A sacred symbol

Daily baths of donkey milk? Nah, as sexy as it sounds, it’s probably just another fabrication by the usual Cleopatra-obsessed ‘historians’. But if we are to believe Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Queen of Egypt had a much more fascinating beauty secret: the blue lotus. A sacred symbol of rebirth and healing, the flower was associated with the goddess Isis, aka the magnificent ‘Lady of the Holy Cobra’. Images of the gorgeous, electric-blue lotus were displayed prominently all over Ancient Egypt: on pillars, thrones, statues and even Cleopatra’s ceremonial headdress. The sweet, intoxicating scent of the blue lotus was considered especially divine and most cosmetics contained oil from the precious flower. If you could afford it – which the divine Queen of the Nile certainly could – you indulged in daily lotus baths. The aromatic water would first be poured over a statue of Hathor, the goddess of love and beauty who held the blue lotus as her sacred flower.

Knowing it was her job to impress and overwhelm, Cleopatra even used blue lotus perfume to scent the sails and draperies of her royal barge! Which makes extra sense now that we know that this heavenly flower contains euphoria-inducing chemicals…

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