[SunkenCiv]

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

[x]

Egypt was troubled by the horrible asp.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[chajin]

Why would she need cobra? Pharaohs would automatically have government insurance, and direct access to physicians engaged in Cairo practice.

[Fiji Hill]

She was killed by a snake. Here's an eyewitness account.

Time Machine--Dante & the Evergreens

[SkyDancer]

What difference does it make. She’s dead. And is still dead to this day. Or was it Shakespeare or someone .....

[Billthedrill]

Now just a doggone minute - who you gonna believe, some Brit academic snake freak or Elizabeth Taylor? Do you think Hollywood would have allowed it on the screen if it weren't true? Elizabeth Taylor, dang it!

Apology accepted.

[1riot1ranger]

Who knew those darn cobras were born full grown.....

[mass55th]

"...says venomous snakes in Egypt -- cobras or vipers -- would have been too large to get unseen into the queen's palace."

It didn't have to be a large snake. I understand that the venom of young snakes is even more lethal than that of the adults. Maybe it was a baby asp.

[twister881]

[Texan5]

I saw a program on History channel last year that put forth several possibilities as to Cleo’s cause of death-Roman emperors were in the habit of parading their defeated royal captives through the streets of Rome in chains as part of their triumph before executing them, so it seems likely she did commit suicide to avoid that dishonor.

Scientists in the program concluded that poison was likely what she used-she was a queen-I’m sure she had easy access to several types of poison. A servant could have brought her a small vial of it, or have it already put in the food she was served-it would have been a lot easier and quicker than a snake...

[Larry Lucido]

She went to the Luxor Pyramid Casino and rolled snake eyes.

[thackney]

ays venomous snakes in Egypt -- cobras or vipers -- would have been too large to get unseen into the queen's palace.

BS. I know a family that lost a 13 Burmese python in their house.

They figure it eventually left the house, but not at the time. It was winter in Ohio.

I'm thinking there were a lot more cracks and crevices in her day than modern building.

[Inyo-Mono]

"That's not to say they aren't dangerous: the venom causes necrosis and will certainly kill you, but quite slowly

He needs to read up on cobras, people have been known to die within 10 minutes of being bitten.

[piasa]

Andrew Gray, curator of herpetology at Manchester Museum, says venomous snakes in Egypt -- cobras or vipers -- would have been too large to get unseen into the queen's palace.

Those Egyptian snakes must be very unusual - over here big snakes are just grown up little snakes. Do theirs somehow hatch out or get born fully-grown?

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Regarding what is going on in the painting;

“According to Plutarch (quoted by Ussher), Cleopatra tested various deadly poisons on condemned persons and concluded that the bite of the asp (from aspis - Egyptian cobra, not European asp) was the least terrible way to die; the venom brought sleepiness and heaviness without spasms of pain. The asp is perhaps most famous for its alleged role in Cleopatra’s suicide (From Wikipedia article on Asp (reptile))

In looking at the picture I do see a sinister man with a phial (Ha Pharmakos) perhaps an apothecary, or, a poisoner. (It all depends on the dose!) I do not see a snake, but I do see 2 test subjects, one dead, one dying.

Crazy English Herpto-hunter says he thinks it was an Egyptian cobra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi1Y9hXw6QY

It could, of course, have been a small cobra, or alternatively, a large basket of figs.