It is known that Cleopatra had committed suicide in her chamber by letting poisonous snakes kill her and two other ladies. However an Egyptologist named Joyce Tyldesley, says “…that such a scenario is next to impossible…” which apparently is “…too difficult to sustain as it leaves too many loopholes.” With this being said the snake would have to have been an Egyptian cobra, which can grow to 6 feet in length, and would have to be carried in a large fig basket. It is possible that instead of smuggling a snake into her chamber, Cleopatra and her servants died of self-administered poison, which could have been hidden in a pin or hair comb that was worn by the queen. In fact one of Cleopatra’s uncles had committed suicide by ingesting poison, which in her family, thought that death by suicide was seen as a virtue in Greek tradition. Many historians say that she did die in Alexandrian around 30 B.C, and that there is no historical evidence of a prior illness. In fact, other researchers, one named Pat Brown; say that there is a possibility that Octavian had murdered Cleopatra. As for the myth of the snake arouse because Egyptians feared, respected and worshipped snakes, making it possible that they used the snake for those very reasons. So with this all said; did Cleopatra actually commit suicide using a snake? Or could there have been other types of scenario for the cause of her death?
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/04/01/cleopatra-suicide.html
Tabatha S.
Period 3
6 comments:
Wow, I didn't even know that Cleopatra commited suicide in the first place...
Well, the fact that she "poisoned" herself makes me think of Romeo and Juliet.
The fact that someone so important would do something like that boggles my mind.
I find it very interesting how legends can get distorted in time and molded into something completely different. I wonder how future civilizations will view some of our presidents, or perhaps mistake that we where ruled by large corporations such as Wal-mart. They are certainly everywhere!
Wow! This is really interesting. I can't believe that she might have self administered the poision instead of dying by snakes.
I think the most fascinating thing about her was that she was the only pharaoh to learn the language of her own people, Egyptian. It really shows the elevation of the elites over the commoners.
It's kind of interesting to contemplate how a person would devise a plan for their own killing and why they would choose one method over another. It's a little obscure, but I think that is she was killed by the snake she may have actually committed suicide by snake bite in order to be remembered for her death as well as her life. Not many people would let a snake bite them to die. It would have been much more discreet to just poison herself, but she might have wanted to "go out with a bang." Just an idea. Great blog!
YBouzid
I read Niki's comment and I had an off branch thought... I wonder how our society would view suicides of our public officials.
In those times, it was seen as an honorable death. Now, it is the coward's way out.
Just randomly thinking...
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