Posted on 10/21/2015 1:16:03 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Academics at The University of Manchester have dismissed the long-held argument that the ancient Egyptian queen Cleopatra was killed by a snake bite.
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.
He was speaking to Egyptologist Dr Joyce Tyldesley in a new video which is part of a new online course introducing ancient Egyptian history, using six items from the Museum's collection.
According to Dr Tyldesley, the ancient accounts say a snake hid in a basket of figs brought in from the countryside, and was also used to kill one or two of her serving maids.
But according to Andrew Gray, cobras are typically five to six feet long but can grow up to eight feet -- too big to hide very easily.
There would also be too little time to kill two or three people -- because snake venom kills you slowly -- with in any case only a 10 per cent chance of death.
He said: "Not only are cobras too big, but there's just a 10 percent chance you would die from a snake bite: most bites are dry bites that don't inject venom.
"That's not to say they aren't dangerous: the venom causes necrosis and will certainly kill you, but quite slowly.
"So it would be impossible to use a snake to kill two or three people one after the other. Snakes use venom to protect themselves and for hunting -- so they conserve their venom and use it in times of need."
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
Not only that, she didn't hold slaves, and neither did any other pharaohs. Oh, and they invented wigs, prosthetic limbs, ballet, dental floss... /s
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
All Cleopatra did was sit on her asp all day.
Snakes and the Death of Cleopatra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEXMidRIk3M
http://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/article/?id=15317
...and the sousaphone. John Phillip stole the design from the Egyptians.
Why would she need cobra? Pharaohs would automatically have government insurance, and direct access to physicians engaged in Cairo practice.
Time Machine--Dante & the Evergreens
What difference does it make. She’s dead. And is still dead to this day. Or was it Shakespeare or someone .....
Apology accepted.
PharaohCare turned out to be nothing but a pyramid scheme ;-)
Who knew those darn cobras were born full grown.....
There's a "de Nile of service" joke hiding in there, but I think I'll quit while you're ahead
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.
Being the Queen, and having physicians, etc., at her disposal, she could have taken a number of poisons available at the time.
Swish!
Hahahaha
;’)
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...
She went to the Luxor Pyramid Casino and rolled snake eyes.
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