Historian Duane W. Roller, in Roller 2010, pp.148–149, provides a thorough explanation of the various claims about Cleopatra's cause of death in Roman historiography and primary sources. He states unequivocally that Olympos did not describe any cause of death, only that Plutarch discussed the cause of death only after he was finished relaying the report by Olympos, introducing the tale of the asp bite in such a way that he expected his readers to have already had foreknowledge of it. For Cleopatra's European origins through her ancestor Ptolemy I Soter, a general of Alexander the Great from the kingdom of Macedonia in northern Greece, see Fletcher 2008, pp.1, 23 and Southern 2009, p.43.

The experimental progress and scientific ideas in medicine as well as anatomical studies represented the higher point in Antiquity with Herophilus and Erasistratus who denied, however, the use of different substances, including those venemous, as remedies. Apollodorus of Tarentum, a remarkable scholar, led the subsequent studies of toxicology. However Ptolemy VIII Evergetes II, one of the most brutal politicians called Kakergētēs (Malefactor) [ 7], drove out of Alexandria the Greek intellectuals, contributing to the dispersion of Herophilean School and the decline of the Museion [ 8]. Cue this guide. It runs through five of the most feared, the most formidable serpents that currently make their home in the land of Tutankhamun and the Valley of the Kings. The focus is on the ones with the worst venom; the snakes that can kill a human in just a matter of hours. You know, the sort of creatures you definitely do not want to come across on a tour of northeastern Africa. A Roman cameo glass vessel in the British Museum known as the Portland Vase contains a possible depiction of Cleopatra and her imminent death. [115] Dated to the reign of Augustus, it depicts various other figures often identified as Augustus, his sister Octavia Minor, Mark Antony and his alleged ancestor Anton. The seated woman identified as Cleopatra grasps and pulls Antony toward her while a serpent rises from between her legs and the Greek god of love Eros ( Cupid) floats above them. [116] Nuwer, Rachel (29 March 2013), "Maybe Cleopatra Didn't Commit Suicide: Her murder, one author thinks, was covered up behind a veil of propaganda and lies put forth by the Roman Empire", Smithsonian , retrieved 3 May 2018. Like much of Medieval literature about Cleopatra, Boccaccio's writings are largely negative and misogynistic. The 14th-century poet Geoffrey Chaucer counters these depictions, offering a positive view of Cleopatra. [126] Chaucer began his hagiography on virtuous pagan women with the life of Cleopatra, depicted in a satirical fashion as a queen engaged in courtly love with her knight Mark Antony. [127] [128] His depiction of her suicide included a pit of serpents rather than the Roman tale of the asps. [129] [130] Cleopatra, by Michelangelo, c. 1535

Right: Most likely a posthumously painted portrait of Cleopatra VII of Ptolemaic Egypt with red hair and her distinct facial features, wearing a royal diadem and pearl-studded hairpins, from Roman Herculaneum, Italy, 1st century AD [3] [100] [note 12] Cleopatra's death effectively ended the final war of the Roman Republic between the remaining triumvirs Octavian and Antony, in which Cleopatra aligned herself with Antony, father to three of her children. Antony and Cleopatra fled to Egypt following their loss at the 31 BC Battle of Actium in Roman Greece, after which Octavian invaded Egypt and defeated their forces. Committing suicide allowed her to avoid the humiliation of being paraded as a prisoner in a Roman triumph celebrating the military victories of Octavian, who would become Rome's first emperor in 27 BC and be known as Augustus. Octavian had Cleopatra's son Caesarion (also known as Ptolemy XV), rival heir of Julius Caesar, killed in Egypt but spared her children with Antony and brought them to Rome. Cleopatra's death marked the end of the Hellenistic period and Ptolemaic rule of Egypt, as well as the beginning of Roman Egypt, which became a province of the Roman Empire. [note 1] Tsoucalas, Gregory; Sgantzos, Markos (2014), "The Death of Cleopatra: Suicide by Snakebite or Poisoned by Her Enemies?", in Philip Wexler (ed.), History of Toxicology and Environmental Health: Toxicology in Antiquity, vol.1, Amsterdam: Academic Press (Elsevier), ISBN 9780128004630. A mid-1st century BC Roman wall painting from Pompeii most likely depicting Cleopatra with her infant son Caesarion was walled off by its owner around 30 BC, perhaps in reaction to Octavian's proscription against images depicting Caesarion, the rival heir of Julius Caesar. [88] [89] Although statues of Mark Antony were torn down, those of Cleopatra were generally spared this program of destruction, including the one erected by Caesar in the Temple of Venus Genetrix in the Forum of Caesar. [111] [112] An early 1st century AD painting from Pompeii most likely depicts the suicide of Cleopatra, accompanied by attendants and even her son Caesarion wearing a royal diadem like his mother, although an asp is absent from the scene, perhaps reflecting the different causes of death provided in Roman historiography. [113] [2] [note 13] Some posthumous images of Cleopatra meant for common consumption were perhaps less flattering. A Roman terracotta lamp in the British Museum made c. 40–80 AD contains a relief depicting a nude woman with the queen's distinct hairstyle. In it she holds a palm branch, rides an Egyptian crocodile and sits on a large phallus in a Nilotic scene. [114] The Hellenistic rulers of Alexandria and other kingdoms chose as personal doctors pharmacologists specialized in venoms. As the use of poisons was frequent among Diadochi and Epigones that type of knowledge was in fashion, while to write On poisonous animals [ 60], became a popular subject. Crateuas (ca. 120−63 BC), a Greek artist and Mithridates VI of Pontus’ court physician, classified the plants for medicinal purposes, experimented against poisoning and developed a famous antidote. “Mithridates is reported to have acquired immunity to deadly doses of arsenic by ingesting miniscule amounts of arsenic over many years (Dio Cassius 37.13). It seemed that dividing a dose into aliquots enabled the action of redeeming mechanisms, as it offers adequate time for repair before the next dose is administered. While an entire dose might be hazardous if ingested at once, its fractioning could render the substance less toxic. He titrated himself to various poisons by taking small doses every day, the mithridatium (Pliny 25.3)” [ 61]. Nicander II of Colophon (2nd century BC), contemporary of Attalus III of Pergamum, wrote a scientific and didactic poetry, trying to popularized science, and composed several books: On bites and stings of venomous animals, Pharmaca and Alexipharmaca. Petrichos in his work Ophiaca (snakes) from the 2nd century BC also put available knowledge in metrical form and, finally, the Neumenios of Heraclea’s Theriaca, a little before.

The best physical barrier to stop them from entering your home and yard is our Fence Barrier. These materials we use are 1/4-inch hardware cloth (galvanized mesh), Stakes, screws, concrete anchors, etc. Every problem is different and not every exclusion or trapping technique will be right for your home. So, we tailor our services to meet your unique requirements. The character of Cleopatra had appeared in forty-three films by the end of the 20th century. [148] Georges Méliès' Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb ( French: Cléopâtre), an 1899 French silent horror film, was the first to depict the character of Cleopatra. [149] Following the Italo-Turkish War (1911–1912), the 1913 Italian film Marcantonio e Cleopatra by Enrico Guazzoni depicted Cleopatra as the embodiment of the cruel Orient, a queen who had defied Rome, while the actions of her lover Antony, after his suicide, are forgiven by Octavian. [150] In cultivating a stage persona for her character in the 1917 US film Cleopatra, actress Theda Bara was seen in public petting snakes while the Fox Film Corporation posed her in front of Cleopatra's alleged mummified remains in a museum, where she announced that she was the reincarnation of Cleopatra, having received hieroglyphic tributary offerings from a reincarnated servant. [151] Fox Studios also had Bara dress as a leader of the occult and associated her with perverse death and sexuality. [151] The 1963 Hollywood film Cleopatra by Joseph L. Mankiewicz contains a dramatic scene where the Egyptian queen, portrayed by Elizabeth Taylor, is engaged in a slap-fight with her lover Mark Antony, portrayed by Richard Burton, inside the tomb where they would be interred. [152] These guys are closely related to a whole bunch of other cobra species that live all over Egypt. Their particular range means that they can be found all across East Africa, up the Horn of Africa, and as far south as Tanzania. They prefer dry and arid habitats under 1,000 meters above sea level but often reside close to major freshwater sources. Venomous snakes in Egypt – our conclusion The cause of Cleopatra's death was rarely mentioned and debated in early modern scholarship. [74] The encyclopedic writer Thomas Browne, in his 1646 Pseudodoxia Epidemica, explained that it was uncertain how Cleopatra had died and that artistic depictions of small snakes biting her failed to accurately show the large size of the "land asp". [75] In 1717 the anatomist Giovanni Battista Morgagni maintained a brief, recreational literary correspondence with the papal physician Giovanni Maria Lancisi about the queen's cause of death, as referenced in Morgagni's 1761 De Sedibus and published as a series of epistles in his 1764 Opera omnia. [76] Morgagni argued that Cleopatra was likely killed by a snakebite and contested Lancisi's suggestion that consumption of venom was more plausible, noting that no ancient Greco-Roman authors had mentioned her drinking it. Lancisi rebutted by arguing that accounts offered by Roman poets were unreliable since they often exaggerated events. [77] In his literary memoirs published in 1777, the physician Jean Goulin supported Morgagni's argument of the snakebite being the most probable cause of death. [78] Cleopatra, by Benedetto Gennari, 1674–1675For further validation that Demetrios of Phaleron, adviser to Ptolemy I Soter, died from an asp bite, see Roller 2010, p.149. Most snakes found around homes are following a food source or taking advantage of existing habitat. The following techniques should make your homes and premises less attractive and available for snakes. Manninen, Alisa (2015), Royal Power and Authority in Shakespeare's Late Tragedies, Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, ISBN 9781443876223.

A gold-platedsterling silver ring in the shape of a coiled snake, inspired by an original Roman ring found in Alexandria. Sartain, John (1885), On the Antique Painting in Encaustic of Cleopatra: Discovered in 1818, Philadelphia: George Gebbie & Co., OCLC 3806143. Right: The Banquet of Cleopatra and Antony, a woodcut from a 1479 version of Giovanni Boccaccio's De Mulieribus Claris published in Ulm, Germany [123] Great hyIt is one of only three venomous snake species found in Virginia, the other being copperheads and water moccasins. A lot of people find it surprising that even the largest and the scariest of snakes can be afraid. While they are young they are easy prey to many birds and mammals but when they are older and larger they have humans to fear. According to the experts at National Geographic and our wildlife technicians, snakes have many enemies if you can believe it. Enemies like large birds, wild boars, a mongoose, raccoons, foxes, coyotes and even other snakes are a few of the dangers snakes fall prey to.