Cleopatra’s Poisoned Death Plot

Cleopatra didn't die from a snake bite. That story was Roman propaganda to make

her death seem noble. The truth is far darker. When Octavian's forces closed in,

she tested poisons on her servants, watching them writhe and scream as she documented which

death was quickest. She chose a mixture of hemlock, wolfsbane, and opium.

Her final act wasn't dramatic. She simply drank, lay down beside her dead handmaidens,

and smiled. The serpent was placed after.