Why Did Cleopatra Wear Makeup?
Over five thousand years ago, the ancient Egyptians usedeye shadow, not only for cosmetic but practicalpurposes as well. Dark pigment painted around the eyehelped protect the eye from the bright midday sun glaringoff the desert sands.
The earliest eye paint in ancient Egypt was a thick, brightgreen paste made from the mineral malachite.
By the time Queen Cleopatra came to power in the 1stcentury BC, Egyptian women had at their disposal awhole rainbow of cosmetics, all of which were madefrom rocks, minerals, and plants in the region. Cleopatraused the bright green malachite paste of the ancientEgyptians on her lower eyelids.
On her upper eyelids, she used a deep blue eye shadowwith gold-colored pyrite flecks, made from ground lapislazuli stone. She darkened her eyebrows and lengthenedher eyelashes with black kohl, a mixture of powderedlead sulfide and animal fat. And for lipstick and rouge,Cleopatra used red ochre, a type of clay colored red byiron oxide.
The Egyptian queen even wore nail polish, made of thereddish-brown dye called henna, which comes from theEgyptian privet tree. And Cleopatra often had her palmspainted with henna in elaborate designs. Like theancient Egyptians before her,
Cleopatra used her cosmetics not simply for beauty’ssake, but for certain benefits that beauty might bring.With Julius Caesar as her lover and, later, Marc Antonyas her husband, Cleopatra consolidated Egypt’s powerwith that of Rome.
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