Cinnabar
Minium, vermilion
- Known today as
- Mercury sulfide.
- Kind
- Mineral, in 3 older authorities
- Constituents
- mercury sulfide
- Poisoning
- Mercury, arsenic, lead, and antimony
- Earliest authority here
- Pliny (AD 23/24–79)
- In other databases
- Wikidata search
Revised October 1, 2026: Tradition, lore, modern assessment, and sources extended. Version 1, first published September 25, 2026.
Deadly. Poisonous; deadly when heated.
Cinnabar: what was it used for?
A red pigment; in China an ingredient of elixirs of immortality; in the West in fumigations and ointments for the pox.
Cinnabar: what does modern science say?
Its mercury is poisonous, especially heated. The mineral is nearly insoluble, so swallowed cinnabar does less harm than its reputation; heated, it gives off mercury vapour, which destroys the nerves, and the shaking, loosened teeth, and madness of the mercury miners were known to the Romans. It remains in some Chinese and Ayurvedic preparations, against the advice of every regulator.
Cinnabar: is it poisonous?
Yes, and it can kill. Poisonous; deadly when heated. Its poisoning is mercury, arsenic, lead, and antimony: Minutes to hours for a large dose; months or years for the slow poisoning of the trades. Historical description, not medical advice; in a poisoning, call a poison centre.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- Mechanism
- Nearly insoluble; the danger is the mercury vapour when it is heated.
- Toxic dose
- Grams by mouth have been taken in Chinese medicine with measurable harm; heating is far worse.
- Syndrome
- Mercury, arsenic, lead, and antimony
- Standing
- Still in some Chinese and Ayurvedic preparations, against the advice of regulators.
- Liu, J., et al. (2008). Experimental Biology and Medicine 233. Book, not indexed
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Cinnabar: what lore surrounds it?
The mines of Almadén in Spain, worked from Roman times until 2002, were a death sentence for the slaves and convicts sent there; vermilion from them painted the walls of Pompeii and the manuscripts of the Middle Ages. The Maya covered the dead with it: the Red Queen of Palenque, buried in the seventh century, was found under a layer of cinnabar powder.
Cinnabar: what did the older authorities say?
- Pliny
- Describes the Spanish mines of Sisapo and complains of the confusion between cinnabar and the resin called dragon’s blood (see Dragon’s blood).
- Theophrastus
- The oldest Greek account, On Stones, describes the cinnabar of Spain and of Colchis, and the washing of the ore for the pigment.
- The Chinese alchemists
- Made cinnabar the chief ingredient of the elixirs of immortality, since mercury can be drawn from it by fire and returned to it: the First Emperor is said to have died of such elixirs in 210 BC, and his tomb to hold rivers of mercury.
Sources
- Pliny, Natural History XXXIII. Primary text
- Theophrastus, On Stones. Book, not indexed
- Liu, J., et al. (2008). “Mercury in traditional medicines: is cinnabar toxicologically similar to common mercurials?” Experimental Biology and Medicine 233. Verified against its record · doi:10.3181/0712-mr-336
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Sources
- 4 cited: 1 verified against its record, 1 primary text, 2 book, not indexed. 1 with the abstract on file.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026 · last revised October 1, 2026
- Chicago
“Cinnabar.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 1, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cinnabar.
- MLA
“Cinnabar.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 1 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cinnabar. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Cinnabar. (2026, October 1). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cinnabar
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See Also
Poisoned alike: mercury, arsenic, lead, and antimony
Iron and steel · Aurum potabile · James’s powder · Armenian stone, pills of · Litharge · Antimony · Orpiment and realgar · White lead · the syndrome, with all of them →
Also in Pliny the Elder
Cinnamon in Pliny the Elder · Chicory in Pliny the Elder · Cinquefoil in Pliny the Elder · Chaste tree in Pliny the Elder · everything Pliny the Elder names →
Also in Theophrastus
Hemlock in Theophrastus · Licorice in Theophrastus · Peony in Theophrastus · everything Theophrastus names →
Drawing on the same sources: Pliny, Theophrastus, Liu
Castoreum · Coltsfoot · Gum arabic · Aconite · Jelly ear · the bibliography →
Nearby in the alphabet
Cinchona (The bark of Cinchona trees of the Andes) · Chrism (Olive oil mixed with balsam and consecrated by a bishop) · Citron (the large thick-rinded ancestor of the lemon) · Chokecherry (the chokecherry of North America) · Civet (The glandular secretion of the civet cat) · Chocolate
Historical description, not medical advice.