lists of poisonings lists of poisonings these are lists of poisonings, deliberate and accidental, in chronological order by the date of death of the victim(s). they include mass poisonings, confirmed attempted poisonings, suicides, fictional poisonings and people who are known or suspected to have killed multiple people. non-fiction fatal socrates (d. 399 bc), greek philosopher; according to plato, he was sentenced to kill himself by drinking poison hemlock artaxerxes iii (d. 338 bc), persian king; possibly poisoned by his vizier bagoas artaxerxes iv (d. 336 bc), persian king; poisoned by his vizier bagoas bagoas (d. 336 bc), persian vizier and king-maker; poisoned by darius iii demosthenes (d. 322 bc), athenian politician xu pingjun (d. 71 bc), first empress of emperor xuan of han. antipater the idumaean (d. 43 bc), father of herod the great drusus julius caesar (d. 23), son of tiberius emperor claudius (d. 54), allegedly poisoned by his wife agrippina with mushrooms or with the poisoned feather used to provoke vomiting emperor zhi of han (d.146) emperor hui of jin china (d. 304) ali ibn abi talib (d. 661), fourth caliph of the rashidun caliphate and first of the twelve imams of shia islam umar ibn abd al-aziz (d. 720), eighth caliph of the umayyad caliphate muhammad al-baqir (d. 733), fifth imam of twelver shia islam; supposedly died after being given a poisoned saddle mūsá al-kāẓim (d. 799), seventh imam of twelver shia islam beorhtric of wessex (d. 802), unintentionally poisoned by his wife, eadburh muhammad al-jawad (d. 835), ninth imam of twelver shia islam; supposedly poisoned by his wife on orders from the new caliph romanus ii (d. 963), byzantine emperor of the macedonian dynasty alan iii, duke of brittany (d. 1040) constantine ii of armenia (d. 1129) alphonse i, count of toulouse (d. 1148) baldwin iii of jerusalem (d. 1162) blanche of bourbon (d. 1361), first wife of king pedro of castile louis, count of gravina (d. 1362) robert, count of eu (d. 1387) ladislaus, king of naples (d. 1414) dmitry shemyaka (d. 1453), grand duke of moscow; poisoned with arsenic by vasily tyomniy's agents in great novgorod giovanni pico della mirandola (d. 1494) margaret drummond (d. 1502), mistress of king james iv of scotland timoji (d. 1512), hindu privateer and portuguese ally juan ponce de león (d. 1521), spanish conquistador; died after being wounded by a poisoned arrow mikhail skopin-shuisky (d. 1610), russian general and statesman yamada nagamasa (d. 1630), japanese adventurer charles vi, holy roman emperor (d. 1740), ate poisonous mushrooms johann schobert (d. 1767), german composer; ate poisonous mushrooms believing them to be edible bradford sweets poisoning (1858); 21 people died and more than 200 others became ill when confections accidentally made with arsenic trioxide were sold from a market stall in bradford, england charles francis hall (d. 1871), american arctic explorer poisoned with arsenic by members of the polaris expedition. nine children killed on 28 may 1879 in newark, vermont after drinking from a polluted stream. guangxu emperor (d. 1908), emperor of the qing dynasty; poisoned with arsenic by unidentified persons olive thomas (d. 1920), american silent film actress; accidentally ingested a large dose of mercury(ii) chloride madge oberholtzer (d. 1925), rape victim of ku klux klan leader d.c. stephenson; died after attempting to commit suicide with mercury(ii) chloride nine killed by apple cider contaminated by a pesticide at elks national home in bedford, virginia in november 1923. nestor lakoba (d. 1936), abkhaz communist leader; poisoned by nkvd chief lavrenti beria abram slutsky (d.1938), head of soviet spy service; poisoned with hydrogen cyanide by nkvd nikolai koltsov (d. 1940), russian biologist; poisoned by nkvd secret police erwin rommel (d. 1944), german general; opted to commit suicide with cyanide after facing trial for his involvement in the 20 july plot eva hitler (née braun) (d. 1945), wife of adolf hitler; committed suicide by cyanide capsule at hitler's side the six goebbels children (d. 1945); poisoned by their parents magda and joseph goebbels, who then killed themselves by poison and gunshots shortly afterwards heinrich himmler (d. 1945), leader of the nazi schutzstaffel (ss); suicide by cyanide capsule after being captured odilo globocnik (d. 1945) hermann göring (d. 1946), leader of the nazi luftwaffe; suicide by cyanide capsule, long after being captured and only hours before his sentenced hanging was to take place theodore romzha (d. 1947), bishop of the ruthenian greek catholic church; poisoned by nkvd agents, who injected him with curare on orders from nikita khrushchev alan turing (d. 1954), british mathematician; apparently committed suicide by injecting an apple with cyanide and taking a bite, though it has also been speculated that the poisoning was accidental stepan bandera (d. 1959); poisoned by a cyanide capsule shot from a gun by kgb agents 1971 iraq poison grain disaster; at least 650 people died after eating methylmercury-treated grain intended for seeding bandō mitsugorō viii (d. 1975), japanese kabuki actor; ate four livers of fugu fish nine killed in denver city, texas due to an accidental release of hydrogen sulfide. jayanta hazarika (d. 1977), assamese singer and musician georgi markov (d. 1978), bulgarian dissident; assassinated in london with ricin peoples temple members (1978); over 900 died by cyanide-laced punch at jonestown love canal (up to 1978); buried toxic waste was covered and used as a building site for housing and a school in niagara falls, new york, resulting in claims of chronic poisoning that led to a massive environmental cleanup bhopal disaster (1984); accidental release of poisonous gas from a pesticide plant in india that killed over 10,000 people and injured many more matsumoto incident (1994); sarin gas attack carried out by members of the aum shinrikyo group killed 7 people and injured approximately 200 sarin gas attack on the tokyo subway (1995); attack carried out by members of the aum shinrikyo group killed 12 and injured 1,034 marshall applewhite (d. 1997) moscow theater hostage crisis (2002); to end the crisis, the federal security service (fsb) pumped an undisclosed chemical agent into the building's ventilation system, killing 40 militants and 133 hostages ibn al-khattab (d. 2002), sunni jihadi fighter; died from a poisoned letter sent by russian fsb agency koodathayi cyanide murders (d. 2002–2016); 6 people were allegedly killed by jolly joseph using potassium cyanide roman tsepov (d. 2004), russian businessman; poisoned by unspecified radioactive material 2006 ivory coast toxic waste dump killed seventeen alexander litvinenko (d. 2006), russian ex-spy and investigator; died three weeks after being poisoned by radioactive polonium-210 zamfara state lead poisoning epidemic (2010); at least 163 people died in zamfara state, nigeria murder of garnett spears (2014), a boy in new york whose mother suffered from munchausen syndrome by proxy, eventually leading her to give her son a fatal amount of table salt slobodan praljak (d. 2017), former bosnian croat retired general in the croatian army and the croatian defence council; upon hearing of the guilty verdict upheld in his trial for war crimes, he drank poison in the courtroom and died a few hours later dawn sturgess (d. 2018), accidentally poisoned with the same novichok nerve agent used in the poisoning of sergei and yulia skripal tribistovo poisoning (2021); carbon monoxide leak from a power generator killed eight teenagers in the new year's eve night non-fatal grigori rasputin, russian mystic; survived being poisoned with potassium cyanide, as well as being shot, bludgeoned, and being thrown into a frozen river before he finally died by drowning clare boothe luce, fell ill from arsenic poisoning in 1956 but did not die nikolay khokhlov, poisoned by radioactive thallium in germany in 1957 for refusing to work as a kgb assassin alexander dubček, slovak politician; survived an attempt to poison him with strontium-90 in 1968 hafizullah amin, second president of afghanistan; survived a poisoning by a soviet agent in 1979 zhu ling, chinese university student poisoned with thallium in 1995 khaled mashal, leader of palestinian fundamentalist organization hamas; survived being poisoned by israeli assassins in 1997 after two of the assassins were captured and an antidote was supplied by israel in exchange for their release anna politkovskaya, russian journalist; poisoned during a flight to beslan in 2004 viktor yushchenko, ukrainian politician; poisoned with dioxin during the 2004 ukrainian electoral campaign viktor kalashnikov, russian ex-kgb colonel; both he and his wife survived being poisoned with mercury in 2010 vladimir kara-murza, russian opposition politician; poisoned in 2017 (also possibly in 2015) with an unknown toxin sergei and yulia skripal, russian former double-agent and his daughter; poisoned in 2018 in salisbury, england with novichok nerve agent alexei navalny, russian opposition leader, poisoned in 2020 with novichok, during a flight from tomsk to moscow unnamed taylor child deliberate destruction of a child's liver caused by her mother, shauna taylor, in an act of munchausen by proxy and intentional iron poisoning. alleged alexander the great (d. 323 bc) mithridates vi of pontus (d. 63 bc), king of pontus and armenia minor ptolemy xiv of egypt (d. 44 bc); if so, by his sister cleopatra augustus (d. 14), roman emperor, with poisoned figs by his wife livia germanicus (d. 19), roman general claudius (d. 54), roman emperor, by his wife agrippina the younger boudica (d. 60 or 61), queen of the iceni tribe and leader of the rebellion against roman rule in britain; committed suicide by poison according to tacitus, though dio cassius claimed natural illness constance of normandy (d. 1090), daughter of king william i of england king john of england (d. 1216); with peaches pope benedict xi (d. 1304) stefan dusan (d. 1355), serbian king anne neville (d. 1485), queen consort of england, died of tuberculosis but said to have been poisoned by her husband richard iii matthias corvinus (d. 1490), king of hungary catherine of aragon (d. 1536), queen consort of england, thought to have been poisoned by her former husband henry viii of england or his wife anne boleyn barbara radziwiłł (d. 1551), queen of poland king eric xiv of sweden (d. 1577); according to folklore, he was killed from poisoning by arsenic hidden in pea soup tycho brahe (d. 1601), danish astronomer jamestown colonists (1607–1610); standard historical accounts suggest many early colonists died of starvation, but the possibility of arsenic poisoning by rat poison (or of death by bubonic plague) has also been reported robert cecil, 1st earl of salisbury (d. 1612) victor amadeus i, duke of savoy (d. 1637) wolfgang amadeus mozart (d. 1791), austrian composer; with antimony napoleon bonaparte (d. 1821); some claim he was killed with arsenic by someone on his staff, though the evidence is inconclusive pope pius viii (d. 1830) zachary taylor (d. 1850), 12th president of the united states; theorized by author clara rising that his milk was poisoned during an independence day celebration john gallagher montgomery (d. 1857), u.s. congressman from pennsylvania charles darwin (d. 1882), english naturalist; possibly died due to self-medication with fowler's solution, one-percent potassium arsenite hanoi poison plot (1908), a group of local vietnamese tried to poison the entire french colonial army's garrison in the citadel of hanoi huo yuanjia (d. 1910), wushu master and chinese national hero; arsenic emperor gojong of korea (d. 1919); allegedly poisoned by the japanese maxim gorky (d. 1936), russian writer; nkvd chief genrikh yagoda admitted at the trial of the twenty one that he ordered to poison gorky and his son robert johnson (d. 1938), american musician raoul wallenberg (d. c. 1947), swedish humanitarian who saved tens of thousands of jews during world war ii; reportedly poisoned in lubyanka prison by grigory mairanovsky joseph stalin (d. 1953); officially cerebral hemorrhage, but according to vyacheslav molotov's memoirs and historians radzinsky and antonov-ovseenko, stalin was poisoned on lavrenty beria's orders vasili blokhin (d. 1955), former executioner of nkvd lal bahadur shastri (d. 1966), second prime minister of india joão goulart (d. 1976), former brazilian president ousted by 1964 coup d'état carlos lacerda (d. 1977), brazilian journalist and presidential nominee pope john paul i (d. 1978) gulf war syndrome, a chronic multi-symptom disorder afflicting more than 250,000 returning veterans and civilian workers of the gulf war of 1990–1991; while the etiology of the condition continues to be debated, various manmade poisons have been suggested as possible causes yuri shchekochikhin (d. 2003), russian investigative journalist; died presumably from poisoning by radioactive thallium yasser arafat (d. 2004); reputedly died from liver cirrhosis,