Roman Literature | Plutarch's Account on Cleopatra's Experiments with Poisons

Plutarch (c. 46-120 A.D.) was a Greek biographer and essayist who was also a Roman citizen. His most famous work is "Parallel Lives" - a series of biographies on famous men from ancient Greece and Rome that were arranged side-by-side to illuminate their common moral virtues and failures.

In "Life of Antony", Plutarch provides most of the information we have on Queen Cleopatra VII (69 - August 12, 30 B.C. [r. 51 B.C. - August 12, 30 B.C.]). In this portion of Mark Antony's biography, Plutarch gives an interest account of Cleopatra's scientific experiments. After losing the Battle of Actium (September 2, 31 B.C.) and returning to Alexandria, Cleopatra closed down her personal drinking club - The Inimitable Livers - and created a new club called the Comrades in Death. In this club, Cleopatra, Antony, and their friends would celebrate their remaining days with elaborate dinner parties and thinking about how to end their lives.

During this parities, Cleopatra began to experiment with various forms of poisons to determine which poison would give a quick and painless death. Her test subjects where prisoners on death row. Eventually, Cleopatra discovered that the venom of the asp who cause its victims to die painlessly and appear to be in a deep sleep. She would late use these finding to commit suicide after Egypt fell to the Romans.

Music:
Hidden Wonders - Kevin MacLeod

Works Cited:
Plutarch. (1951). "Life of Antony". In L.R. Loomis & E. Hamilton, Selected Lives and Essays (pg. 180-245). roslyn, NY: Walter J. Black, Inc.

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