Was Cleopatra's Suicide by Lethal Drug?

Death of Cleopatra by Jean Andre Rixens, 1874

A new study contends Cleopatra died of swallowing a lethal drug cocktail and not from the bite of an Egyptian cobra snake called an asp. According to Christoph Schäfer, historian and professor at the University of Trier in Germany: “There was no cobra in Cleopatra's death.”

Author of a best-selling book in Germany, Cleopatra, Schäfer searched historic writings for evidence to disprove the 2,000-year-old asp legend. 

"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,” he told Discovery News. “Indeed, the snake's venom would have caused a painful and disfiguring death.”

According to German toxicologist Dietrich Mebs, a poison specialist taking part in the study, symptoms occurring after an asp bite are very unpleasant, and include vomiting, diarrhea and respiratory failure. "Death may occur within 45 minutes, but it may also be longer with painful edema at the bite site," he said. "At the end, the dead body does not look very nice with vomit, diarrhea, a swollen bite site."

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.

The Queen of the Nile committed suicide in August 30 B.C. at the age of 39, following the example of her lover, the Roman leader Marc Antony, who killed himself after losing the Battle of Actium.

Click here for the complete Discovery News article.

Divers Explore Cleopatra's Palace

Diver examining the limestone blocks of the Isis temple.

Divers today explored the submerged ruins of a palace and temple complex from which Cleopatra ruled, swimming over heaps of limestone blocks hammered into the sea by earthquakes and tsunamis more than 1,600 years ago.

According to the Associated Press, the international team is painstakingly excavating one of the richest underwater archaeological sites in the world and retrieving stunning artifacts from the last dynasty to rule over ancient Egypt before the Roman Empire annexed it in 30 BC.

Using advanced technology, the team is surveying ancient Alexandria's Royal Quarters, encased deep below the harbor sediment, and confirming the accuracy of descriptions of the city left by Greek geographers and historians more than 2,000 years ago.

 Since the early 1990s, the topographical surveys have allowed the team, led by French underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio, to conquer the harbor's extremely poor visibility and excavate below the seabed. They are discovering everything from coins and everyday objects to colossal granite statues of Egypt's rulers and sunken temples dedicated to their gods.

 “It's a unique site in the world,” said Goddio, who has spent two decades searching for shipwrecks and lost cities below the seas.

Tuesday's dive explored the sprawling palace and temple complex where Cleopatra, the last of Egypt's Greek-speaking Ptolemaic rulers, seduced the Roman general Marc Antony before committing suicide upon their defeat by Octavian, the future Roman Emperor Augustus.

Click here for the complete article.

Search Intensifies for Anthony & Cleopatra Tomb

An ancient coin displaying the likenesses of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony.

Archaeologists in Egypt next week begin excavating three sites in search of the tombs of the doomed lovers, Cleopatra and Mark Anthony.

The sites were identified last month during a radar survey of the temple of Taposiris Magna. It is located on Lake Mariut ~ now known as Abusir ~ near the coastal city of Alexandria, and was built during the reign of King Ptolemy II (282-246 BC.)

Cleopatra, then queen of Egypt, and her Roman general lover, Mark Anthony, committed suicide after being defeated in the battle of Actium in 31 BC.

Excavators found a number of deep shafts inside the temple, three of which were possibly used for burials. Leaders of the excavation believe Cleopatra and Mark Anthony could have been buried in a deep shaft similar those already found.

Last year, archaeologists at the site also unearthed a bronze statue of the goddess Aphrodite, the alabaster head of a Queen Cleopatra statue, a mask believed to belong to Mark Anthony and a headless statue from the Ptolemaic era at the excavation site.

Click here for the Associated Press article.