The Scythians were not only feared because they were great archers, but also because their arrows were tipped with a poison made from decomposed poisonous snakes and blood incubated in a manure heap!
Even Aristotle claimed that the Scythians used a deadly arrow poison concocted from a mixture of decomposed snake tissues and decomposing human blood! Even if the arrow did not kill outright, and if the victim survived the snake venom, severe infection from bacteria was inevitable.
The Greeks had two terms for this poison: skyticon (according to the provenance of the substance) and toxikon. This latter word is derived from the word toxon meaning a bow, and clearly describes the application of the poison. The term toxicology therefore reflects the name of this dreadful arrow poison.
