The magico-medicinal character of hellebore, a poisonous member of the Ranunculaceae, a botanical family which includes other deadly species such as aconite, was established in Greek antiquity. The mythological physician Melampus was said to have observed the cathartic effect of hellebore on goats who browsed on the plants. Melampus used the milk of these same goats to cure the daughters of the King of Argos of a divinely inflicted madness, and hellebore was sometimes called melampodium. Hellebore continued to be used in the Middle Ages to purge the body of black bile; melancholia and madness were attributed to an excess of this bodily humor. Dioscorides had recommended hellebore to eliminate excess phlegm and choler as well as bile. It could also be laid on to treat skin diseases, inserted into the ear to cure deafness, and mixed with vinegar, used as a mouthwash to heal toothache. The drastic and dangerous nature of hellebore’s purgative action was well known, and was sometimes exploited for purposes other than healing: according to the Greek geographer Pausanias, the ancient Phocian city of Krissa held out against its besiegers for ten years, until their enemies poisoned the city’s water supply by contaminating the river Pleistus with hellebore roots.