Abstract: Poisoning disguises the act of killing and the object of the crime. The body is both the envelope hiding the « snaking » arm within it, and the place on which it can leave its mark. The poisoned body is one of the major aspects of the problematic of poison, defined by Galien as that which is detrimental to the human body. This article examines sources, identifies the questions to put to them, and presents characteristics of the rich historical object that is the poisoned body.
