Volume 1 in Toxicology in Antiquity
2014, Pages 11–20
Chapter 2 – The Death of Cleopatra: Suicide by Snakebite or Poisoned by Her Enemies?
Queen
Cleopatra VII, known more commonly as Cleopatra (note that there have
been a number of historical Cleopatras), was a first-century bc
Egyptian empress in Egypt, a femme fatale, who strove to control the
hearts and minds of two great Roman men with political power, Caesar and
Mark Anthony. When Anthony lost the civil war with the Romans, Octavian
captured Cleopatra and, with her, the Egyptian Empire. During her last
days, she suffered a mysterious death, either due to a self-inflicted
snakebite, the more usually accepted explanation, or via poison
administered by Octavian and his men. This dilemma presents an
intriguing puzzle for the history of medicine.
Keywords
- Cleopatra;
- death;
- Caesar;
- Mark Anthony;
- Octavian;
- Egypt;
- snake;
- poison;
- murder;
- suicide
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