The enigma of history: Did Cleopatra really die from a snake bite?

Photo: GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP / Getty Images

The solid historical evidence related to the death of Cleopatra, as with Much of his biography is scant.

Those who compiled the most complete accounts of her life, in particular the Roman writer Plutarch, lived generations after her death. Subsequently, poets, playwrights, and filmmakers drew on these sources to make Cleopatra an almost mythical figure, defined largely by her powers of seduction and her relationships with two Roman leaders, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.

These fictionalized accounts of her life and untimely death created the popular image of Cleopatra as the beautiful, doomed protagonist of one of the most famous romantic dramas in history. Behind that image, however, was a real-life queen who, regardless of her appearance, was undoubtedly a formidable leader and one of the most powerful members of a queen. Greek dynasty that ruled Egypt for more than three centuries.

What we know about death of Cleopatra

After the Roman forces crushed the Egyptian army at the Battle of Actium, Antony and Cleopatra they retreated to Alexandria, where they saw their former allies and supporters defect to Octavian’s side.

Late July 30 a. C., the forces of Octavio had arrived at Alexandria and Cleopatra retired to her mausoleum. Hearing a report that she had died, Antonio stabbed himself with his own sword.

When they broke down the door of the mausoleum, they found Cleopatra lying lifeless on a golden bed, with her two servants dead and dying at her side. I had 39 years when he died and had ruled Egypt for over 20 years.

The snake bite theory

According to the most widely repeated theory about Cleopatra’s death, she died from the bite of a poisonous snake, inflicted by an asp (a small viper) or an Egyptian cobra. His would have been a particularly poetic suicide: the asp was a symbol of royalty for the Egyptians, while the cobra was associated with Cleopatra’s favorite goddess, Isis.

There are several problems with this theory, according to modern Egyptologists. For one thing, cobras were typically at least five feet long and could grow up to eight feet; too big to be smuggled into Cleopatra’s mausoleum in a basket of figs, so the story goes.

Furthermore, not all snakebites are fatal, and those that are kill their victims slowly and painfully, so It is hard to believe that a snake could kill Cleopatra and her two maidens in the short time it took for Octavian to receive his note and send to your guards.

If Cleopatra poisoned herself to death, argue Schiff and others,it is more likely that she drank a lethal herbal concoction or applied a toxic ointment, as suggested by an ancient historian, Strabo.

Was it suicide?

The truth, however, remains elusive. With no known eyewitnesses and no primary written accounts of Cleopatra’s death, much of what we know comes from Octavian, who some have suggested is a suspect.

Whether or not Octavian ordered the murder of Cleopatra and her servants, or simply provided her with the space and opportunity to commit suicide, what happened next is clear: ordered his guards to hunt down and kill Caesarion, Cleopatra’s teenage son with Caesar, to eliminate him.

Octavian then made Egypt a Roman province, with himself as emperor; he later took the name Augustus. In his later memoirs, Octavian/Augustus ensured that his version of Cleopatra and her suicide (snake bite and all) would live on for centuries to come.

Keep reading:

• Attack on a bus in Jerusalem leaves seven injured, two seriously
• VIDEO: Fire in a church in Cairo, Egypt, leaves 41 dead and 14 wounded
• Caracas and other regions of Venezuela suffer failure electric