Asp (snake)

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This article is about the Anglicised word for various species of snake. For the species known as the "European asp", see Vipera aspis.
European asp, Vipera aspis

"Asp" is the modern

Greek word that means "viper".[2] It is believed that aspis referred to what is now known as the Egyptian cobra.[3]

Historic representation

Throughout

Roman Egypt, the asp was a symbol of royalty.[4] Moreover, in both Egypt and Greece, its potent venom
made it useful as a means of execution for criminals who were thought deserving of a more dignified death than that of typical executions.

In some stories of Perseus, after killing Medusa, the hero used winged sandals to transport her head to King Polydectes. As he was flying over Egypt, some of her blood fell to the ground, which spawned asps and amphisbaena.[5]

According to

European asp) was the least terrible way to die; the venom brought sleepiness and heaviness without spasms of pain.[6] Some believe it to have been a horned viper,[3][7] though in 2010, German historian Christoph Schaefer and toxicologist Dietrich Mebs, after extensive study into the event, came to the conclusion that rather than enticing a venomous animal to bite her, Cleopatra actually used a mixture of hemlock, wolfsbane and opium to end her life.[8]

Nonetheless, the image of suicide-by-asp has become inextricably connected with Cleopatra, as immortalized by William Shakespeare:

With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate
Of life at once untie: poor venomous fool
Be angry, and dispatch.

—Cleopatra, Act V, scene II
Antony and Cleopatra

Othello also famously compares his hatred for Desdemona as being full of "aspics' tongues" in Act 3, Scene III of Shakespeare's play Othello.

Legend

The hypnalis is a

bestiaries. It is described as a type of asp that kills its victim in their sleep.[9] "Cleopatra placed it on herself (at her breasts) and thus was freed by death as if by sleep."[10]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0199206872
    .
  2. ISBN 0-7137-1704-1
    .
  3. ^
    PMID 15496528. Whether Cleopatra used a snake as the instrument of her suicide has been long debated. Some favour the idea that she chose C. cerastes, but its venom is insufficiently potent, rapid and reliable. A more plausible candidate is the Egyptian cobra
    or 'asp' (Naja haje).
  4. ^ "Battle of Actium (31 B.C.)". The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece. Don Nardo. Ed. Robert B. Kebric. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. 71-72. World History in Context. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.\
  5. ^ Lucan, Pharisaical, (c.61-65), trans. Robert Graves, book IX
  6. ^ Crawford, Amy (April 1, 2007). "Who Was Cleopatra? Mythology, propaganda, Liz Taylor and the real Queen of the Nile". Smithsonian.com. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
  7. doi:10.1080/00138389408598902
    . The venomous reptile commonly known today as 'Cleopatra's asp' is a Cobra (Cerastes cornutus)
  8. ^ Melissa Gray (2010-06-30). "Poison, not snake, killed Cleopatra, scholar says - Cleopatra died a quiet and pain free death, historian alleges". CNN. Archived from the original on 2012-09-12. Retrieved 2012-04-13.
  9. ISBN 978-0-203-01747-0
    .
  10. ISBN 9780851156828
    . Retrieved 25 August 2020.
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