Scythicon was a poison that the Scythians used and covered their arrowheads. This poison had a terrible fame in ancient times.
It was a mixture of rotten bodies of small snakes and their venom, human blood and excrement buried in the ground until complete decomposition1. A person hit by a poison arrow had to face a heavy death even within an hour. First, in the place where the arrowhead hit, tissue necrosis appeared, swollen arms and legs; vomiting, convulsions, severe pain and finally death. Even if the body was strong enough to survive the first shock, after 1-2 days gangrene was caused by bacteria from faeces and rot.
Ovid claimed that this substance, when applied to the arrowhead, “which promises a double death”.
