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Asp (Reptile)Asp is the modern/anglicized form of aspis. In antiquity the name refers to a venomous snake of Egypt from the Nile delta region and generally assumed to refer to the Egyptian cobra. The asp was a symbol of royalty in dynastic and Roman Egypt. Extremely poisonous, the asp was often used as a means of execution for criminals who had attained a favoured status and were thought deserving of a death more dignified than typical executions. Cleopatra is traditionally said to have killed herself by the bite of an asp which she applies to her breast upon hearing of the defeat of her lover, Marc Antony. "With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate
Of life at once untie: poor venomous fool
Be angry, and dispatch. O, couldst thou speak,
That I might hear thee call great Caesar ass
Unpolicied!"
-Cleopatra, Act V, scene II, Antony & Cleopatra by William Shakespeare
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