condemned prisoners with various poisons and snake venoms, finding aspis venom to be the most painless of all fatal toxins. In Ptolemaic Egypt, the term "aspis" (an ancient Greek word referring to a wide variety of venomous snakes) was most likely an Egyptian cobra. This aspect of her apparent suicide has been questioned in recent years, as the relatively large size of the snake would have made it difficult to conceal, and because Egyptian cobra venom is slow-acting and does not always cause death. As a pet The Egyptian cobra garnered increased attention in Canada in the fall of 2006 when a pet cobra became loose and forced the evacuation of a house in Toronto for more than three hours when it was believed to have sought refuge in the home's walls. The owner was fined $17,000 and jailed for a year. In magic acts In July 2018, Aref Ghafouri was bitten by an Egyptian cobra while preparing for a show in Turkey. He was evacuated to Egypt for treatment with the antivenom and made a full recovery. References Further reading Boulenger GA (1896). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ) ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I–XXV. ("Naia haie [sic]", pp. 374–375). Linnaeus C (1758). Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio Decima, Reformata. Stockholm: L. Salvius. 824 pp. (Coluber haje, new species, p. 225) . External links Egyptian Cobra Egyptian cobra Egyptian cobra Egyptian cobra Reptiles of North Africa Reptiles of South Sudan Snakes of Africa Wadjet Fauna of Egypt