonists and co-players, principals and material executors took an active part: the Augusta Agrippina, the eunuch Aloto, the archiater Gaius Stertinius Xenophon, but above all Locusta/Lucusta, the “serial” poisoner, destined to play a fundamental role also in the elimination of Britannicus – son of Claudius himself and Messalina – ordered by Nero, who benefited this “witch” ante litteram by granting her impunitas, praedia ampla and even the possibility of having discipuli.
