Snake 'not guilty of killing Cleopatra'

[Anomalocaris]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8RcMkVpjnw

Snake 'not guilty of killing Cleopatra'

Egyptologists and snake experts have combined to examine the plausibility of the tale of the queen being killed by a cobra hidden in a basket of figs.

They believe a snake big enough to kill the queen and two maids would not have been small enough to be concealed.

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Edited October 21, 2015 by Anomalocaris

[Keel M.]

Well I imagine ALL that snake's kinfolk are relieved that his name has been cleared.

[Taun]

This article says that a cobra was the supposed snake used... I thought it was supposedly an asp? (which is a much smaller snake and even deadlier)...

Then again perhaps the "snake" was a dagger named "Snake" or "Asp" and the three women used it on themselves...

[Keel M.]

This article says that a cobra was the supposed snake used... I thought it was supposedly an asp? (which is a much smaller snake and even deadlier)...

Good point. A write up on the asp in Wikipedia states that some believe it was a horned viper. I suppose we'll never know the truth.

The article also states that Cleopatra herself had discovered that an asp's venom caused the least drama when dying. Apparently you'd just fall asleep and die in your sleep rather than being wracked with spasms of pain.

Edited October 21, 2015 by Child of Bast

[bubblykiss]

So Roman gossips writing smutty histories after the fact embellished or otherwise changed events that they recorded but did not directly witness?

[bubblykiss]

This article says that a cobra was the supposed snake used... I thought it was supposedly an asp? (which is a much smaller snake and even deadlier)...

Then again perhaps the "snake" was a dagger named "Snake" or "Asp" and the three women used it on themselves...

I had been taught the same in school, an Asp to the breast. But it appears there is more than meets the eye here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra#Death

[SHaYap]

Alas poor Cleopatra ... the Romans knew her well ... very well

[freetoroam]

Well I always thought it was an asp. Now, as usual, some people are going through the usual snake pits to dramatize it.

It was an ASP darn it! ..........................(allegedly)

[Still Waters]

Snake 'not guilty of killing Cleopatra'

A German scientist claimed that 5 years ago -

He will say that the bite of an asp would have given her an agonising death over several days. Toxicologists and zoologists believe she took a drug cocktail instead.

'Queen Cleopatra was famous for her beauty and was unlikely to have subjected herself to a long and disfiguring death,'

http://www.unexplain...howtopic=185126

[Kanate]

Good point. A write up on the asp in Wikipedia states that some believe it was a horned viper. I suppose we'll never know the truth.

The article also states that Cleopatra herself had discovered that an asp's venom caused the least drama when dying. Apparently you'd just fall asleep and die in your sleep rather than being wracked with spasms of pain.

Ok so what we're looking for in the notorious asp that killed her majesty is small size (easily concealed inside a fruit basket), fatal bite, fast acting venom, relatively painless venom.

Keeping to that criteria that article doesn't seem to be the most reliable of sources does it? For that matter neither does the write up on Wiki since horned vipers are not normally fatally toxic to humans not even back then. Even when they are lethal, envenomation by horned vipers is characterized by coagulopathy, increased fibrinolysis, thrombocytopenia, micro-angiopathic haemolytic anaemia and acute renal failure. (Ouch... ) In other words it is a very long and excruciating death. I've seen claims that the notorious asp was also the echis carinatus or saw-scaled viper but again though its venom is lethal it isn't fast acting enough nor painless enough to fit the bill. Both snakes produce a fairly gruesome means of death as their venom attacks the bloodstream. The asp was almost certainly not a cobra either as most cobras would have to be too large to be easily concealed inside a fruit basket and their venom is normally quite painful. If the article is to be believed then I'd tend to believe that the legendary asp that killed Cleopatra was most likely a black mamba as it is the only African snake that meets all criteria. Black Mamba venom is composed of neurotoxins thus it tends to be relatively painless compared to most other snakes and can cause an adult to collapse within forty five minutes so it is quite fast acting. Mortality rate from black mamba bites was said to be 100% before antivenom was distributed. Normally mambas are very large snakes but even one small enough to fit easily inside a fruit basket can deliver a lethal bite since they produce an astounding amount of venom and excessively overdose their victims with every bite delivering fatal envenomation each time even at that size. They are one of the few snakes in the world that actually produces so much venom, even as newborn babies, that they have been known to drool.