Duane W. Roller

poets were writing about the asp—indeed the one asp has now become
two—and off ered no alternatives. 92 Clearly the tale quickly became
more dramatic—as one might expect—with even a single asp no longer
suffi cient. Granted, poetry is not prone to alternative versions, but
the story quickly left the area of history and entered into the world of
drama, where it has remained to this day. Soon it infl uenced historians,
although Velleius returned to the single asp. 93 Plutarch, as noted, did not
even include the asp in his offi cial account, adding it only as a secondary
explanation. His contemporary Suetonius interjected a new element, that
Octavian summoned the mysterious Psylloi—an African tribe expert in
reviving those bitten by snakes—but Suetonius also expressed uncertainty
about the entire asp tale. 94 Galen followed the snakebite story, but Dio
was somewhat more nuanced, although mentioning both the asp and
the Psylloi, but stressing poison as the probable means of death. 95
Other issues may be relevant. Cleopatra was aware that Demetrios
of Phaleron, advisor to Ptolemy I, had died from an asp bite. It was even
said that she carried asps on her ships as weapons. 96 Almost certainly the
asp story has metaphorical overtones, the ultimate victory of Egyptian
ways over Rome. 97 Cleopatra herself may even have told Octavian in her
suicide note—a carefully craft ed document by a master communicator
but mentioned only in passing by Plutarch—that she would commit
suicide by an asp bite. Whatever happened, the asp story became canonical
very quickly, either because Octavian believed it or because it was
suitably dramatic. In his triumph the following year there was an image
of Cleopatra with the asp clinging to her. 98 Th is is cited only by Plutarch
(Dio described the effi gy but did not mention the asp) and may be a
misinterpretation of the snake-related royal regalia that the effi gy would
have worn, such as the uraeus and serpent jewelry, perhaps leading to
a popular view that the queen had died by snakebite. 99 Within a decade
the tale was enshrined in literature and eventually entered medical
commentary. 100 But, as Plutarch wrote, “no one knows the truth.” 101
With the death of Cleopatra, the kingdom legally passed to
Caesarion, who ruled for 18 days as Ptolemy XV. 102 Yet this reign was
essentially a fi ction created by Egyptian chronographers to close the
gap between her death and offi cial Roman control of Egypt (under the
new pharoah, Octavian). 103 Caesarion in fact had been sent away, with
ample funding, to Upper Egypt, perhaps with Ethiopia or India as an
ultimate destination; making these arrangements for him was one of his
mother’s last actions. In the end, Cleopatra, who wanted the kingdom
Downfall 149