gems, ancient history, Persia, sugar treatment, Corsican honey, agate, chalcedon, onyx

A sip of toxic nectar could kill a horse, render a soldier senseless, and inspire the Delphic Oracle. In 401 B.C. the general Xenophon was leading 10,000 Greek mercenaries back home after having fought with distinction against the grand army of the king of Persia. As they hurried through Asia Minor toward the Black Sea, battling natives and plundering along the way, a mystifying event befell them. While making camp and looking for food in the territory of Colchis, they noticed extraordinary numbers of swarming bees. After feasting on honey raided from the beehives, wrote Xenophon in his history The Anabasis, the soldiers suddenly became “like intoxicated madmen” and soon collapsed by the thousands.