Mad Honey

mad honey, giant bee, rhododendron flower nectar

“mad honey” (μείλι εἰλιγγιῶδες) was known to the Ancient Greek medical writers

The phenomenon we call mad honey — honey poisoned by grayanotoxins from Rhododendron and Azalea — is explicitly known to Hippocratic, Aristotelian, Xenophontic, Dioscoridean, and later medical authors.

They do not use one standardized technical term, but they describe:

• Vertigo–honey,
• Narcotic honey,
• Honey causing staggering, vomiting, cold sweats,
• Honey that “confuses the mind” (φρενῶν ταραχή),
• Pontic honey specifically as dangerous.

The earliest and clearest descriptions

Xenophon — Anabasis 4.8.20–21 (c. 370 BCE)

He gives the most famous classical account of toxic honey near Trapezus:

Symptoms he lists:

• Vertigo
• Vomiting
• Incapacity to stand
• Temporary paralysis
• Recovery in 24 hours

This is textbook grayanotoxin poisoning.

Aristotle — Historia Animalium 9.40 (c. 340 BCE)

Aristotle describes toxic honey from the Pontus region:

He attributes it to flowers of a certain shrub — likely Rhododendron ponticum.

Theophrastus — Historia Plantarum 3.18.5 (c. 300 BCE)

Theophrastus explains why Pontic honey is poisonous:

This is the earliest botanical identification of the correct plant source.

Dioscorides — De Materia Medica 2.103 (1st century CE)

From the ancient medical corpus.

He describes poisonous honey:

Symptoms listed:

• ἔμετος (vomiting)
• ζάλη (dizziness)
• σκότος τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν (darkness of the eyes; visual distortion)
• ψυχρὸς ἱδρώς (cold sweat)
• ἀποπληξία ἐοικώς (“stroke-like paralysis,” i.e., collapse)

He classifies it as pharmakon dangerous to ingest but (importantly) potentially medicinal in small, controlled doses.

Galen — De Alimentorum Facultatibus 1.37

Galen distinguishes ordinary honey from:

He notes it can cause:

• ἐξέστηκεν ὁ νοῦς (“the mind stands outside itself”)
• κατάλυσις τῶν κινήσεων (collapse of motor control)

Again: perfect match to grayanotoxin symptomatology.

The Hippocratic Corpus (5th–4th century BCE)

Not explicit as “mad honey,” but several passages refer to honey causing:

• εἰλίγγους (vertigo)
• φρενῶν ἀλλοίωσις (disturbance of the mind)
• σκοτοδινία (dark-vertigo)

Given geographical circulation, these likely refer to the same thing — though the Hippocratic authors do not give the explicit botanical etiology like Theophrastus or Dioscorides.

Summary: What the Greek medical writers knew

They knew:

• Honey could become poisonous from certain mountain shrubs.
• Chief offenders: ῥοδοδένδρον (rhododendron) and ἀνδρόσημον (Andromeda polifolia).
• The poisoning is non-fatal in most cases.
• The intoxication is temporary (usually a few hours).
• The symptoms are:
  • paralysis or collapse
  • vertigo
  • visual distortion
  • sweating
  • madness/frenzy/derangement
  • vomiting

Exactly identical to modern toxicology.

And:

• They used small amounts medicinally — especially in pharmaka that induce altered states, sedation, or purgation.

Applications

The properties of Pontic honey yield controlled, time-limited delirium.

Galen’s phrase:

• is precisely the language of ec-stasis (ἔκστασις), central to mystery-rite pharmacology.

Dioscorides explicitly permits low-dose ritual/medical use.

Ancient cults knew plants that caused derangement + paralysis + visions, and Pontic honey could easily play a role.