Beauty is an attribute that throughout history has captured countless pages and messages in all media, with female icons that have been the subject of books, television series and movies. One of the oldest and most interesting is the case of Cleopatra VII; She was a native of Alexandria, who lived between the years 69 – 30 a. C).
Before going into the subject of Cleopatra’s beauty and her secrets, it is important to know a little about the history of this character, to understand that it was not only her physical appearance, but also her personality, formed after deep experiences and marked that made her an enigmatic woman, to the point that today her image and details of life are known throughout the world.
It is relevant to know that this mythical woman was the last queen of Egypt, and belonged to the Ptolemy or Lagids dynasty, was the daughter of Ptolemy XII, and was married to her own brother Ptolemy XIII, with whom she inherited the throne in the year 51 a. C. her name has a very special meaning, which denotes by itself, power and strength. It is made up of two words, cleo which means «glory», and homeland which means «father», so its literal translation would be «glory of the father».
It should be noted that Cleopatra lived from a young age under conditions of very strong male pressure and dominance, which is why cruelty and distrust prevailed in her life, transforming her into a strong, enigmatic woman with a dose of manipulation with which she managed to seduce the men.
However, when she was only 11 years old, she had to flee to Rome, to escape from her stepsister, who had killed her mother and her husband, to later seize the throne from their father. She is this way, like the beautiful Egyptian, she decided Use your intelligence, your power of seduction and your women’s weapons to find the best allies to return to Egypt its seat and power.
This is how, the first to fall into their nets was Julius Caesar, the most powerful man of the moment, and his death was succeeded by Marco Antonio, who could not avoid his spell either, giving rise to a love story characterized by passion, intrigues, fights of power and above all by tragedy, and that was capable of destabilizing the strength of the incipient Roman Empire, that is why is not only part of the history of humanity, but in it has inspired the making of great novels and filmsfinding in Elizabeth Taylor, its main character, highlighting the beauty and personality of Cleopatra.
In her historical evolution, Cleopatra used her beauty and charm to achieve her goals, and thanks to this she returned to Egypt with her father and a large army with which they regained the throne again. However, after the death of his fatheracceded to the throne after marrying his brother, Ptolemy XIIIbut nothing went as expected, since her husband-brother wanted to get rid of her to reign alone, and that is how she had to flee again, this time to Syria, to save her life.
The story tells an interesting and memorable anecdote, since Cleopatra, learning that Julius Caesar was in Egypt persecuting his enemy Pompey, secretly traveled from Syria to launch a plan to regain power, appearing before him rolled up in a carpet to enter the palace unrecognized, for the sole purpose of gaining their sympathy and save his life while recovering the throne of Egypt. That is how Julius Caesar fell in love with the beauty and charms of Cleopatra, that she was not only a beautiful and sensual woman but also a very cultured woman.
Cleopatra achieved her goals and after spending the night together, Caesar risked everything to embark on a Civil War in Egypt and elevate Cleopatra to the throne as an independent queen, but he was unable to share the splendor of the kingdom with her, as his action was disapproved of in Rome. and was murder in 44 a. C., so Cleopatra saw his life in danger and had to return to Egypt.
Later, Marco Antonio is seduced by Cleopatra, who also falls in love with him, however, his end was dramatic and tragic, since there was a terrible defeat on the battlefield, where the final confrontation of the so-called ‘Ptolemaic War’ (32-30 BC) took place, for which Octavio Augusto took his fight against Marco Antonio to Egypt, occurred in the battle naval of Actium. In it, Marco Antonio’s fleet fell defeated when it was abandoned by the Egyptian troops, although managed to flee and take refuge with Cleopatra in Alexandria.
A year later Octavio’s army took the city determined to finish, once and for all, with the couple. Antony receives the false news that Cleopatra had diedand the Roman, who had promised his beloved that the death of one would be followed by the death of the other, decides, on August 1, 30 BC, to take his own life by stabbing himself with his own sword.
In this way, when Cleopatra, whom Octavio Augustus intended to take to Rome as spoils of war, learned of the death of her love she wanted to let herself die, broken with pain for lost loveHowever, he unsuccessfully tried to seduce Octavio, as he had previously done with Julius Caesar and Marco Antonio, so refusing humiliation, he dressed in his best clothes, asked that his body be buried next to Marco Antonio’s and he took his own life in the month of August of the year 30.aC, at 40 years of age, fulfilling the Egyptian ritual procedure of being bitten by an asp (an Egyptian cobra).
This story of drama and tragedy can be said to have found in the beauty of this woman a fundamental pillar to achieve power, and it is not in vain that she is considered one of the greatest references of feminine beauty. The queen has been credited with exceptional beauty; that she was cared for with dedication and true beauty rites, which were customary in ancient Egypt, recognized for her dedication to her beauty.
It is well known that the Egyptians used to use oils, milk, honey, myrrh, etc., to take care of their aesthetics, and the mythical queen of the Nile had several beauty routines and secrets that drove Julius Caesar and Mark Antony crazy, more It didn’t work out with Octavio.
Among Cleopatra’s beauty secrets were the long immersion baths in milk and honey, considering that milk has moisturizing properties and its combination with honey helps to recover elasticity. At the same time, the queen of the Nile used warm milk as a make-up remover in her eyes, to remove the make-up that has characterized her throughout her history, to later place fresh milk compresses on her face to hydrate it. .
It should be noted that the moisturizing properties of milk are still used in many bath products today, so it is not surprising that Cleopatra already knew about its benefits thousands of years ago. However, performing this procedure in a bathtub currently seems unrealistic, but considering the importance of hydration and the proven benefits of honey and milk, it is advisable to wash with small portions of these products, on the face, neck or other parts. of the body.
On the other hand, Cleopatra’s beauty tricks included home remedies to prevent and eliminate acne. To do this, the Queen of the Nile boiled a handful of leeks and mixed the resulting water with goat’s milk and a little sugar, which produced a perfect natural exfoliant to remove dead cells and imperfections.
Likewise, Queen Cleopatra replaced the pieces of ice as they are currently used to keep the skin smooth and free of flaccidity, by placing pieces of beef on top of the skin, which exerted a strengthening function on the skin, managing to improve appearance and smoothness, thereby maintaining a more youthful appearance.
Other of Cleopatra’s famous and characteristic physical features are her eyes; to which she gave special care, taking care of them from sunlight and washing them 3 times throughout the day with a preparation of rose water, which was made by her maids by boiling rose petals in half a liter of water.
In addition, Cleopatra placed special emphasis on the care of her eyelashes, trying to keep them perfect, for which she performed an authentic ritual that consisted of trimming them on the crescent moon for 3 consecutive nights and later rubbing them with almond oil, which makes them grow. quickly. On the other hand, to enhance the beauty of her eyes and lashes, she outlined them with a dark powder made from lead sulfide known as galen.
Finally, Queen Cleopatra made masks to prevent wrinkles, which her maidens made by placing onion juice, white honey, white lily and melted wax, mixing evenly to obtain an ointment that the queen spread on her face every night.
Another of the procedures used by Cleopatra consisted of the placement of lamb meat. Bravo (2015) Considers Cleopatra as the forerunner of mesotherapy. She «she slaughtered a lamb every morning and put its meat on her face, neck and neckline until it dried, in this way she got her skin to be nourished and to acquire smoothness».
Many of these Cleopatra beauty secrets are currently applied by women from different cultures, and find in this dramatic and tragic historical account a very human context that empowers women in a real, fascinating world where care and beauty are the fundamental element, taking into account that each of these procedures are basically healthy.