Theriac (theriac or theriaca) is an ancient universal mineral herbal remedy in the form of a thick syrup or resin, originally formulated by the Greeks in the 1st century BC and widely adopted in the ancient world.
Theriac as a precious medicine went as far as China and India via trade links and the Silk Road.

In the Middle Ages, the Republic of Venice, which had a large and strong fleet that created a number of trade routes and canals, was the only one able to easily provide all the necessary raw materials for making teriyaki.

Since the process of making teriyaki was expensive and long, teriyaki became a very precious and expensive commodity, so popular and sought after that Venice had one day a year called the Theriac Festival, a day celebrating the product and marking the beginning of the making season theriac.

Due to many forgeries, Theriac was made publicly and under the control of the Venetian state.

Each piece of theriac, which was mostly kept in beautifully decorated vases, was stamped with the words: “Alla speciara della Madonna therica fina in Venezia”.

This practice of production was also transferred to other European cities, so it is recorded that cities in Central Europe, Germany and Poland also had a theriac festival, and the most famous cities for theriac production, besides Venice, were the French Montpellier and Toulouse.

Since it was a precious, expensive and sought-after medicine, the secret of making teriyaki was strictly guarded. The Venetians had a monopoly on theriac formula and guarded it jealously.

Hence, a multitude of falsifications and interpretations of his action appeared all over Europe.

According to some authors, the medicine cured over 80 diseases.
In addition, the recipe for theriac was different from city to city, so who could find the ingredients.

Many plants and resins that originated from the Far or Middle East were replaced by local plants that
were easier to find. The first attempt to standardize the production of theriac and other medicines began in 1498 in Florence when the first official pharmacopoeia in the history of medicine was issued, after which many other cities began to create their own pharmacopoeias.

However, theriac formulas have changed over time. For example, the book Antidotarium Nicolai from XII century in Italy records that theriac has 61 ingredients, the London Pharmacopoeia from 1659 records 63 ingredients, but already in the next century the London Book of Pharmacy records 47 ingredients, so that in the 19th century the Italian Pharmacopoeia in the formula for theriac had only 28 ingredients, when pharmacists rejected a large number of ingredients due to the opinion that they did not have any key effect in the medicine.

In 1669, the French apothecary Moise Charas publicly announced the formula for Teriak, asking to end the Venetian monopoly on medicine and the reign of superstition, opening the way for the transfer of medical information between cities and countries.

Let's look at theriac animal part first.

The first ingredient was the dried meat of a poisonous snake (probably a viper but we can't be sure). In the early 19th century, this ingredient was removed from most official preparations, but it is interesting from a historical point of view.
Among the animal excreta there is castorium (castoreum), the excrement of the beaver gland that has been preserved in its “modern” form (10g).

Then come the mineral ingredients. In Moyse's version it is bitumen from Judea (10g) and iron sulfate (20g) and clay (unspecified, green?) 20g.
Then there are resins: frankincense 30g, myrrh 40g, opoponax 10g, galbanum 10g, benzoin 20g.

Gum arabic (20g) and Ferula persica gum were also added. The rootstocks, bulbs and roots of the following plants are used (Valerian 80g, iris 60g, ginger 60g, five toed 30g, rhubarb 30g, ungulate 10g, gentian 20g, bearwort 20g, sea onion skins 60g, sweet flag 30g and dry licorice juice 120g. Then go fruits and seeds: long pepper 120g, black pepper 60g, dill 20g, anise 50g, fennel 20g, Seseli tortuosum 20g, wild carrot from Crete 10g, lentil vetch 200g, black radish 60g, cardamom 80g, and lemon zest 60g.

The dry juice of the Areca catechu palm fruit is also added 40g.Then the flowers and flower tops or flower parts are added: Spanish lavender 30g, red rose 60g, yarrow 20g, yarrow 20g, probably yarrow 30g, lettuce 30g, saffron (pistils) 40g and some of the mountain mint (unclear under the group name, Maybe Calamintha nepetoides or genus Acinos) 30g.

Leaves: Origanum dictamus (from Crete) 30g, laurel 30g, bulbous germander 60g. 60g of mushrooms from the genus Agaricus were also added. But realistic people say that the main and most important ingredient was 120g of opium. Hence, the effect of opium also has a panacea effect, but we can never be sure: the total proportion of opium and active substances was relatively low doses.

After the whole botanic walk, the work was just beginning.

All the ingredients were ground (laboriously) into the finest possible powder, and then the finest powder was separated through sieves; the best quality were those sifted through silk, because that's how powders in cosmetics were once sifted.1 kg of this fine powder was carefully mixed with 50 g of Chinese pine resin: the resin was melted and ground with the powder until a homogeneous mixture was formed.

3.5 kg of honey would be heated to make the honey less viscous, and slowly added to the mixture while stirring. Then, at the end, 250g of Grenache wine would be added.

A thick paste would form. It would be left for a few months, then it would be mixed again into a homogeneous mixture; sometimes smaller balls separated immediately. In total, the mixture would have to stand for a year, and the production itself traditionally began in February, although it was also done at other times of the year.