Posted on 07/02/2010 6:04:02 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt, died from swallowing a lethal drug cocktail and not from a snake bite, a new study claims. According to Christoph Schäfer, a German historian and professor at the University of Trier, the legendary beauty queen was unlikely to have committed suicide by letting an asp -- an Egyptian cobra -- sink into her flesh... "The Roman historian Cassius Dio, writing about 200 years after Cleopatra's demise, stated that she died a quiet and pain-free death, which is not compatible with a cobra bite. Indeed, the snake's venom would have caused a painful and disfiguring death," Schäfer said. According to German toxicologist Dietrich Mebs, a poison specialist taking part in the study, the symptoms occurring after an asp bite are very unpleasant, and include vomiting, diarrhea and respiratory failure.... Ancient texts also record that Cleopatra's two handmaidens died with her -- something very unlikely if she had died of a snake bite, said Schäfer... Schaefer and Mebs believe that Cleopatra chose a drug cocktail made of opium, aconitum (also known as wolfsbane) and hemlock, a highly poisonous plant from the parsley family that is believed to have been used to poison Socrates.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.discovery.com ...
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Wait a minute, aren't those the ingredients of the ancient drink known as "a snake bite?"
"I believe finding her body and applying forensic methods of analysis would be the only way to solve the mystery of her death."
I can go along with this theory: Cleopatra narrows it down to two choices. Then she says "you, slave, and you, slave" and observes them die. Then she picks.
Can I have that grant now?
Is there some reason why anyone care about this?
I find it interesting. But then, I really dig the History Channel and stuff like that.
you did.
I had heard that the reason she chose the bite of the asp was because it was painless.
She had tried various poisons out on animals and slaves and saw that this one was the quickest and most painless.
“The truth of the matter no one knows” (Plutarch, LXXXVI.2).
Mark Antony just had quite enough of her $hit.
Wow, great! Of course, the slaves at the crime scene died after their queen, because they had to make sure her body looked just right. But testing the poisons that way would have been the preferred method.
Thanks!
/bingo
:’D I have my doubts about the hemlock ingredient. That one is a slow, painful killer — assuming it’s the Socrates hemlock.
Plutarch - the Greek historian - continues to be the main source of information about the last Ptolemy. And what a source he is!
http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/AntCleo.html
Thank you for the link!
I don't find this subject to be so controversial that folks need to be so critical of its posting. Shoo!
Wasn’t critical of its posting, I was critical of a historian spending so much time on it.
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