Asp Facts
asp, anglicized form of aspis, name used in classical antiquity for a venomous snake, probably the Egyptian cobra, Naja haje. It was the symbol of royalty in Egypt, and its bite was used for the execution of favoured criminals in Greco-Roman times. Cleopatra is said to have killed herself with an asp (see also viper).
How poisonous is the asp?
According to Plutarch, Cleopatra tested various deadly poisons on condemned people and concluded that the bite of the asp (from aspisEgyptian cobra, not European asp) was the least terrible way to die; the venom brought sleepiness and heaviness without spasms of pain.
