Snakes in the home or basement are frequent throughout the chillier months when it is warmer, and cooler all through the summer months here in Alexandria. Because of this, residences are also an incredible place to discover food sources such as bugs or mice. If you locate one of these animals in your house, it is highly recommended to call a specialist. 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. Flamarion, Edith (1997). Cleopatra: The Life and Death of a Pharaoh. " Abrams Discoveries" series. Translated by Bonfante-Warren, Alexandra. New York: Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 9780810928053. 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.

Cleopatra's personal physician Olympos, cited by Plutarch, mentioned neither a cause of death nor an asp bite or Egyptian cobra. [67] [note 7] Strabo, who provides the earliest known historical account, believed that Cleopatra committed suicide either by asp bite or poisonous ointment. [53] [68] [69] [note 8] Plutarch mentions the tale of the asp brought to her in a basket of figs, although he offers other alternatives for her cause of death, such as use of a hollow implement ( Greek: κνηστίς, romanized: knestis), perhaps a hairpin, [54] which she used to scratch open the skin and introduce the toxin. [67] According to Cassius Dio small puncture wounds were found on Cleopatra's arm, but he echoed the claim by Plutarch that nobody knew the true cause of her death. [70] [67] [58] Dio mentioned the claim of the asp and even suggested use of a needle ( Greek: βελόνη, romanized: belone), possibly from a hairpin, which would seem to corroborate Plutarch's account. [70] [67] [58] Other contemporary historians such as Florus and Velleius Paterculus supported the asp bite version. [71] [72] Roman physician Galen mentioned the asp story, [72] but he advances a version where Cleopatra bit her own arm and introduced venom brought in a container. [73] Suetonius relayed the story of the asp but expressed doubt about its validity. [72] A gold-platedsterling silver ring in the shape of a coiled snake, inspired by an original Roman ring found in Alexandria.Attracted by the knowledge of venoms and poison, Cleopatra had begun to test poisons in condemned prisoners to see which one would be best and the toxic limits [ 82]. According to Galen, ( De theriaca ad Pisonem: 237) “human and prompt executions’ were obtained in Alexandria with the intervention of cobras ” [ 83], sentence that proves the insistent use of venoms.

Following the First Triumvirate and assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, the Roman statesmen Octavian, Mark Antony, and Aemilius Lepidus were elected as triumvirs to bring Caesar's assassins to justice, forming the Second Triumvirate. [4] [5] With Lepidus marginalized in Africa and eventually placed under house arrest by Octavian, [6] [7] [8] the two remaining triumvirs divided control over the Roman world between the Greek East and Latin West, Antony taking the former and Octavian the latter. [9] [10] Cleopatra VII of Ptolemaic Egypt, a pharaoh of Macedonian Greek descent who ruled from Alexandria, [11] [12] [13] had an extramarital affair with Julius Caesar that produced a son and eventual Ptolemaic co-ruler Caesarion. [14] [15] [16] After Caesar's death she developed a relationship with Antony. [9] [17] [18] Roller (2010, p.100) says that it is unclear if Antony and Cleopatra were ever truly married. Burstein (2004, pp.xxii, 29) says that the marriage publicly sealed Antony's alliance with Cleopatra and in defiance of Octavian he would divorce Octavia in 32 BC. Coins of Antony and Cleopatra depict them in the typical manner of a Hellenistic royal couple, as explained by Roller (2010, p.100). Cleopatra VII, the last ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt, died on either 10or 12August, 30 BC, in Alexandria, when she was 39 years old. According to popular belief, Cleopatra killed herself by allowing an asp ( Egyptian cobra) to bite her, but for the Roman-era writers Strabo, Plutarch, and Cassius Dio, Cleopatra poisoned herself using either a toxic ointment or by introducing the poison with a sharp implement such as a hairpin. Modern scholars debate the validity of ancient reports involving snakebites as the cause of death and if she was murdered or not. Some academics hypothesize that her Roman political rival Octavian forced her to kill herself in a manner of her choosing. The location of Cleopatra's tomb is unknown. It was recorded that Octavian allowed for her and her husband, the Roman politician and general Mark Antony, who stabbed himself with a sword, to be buried together properly. 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.Sartain, John (1885), On the Antique Painting in Encaustic of Cleopatra: Discovered in 1818, Philadelphia: George Gebbie & Co., OCLC 3806143. Nobody was injured, and that includes the snake,” she said. “The snake is fine and well and will live out his life in the wildlife facility. We advise people not to try and capture or move any animals, but do call the police non-emergency line at 703-746-4444.” 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] Walker, Susan (2008), "Cleopatra in Pompeii?", Papers of the British School at Rome, 76: 35–46, 345–348, doi: 10.1017/S0068246200000404, JSTOR 40311128.