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All modern scholars agree that Cleopatra took her own life in some fashion. If Cleopatra would have surrendered to Octavian, she would have been brought back to Rome as a prisoner, probably tortured, and then more than likely ritually strangled in a public spectacle. A pharaoh would never suffer such indignities so there is little doubt that she committed suicide, but the question remains, which method did she use? Some scholars believe that the poison theory is attractive and point out that according to later ancient sources she was well-schooled in poison lore. <ref> Scarborough, John. “Cleopatra’s Asp.” <i>Pharmacy in History.</i> 37 (1995) p. 33</ref>

Logic would dictate, though, that it would have been easier for Cleopatra to commit suicide by snake bite than through ingesting poison. Getting the right poison may have been difficult to do while under guard, but there were plenty of poisonous snakes around Egypt at the time. Also, there is the symbolic importance of an Egyptian ruler dying from a snake bite that should be considered. Along with being knowledgeable on medicinal topics, Cleopatra was the only Ptolemy who could speak the Egyptian language and by all accounts she was well-versed in all aspects of pharaonic culture. <ref> Bowman, p. 24</ref> Because of this knowledge, she would have known that the <i>uraeus</i>, a cobra often depicted on crowns in Egyptian statuary, was a sign of kingship. During the Ptolemaic Period, the double <i>ureaus</i> became particularly popular in statuary and reliefs. <ref> Griffiths, J. Gwyn. “The Death of Cleopatra VII.” <i>Journal of Egyptian Archaeology.</i> 47 (1961) p. 118</ref> Due to these factors, Griffiths argued in his article that Cleopatra probably wore a crown with the double <i>uraeus</i> and that when she committed suicide she did so with two cobras that were brought to her in a basket containing figs, as Plutarch mentioned in his account. <ref> Griffiths, p. 118</ref>