Throughout history and popular culture, various figures have been associated with the lore of poison rings. One of the earliest accounts can be traced to Roman antiquity in which Romans are theorized to have used poison rings to commit suicide when painful death was unavoidable. Such an example can be seen in the suicide of Demosthenes (384-322 BC), a Greek statesman and orator who directed a revolt against Alexander the Great. It is speculated by Greek biographer Plutarch in his 2nd century A.D publication Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, that Demosthenes (fig.2) in fear of being arrested and brutally tortured, committed suicide by consuming poison hidden in a hollow ring, worn on his arm. Another example is in the death of Hannibal