title: [The death of Cleopatra].
abstract: The image of a queen bitten by a snake is controversial and the facts, such as the swiftness of her death and her servants, and scientific experiments are in favour of a deadly poisoning. The author reminds that in the ancient texts the snake had sacred virtues and it was a symbolic image to embellish the suicide of the one who was sentenced to death by the Romans. Octaves set up the myth of a fatal bite which became an iconographic image for the cinema.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Guillemain
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000076144:Egypt, Ancient; D005197:Famous Persons; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D009229:Mythology; D012384:Rome; D012909:Snake Bites / Q000266:history*; D012910:Snake Venoms / Q000266:history* / Q000506:poisoning; D013405:Suicide / Q000266:history*; D013561:Symbolism
chemical_list: D012910:Snake Venoms