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\n\n

The ancient Greeks did not treat love as a single, undifferentiated emotion. Instead, they understood it as a spectrum — an ecosystem of forces that could build households, destabilise governments, forge alliances, or bring cities to ruin.

To them, love was not merely personal. It was political, ethical, social. It could be erotic or filial, playful or devotional. It could sustain empires — or undo them.

Below are nine classical categories of love, each illuminated by figures from history and myth whose relationships still shape the stories we tell about intimacy, power, and devotion.

\n $\"Celopatra$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Cleopatra & Mark Antony\n

\n\n\n\n

Eros: Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony

Eros is erotic, desiring love — the spark that feels irrational, even fated. The Greeks understood it as a destabilising force, capable of overriding judgement and reshaping destinies.

Few relationships illustrate this more dramatically than that of Cleopatra VII of Egypt and the Roman general Mark Antony. Cleopatra, the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty, was not merely a seductress of legend but a multilingual, politically astute monarch navigating the pressures of Roman expansion. Antony, one of Rome’s most powerful military leaders following the assassination of Julius Caesar, entered into alliance with her in 41 BCE.

Their partnership was strategic as much as romantic. Yet contemporary Roman sources — particularly those hostile to Antony — portrayed him as enthralled, even undone, by desire. Their alliance eventually positioned them against Octavian (the future Augustus), culminating in their defeat at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE and their subsequent suicides.

In classical terms, this is Eros at full intensity: intoxicating, magnetic, and politically consequential.

\n\n

\n\n $\"Medea$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Medea and Jason\n

\n\n

\n\n\n

Mania: Medea and Jason

If Eros is desire, Mania is its distortion. It is love warped by fear, insecurity, and possessiveness.

The myth of Medea and Jason, most famously dramatised by Euripides in the 5th century BCE, offers a stark portrayal. Jason, leader of the Argonauts, sought the Golden Fleece in Colchis. Medea, a princess and sorceress, fell in love with him and used her powers to secure his success. She betrayed her family and homeland for him.

When Jason later abandoned her to marry a Corinthian princess, Medea’s love turned catastrophic. In Euripides’ tragedy, she exacts revenge by killing Jason’s new bride — and, in some versions, their own children.

The Greeks did not romanticise this intensity. Mania was understood as love untethered from reason, a force capable of destruction when identity and attachment become indistinguishable.

\n\n

\n\n $\"Odysseus$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Odysseus & Tellemachus\n

\n\n

Storge: Odysseus and Telemachus

Storge describes familial love — instinctive, inherited, often quiet.

In Homer’s Odyssey, composed in the 8th century BCE, Odysseus returns to Ithaca after twenty years of absence: ten at war in Troy and ten lost at sea. His son Telemachus, an infant when Odysseus departed, has grown into adulthood under the shadow of uncertainty.

Their reunion is understated yet profound. There is no theatrical declaration, only recognition and loyalty. Together, they restore order to their household.

Storge is not spectacle. It is continuity — the enduring bond between parent and child that persists beyond absence.

\n\n

\n\n $\"Pericles$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Pericles and Aspasia\n

\n\n

Philia: Pericles and Aspasia

Philia is chosen love — friendship, intellectual intimacy, and mutual respect.

Pericles, the influential Athenian statesman of the 5th century BCE, presided over what is often called the Golden Age of Athens. Aspasia of Miletus, his partner, was a foreign-born intellectual who became a prominent figure in Athenian society.

Though often reduced in later accounts to a courtesan, ancient sources suggest she was a formidable conversationalist and political thinker. She is said to have advised Pericles and engaged with philosophers such as Socrates.

Their relationship, while romantic, was rooted in dialogue and shared ideas. Philia, in this context, reflects a partnership of minds — an intimacy not reliant on passion but sustained by reciprocity and respect.

\n\n

\n\n $\"Catullus$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Catullus and Lesbia\n

\n\n

Ludus: Catullus and Lesbia

Ludus is playful love — flirtation, banter, the exhilaration of early desire.

The Roman poet Catullus (1st century BCE) immortalised his lover under the pseudonym “Lesbia,” widely believed to be Clodia Metelli, a politically connected Roman aristocrat. His poetry oscillates between devotion and frustration, tenderness and accusation.

The tone is volatile, dramatic, and intensely personal. This is love as performance, as game, as emotional theatre.

The Greeks and Romans did not dismiss Ludus as trivial. Rather, they understood it as a transient phase — thrilling, destabilising, but not always built to endure.

\n\n

\n\n $\"Augustus$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Augustus and Livia Drusilla\n

\n\n

\n\n\n

Pragma: Augustus and Livia Drusilla

Pragma is enduring, practical love — commitment sustained through time.

After defeating Antony and Cleopatra, Octavian became Augustus, Rome’s first emperor. His marriage to Livia Drusilla lasted over five decades. Their union was politically significant: Livia was a shrewd and influential presence at court, shaping succession politics and imperial imagery.

Unlike the volatility of Eros, their marriage projected stability and governance. Whether personally affectionate or primarily strategic, it exemplified Pragma — love as alliance, endurance, and shared responsibility.

This is the love that works.

\n\n

\n\n $\"Hatshepsut\"$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Hatshepsut\n

\n\n

Philautia: Hatshepsut

Philautia is self-love — but not vanity. The Greeks distinguished between healthy self-regard and destructive narcissism.

Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt in the 15th century BCE, offers a striking example of the former. Though female, she adopted the full titulary and regalia of a pharaoh, including the false beard, and reigned successfully for over two decades.

Her authority was not grounded in romantic attachment but in self-legitimisation. Monumental building projects and trade expeditions underscored her political confidence.

Philautia, in its healthy form, is self-respect as foundation — the capacity to stand securely in one’s own legitimacy.

\n\n

\n\n $\"Prometheus\"$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Prometheus\n

\n\n

Agape: Prometheus

Agape is unconditional, ethical love — love without expectation of return.

In Greek myth, Prometheus defies Zeus to steal fire and give it to humanity. As punishment, he is eternally bound to a rock, where an eagle devours his liver each day.

Prometheus acts not out of romantic attachment but out of compassion and principle. His suffering is the cost of his gift.

Agape is love that gives anyway.

\n\n

\n\n\n $\"Baucis$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Baucis and Philemon\n

\n\n

Xenia: Baucis and Philemon

Xenia was sacred hospitality — the bond between host and guest, protected under Zeus himself.

In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Baucis and Philemon are an elderly, impoverished couple who welcome two strangers into their home. The strangers are, in fact, the gods Zeus and Hermes in disguise. While wealthier neighbours turn them away, the couple offer what little they have.

In gratitude, the gods spare them from a flood and transform them into intertwined trees upon their death, so they may never be separated.

Xenia represents love enacted as generosity across difference — the moral obligation to shelter the unknown.

\n\n

\n $\"IMAGE_ALT\"$ \n

\n\n\n

\n\n

Love as Architecture

Taken together, these forms suggest that love was never peripheral in antiquity. It structured alliances, shaped governance, underpinned myth, and informed ethical philosophy.

Love built empires. Love burned cities.

The ancient world recognised what we often forget: love is not singular. It is a practice — and its consequences are rarely private.

The question, as ever, is which form we are enacting.

\n\n

","handle","the-nine-forms-of-love","gid://shopify/Article/618240475401",{"_15":182,"_183":-5,"_22":184,"_102":185,"_100":186},"gid://shopify/ArticleImage/236866404617","altText","https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0939/6702/4393/articles/39bc-glass-bottles_5e48c1fd-cd79-4e36-abee-bbf1b21597c5.jpg?v=1779922865",1080,1440,"publishedAt","2026-05-27T22:26:31Z","The Nine Forms of Love",{"_178":191},"letters",{"_173":193,"_176":194,"_178":195,"_15":196,"_86":197,"_187":201,"_38":202,"_163":203},{"_17":175}," $\"Welcome$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Welcome to the year of the Fire Horse\n

\n\n

Here we are at the cusp of the Lunar New Year, which begins on Tuesday — ushering in the Year of the Fire Horse. As you’ve probably already seen circulating online, this is a particularly potent combination. In the Chinese zodiac, every sign has a “home” element, and for the Horse that element is Fire — associated with momentum, visibility, appetite, and bold forward motion. A Fire Horse year amplifies all of that: energy stacked on energy, movement on movement. No half measures.

We’re harnessing that energy with some serious expansion. 39BC is galloping into the year with a New York launch event under our belt, new stockists including Earl of East , Scented , and The Standard Hotel , and ongoing work on our forthcoming Japan collection. Add to that a new rhythm of writing here, and it feels like things are very much in motion.

So we’re leaning into it. Forward energy. Creative heat. A sense of momentum that feels truly thrilling. How are you channelling this year’s fire?

\n\n

\n\n $\"Frankincense$ \n\n

\n\n

\nFrankincense is a key note in Denarii\n

\n\n

As much as we’re enjoying the pace of the year so far, evenings still belong to our non-negotiable nightly bathing ritual. Before bed, we want something that brings us back into the body and out of the noise.

For us, that’s Denarii. Warm on the skin, it envelops you with frankincense, patchouli and – the holy trinity of scents that foster deep calm and relaxation. Patchouli adds depth and earthiness, frankincense brings a steady, resinous calm, and sandalwood softens everything, grounding and centring in a way that feels like an essential antidote to all that action.\"

Add it to your nighttime routine for a deeply soothing end to the most jam-packed of days.

\n\n

\n\n $\"The$ \n\n\n

\n\n

\n The Culture of Bathe-ing Sauna Festival\n

\n\n

We’ve been watching the bathing boom turn into a full-blown cultural shift and things are picking up steam (excuse the pun). As always, New York City is ahead of the curve. The girlies aren’t meeting for martinis anymore. They’re meeting for 90-degree heat and a 2-minute plunge.

As we speak Culture of Bathe‑ing sauna festival in NYC is happening — a three-week, open-air sauna festival transforming Domino Park into what’s being pitched as the largest sauna village ever staged in the U.S. with 17 architecturally distinct saunas, guided heat rituals, cold immersion, live art, performances, sound experiences, and more. Sign us up!

\n\n

\n\n $\"Akari$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Akari Williamsburg\n

\n\n

We’ve already mentioned Lore Bathing Club, which just opened in Noho and offers a Finnish sauna and a generous cold pool. It’s giving discreet members’ club energy, but make it thermal. Meanwhile, over in Williamsburg, Bathhouse still has a raw, Roman-industrial thing going on — exposed brick, graphic tile, a slightly chaotic social scene in the pools (and they just opened a new location in Manhattan, too). A few blocks away, Akari Williamsburg is a more serene scene, and a love letter to Japanese sentō and onsen culture.

Then there’s Othership Flatiron – where guests are called “journeyers” (of course they are), and the sauna is epic. There’s an amphitheatre tea lounge, central fireplace, group breathwork, and ice baths for 16, if that’s your group chat’s vibe. Chelsea’s Saint Bathhouse is more intimate — walnut millwork, cedar sauna, terrazzo vanities. Each guest enters a fully private bathing suite, making this one ideal for those looking to recharge in private.

If it’s happening in New York, you know it’s coming to a city near you very soon. Watch this space…

\n\n

\n\n $\"Butoh$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Butoh Dance\n

\n\n

\n\n\n

A Note from Shar

This week I’ve been in Japan, researching bathing, beauty, Zen Buddhist principles — and, of course, scent. No matcha, no selfies. Just full immersion, giving each experience my utmost attention. I have a feeling this is a place that takes several lifetimes to understand

In Kyoto, I took part in a butoh dance workshop — an art form (see photo above) that emerged in postwar Japan with Tatsumi Hijikata’s 1959 performance Kinjiki, originally known as ankoku butoh, or the “dance of utter darkness.” Born from a rejection of both Western dance and the rigid codification of classical Japanese forms like Noh, it draws on expressionism, theatre, and philosophy while remaining deeply embodied. Learning it was like entering a meditative state — one that challenged me mentally and physically.

\n\n

\n\n\n

\n $\"Noh$ \n

\n\n

\n Noh Masks\n

\n\n

I also spent time with a Noh mask maker, observing the painstaking process of carving and painting each piece by hand. A single mask can hold multiple expressions, revealed only through subtle shifts of light and angle. It was an awe-inspiring experience.

One of the best stays on my itinerary was at the exquisite Hanamurasaki in Yamanaka Onsen Town, where bathing is woven into daily life. One afternoon I found myself sitting in an outdoor hot spring as snow fell around me – an experience that I know I’ll remember forever. These places hold a deep respect for bathing as an act of restoration, in keeping with Japan’s general reverence for simple rituals repeated with care and intention.

\n\n

\n\n $\"Aman$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Aman Tokyo is bliss\n

\n\n

Alongside this, I’ve been (re)exploring Tokyo, a city that never ceases to amaze. One highlight was staying at Aman Tokyo , firmly added to our mental list of jaw-dropping bathtubs. High up in the Otemachi Tower, the bedrooms feature large stone ofuro-style tubs overlooking the city. Bathing amid its elegant slate interiors — with the soft scent of cypress in the air — was a deeply restorative antidote to many days on the move.

These experiences have been grounding and expansive in equal measure — and they’re already shaping how I’m thinking about what we make next.

\n\n

\n\n $\"Thermae$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Thermae Romae Novae\n

\n\n

Speaking of onsens… head to the Journal for our take on Thermae Romae Novae by Mari Yamazaki — an unlikely but surprisingly perfect source of inspiration for 39BC. On paper, a Netflix anime about an Ancient Roman bathhouse architect time-travelling to modern Japan doesn’t sound like a brand origin story, yet it captures something we return to again and again: the bath as a serious cultural portal.

Through Lucius’ eyes, bathing is discipline, devotion, and civic responsibility. Watched alongside Shar’s time in onsen towns, the lineage feels unmistakable — different centuries, different architectures, but an enduring language of stone, steam, and ritual.

\n\n

\n\n\n $\"My$ \n\n

\n\n

\n My Father's Shadow\n

\n\n

\n\n\n

On Our Cultural Radar

If you feel like a night at the cinema this week, look no further than My Father’s Shadow , which is directed and co-written by friend of 39BC, Akinola Davies Jr.

Set over a single day in 1993 Lagos, it follows two young brothers spending rare time with their beloved but often absent father. The film is full of stunning sequences but the beach scenes stayed with us: the boys bathing in the Atlantic with their dad, salt on skin, sunlight on water — cleansing, fleeting, and sacred.

\n\n

\n\n\n

\n\n

\n","playing-with-fire","gid://shopify/Article/618240639241",{"_15":198,"_183":-5,"_22":199,"_102":185,"_100":200},"gid://shopify/ArticleImage/236890292489","https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0939/6702/4393/articles/playing-with-fire-horse-1_ee28367a-ee84-4c45-915a-ff999cb61471.jpg?v=1779961444",1350,"2026-05-28T09:27:10Z","Playing with Fire",{"_178":191},{"_173":205,"_176":206,"_178":207,"_15":208,"_86":209,"_187":214,"_38":215,"_163":216},{"_17":175}," $\"Eros$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Eros by Joe Hume\n

\n\n

To celebrate 39BC landing at Selfridges, we invited some of most beloved Londoners to dinner.

On Thursday 12 February, Sharmadean Reid gathered friends of the brand at Corner Restaurant — the quietly seductive dining room from London's favourite chef, Jackson Boxer — for a night of ritual and romance.

Around the table: Nellie Eden, Vanessa White, Grace Gargini, Alice Casely-Hayford, Laura Jackson, Alex Brownsell, Mikai McDermott, Alex Carl, Christie Leigh Chung and Dom Chung — a mix of creative 39BC friends who embody what the brand is all about.

\n\n\n

\n\n $\"An$ \n\n

\n\n

\n An evening of love\n

\n\n

Guests arrived at 6.30pm to a glass of champagne. By 7.00pm they were seated at a long table adorned with florals in 39BC's signature crimson hue The menu was created especially for the evening (rarebit croquettes, sirloin and pumpkin ravioli, chocolate treacle cake), but the real indulgence was an opportunity for conversation and connection.

This was Valentine’s reframed the 39BC way: eros not as cliché, but as a life force and an act of devotion: to friends, to lovers, to the self.

\n\n

\n\n $\"Vanessa$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Vanessa White and her partner choose their 39BC favourites\n

\n\n\n

As a parting gesture, each guest left with a pair of 39BC bottles — Sage Water and Denarii, or Silk Veil and Fig Milk — accompanied by a handwritten note from Sharmadean. Tucked alongside them: a limited-edition print by still-life photographer Joe Hume, a single red rose shot in saturated close-up.

An ode to Eros, to scent, to love.

\n\n

\n $\"Laura$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Laura Jackson\n\n

\n\n

\n\n $\"Sharmadean$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Sharmadean welcomes her guests\n

\n\n

\n \n $\"Charlotte$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Charlotte Roberts\n

\n\n

\n\n $\"Christie$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Christie Leigh Chung\n

\n\n

\n $\"Sharmadean$ \n

\n\n

\n Sharmadean explaining the backstory to the Eros print\n

\n\n

\n\n $\"Grace$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Grace Gargini, Mikai McDermott and Tashan Dwyer\n

\n\n

\n\n $\"Alex$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Alex Brownsell\n

\n\n

\n\n $\"Nellie$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Nellie Eden\n

\n\n

\n\n $\"Alfred$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Alfred Bramsen, Christie Leigh Chung, Dom Chung\n

\n\n

\n $\"Alex$ \n\n

\n\n

\nAlex Carl\n

\n\n

\n\n $\"Eros$ \n\n

\n\n

\nEros at every seat\n

\n\n

","lovers-and-friends","gid://shopify/Article/618244636937",{"_15":210,"_183":-5,"_22":211,"_102":212,"_100":213},"gid://shopify/ArticleImage/236901335305","https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0939/6702/4393/articles/rose_f0fea82c-3576-44ae-b586-f8c40f57c91e.jpg?v=1779969051",3134,3917,"2026-05-28T11:40:25Z","Lovers and Friends",{"_178":191},{"_173":218,"_176":219,"_178":220,"_15":221,"_86":222,"_187":225,"_38":226,"_163":227},{"_17":175},"

\n $\"Valentine$ \n

\n\n

\n\n\n

We’re not Valentine’s Day cynics at 39BC — quite the opposite. This is a brand inspired, in part, by one of history’s most scandalous and all-consuming love affairs. Cleopatra and Mark Antony didn’t do things by halves, and frankly, neither do we. If you’re going to love, you may as well commit.

That said, we’re equal-opportunity romantics. Romantic love, self-love, secret crushes, long baths, elaborate inner lives — it all counts. And in these last, stubborn weeks of winter (the ones that feel especially grey, especially long), we’re leaning fully into the art of romanticising our own lives.

Lately that looks like daydreaming about fabulous escapes, mainlining art and culture wherever we can find it, and doubling down on our favourite rituals — baths included. Call it self-care if you must, but really, it’s about staying devoted to pleasure, to beauty, and to feeling something, even when it’s cold outside.

\n\n

\n\n\n $\"Silk$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Silk Veil carries the seductive scent of Jasmine\n

\n\n

\n\n\n

In that spirit: Why not self-gift Silk Veil — or give it to the lover in your life? We created it imagining Cleopatra waiting for Mark Antony, bathing in rare oils, scenting her skin not just for him, but for herself first. Seduction, after all, is as much about anticipation as anything else.

Silk Veil is inspired by that moment of waiting – and of wanting. It’s an intoxicating floral veil of tuberose, jasmine and gardenia that lasts much longer than a bouquet. Whether you’re preparing to receive your lover, or adding a veil of romance to your own evening, consider it the ultimate Valentine’s gesture of adoration.

\n\n

\n\n\n $\"Bathrooms$ \n\n

\n\n

\n Bathrooms at the Ritz Paris\n

\n\n

A HOTEL WE LOVE

What says romance more than the Ritz in Paris? A hotel seemingly designed for lovers, in a city that has made an industry of desire — it simply doesn’t get dreamier. We’re certain Cleopatra wouldn’t have resisted it. Nor did Coco Chanel, who lived here for 34 years, or Ernest Hemingway who reportedly drank 51 martinis in a single sitting in the hotel bar — a level of excess we admire, but don’t necessarily recommend.

Obviously the spa is legendary, with its swimming pool tucked beneath a theatrical trompe-l’œil ceiling, while the library offers refuge among rare and beautiful editions. And then there are the bathrooms. A Ritz Paris bathroom is a private sanctuary of indulgence — swan-neck taps, those iconic monogrammed peach robes, exquisite marble surfaces, gilded porcelain details. You’ll want to soak it all in.

See more of our favourite hotels on the Journal.

\n\n

\n\n $\"In$ \n\n

\n\n

\n In the Mood for Love\n

\n\n

ON OUR CULTURAL RADAR

If you’re staying in this week, there’s no better companion than In the Mood for Love. Set in 1960s Hong Kong, the film follows two neighbours — played by Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung — who discover their spouses are having an affair, and slowly, exquisitely, fall into something far more devastating themselves.

Directed by Wong Kar-wai, it’s a masterclass in longing: lingering glances, brushed sleeves, narrow hallways heavy with unspoken desire. Nothing much happens, and yet everything does. The film is famously precise — from Maggie Cheung’s cheongsams to the aching repetition of its score — creating a world where romance lives in everything that’s left unsaid. It’s the cinematic equivalent of Fig Milk.

\n\n\n

\n\n

\n $\"A$ \n

\n\n

\n A woman's firefighting jacket and hood from 1800-50\n

\n\n\n

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If you’re venturing out, we recommend the newly opened Samurai exhibition at the British Museum — a sweeping yet surprisingly intimate look at the real men and women behind a millennium of myth. Moving beyond fantasies of lone warriors and rigid codes, the exhibition traces how the samurai — originally a medieval warrior class — evolved into an elite social and intellectual culture that included women, scholars, poets, artists, and patrons, before their values were later mythologised into the modern idea of bushidō.

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\n $\"Sharmadean$ \n

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\n Sharmadean in Samurai training\n

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It’s perfect inspiration for us as we begin shaping our next collection, rooted in ancient Japanese ritual and mythology. Last autumn, Sharmadean Reid travelled to the Turkish coast to take part in a Female Samurai retreat led by a 16th-generation samurai master, where sword became meditation and discipline softened into devotion — a reminder that being a samurai was never only about combat, but about the cultivation of stillness. The exhibition echoes that truth beautifully.

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\n\n $\"Selfie$ \n\n

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\n Selfie at Komorebi\n

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A NOTE FROM SHAR

Last week was wildly busy, but thankfully punctuated by some very good moments — including a dinner with fellow beauty founders Isamaya Ffrench, Joanna Ellner, and my longtime friend Alex Brownsell. We ate at Kensington Roof Garden’s new Japanese restaurant, Komorebi — a place I was always going to love, especially while deep in R&D mode (it’s also the best place to take a bathroom selfie). Komorebi is the Japanese word for the beauty of sunlight filtering through trees; only the food — and the company — managed to outshine the name.

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\n\n $\"Shibui$ \n\n

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\n Shibui Spa, Greenwich Hotel\n

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I even made time for some Japan-inspired research on my recent trip to NYC — this time at The Greenwich Hotel Shibui Spa. I’ve written before about the importance of empirical experience — of touching the thing in order to build the thing well — and I wanted to see the spa with my own eyes as I think about what an onsen-like experience in London could look and feel like. Above the pool hangs a 250-year-old structure imported from Japan, radiating a deep sense of stillness and calm; green tea and yuzu candies are offered to the side. It felt transporting in the truest sense. I fell asleep poolside in the softest robe, with The Pillow Book playingin my ears.

This week, I’m in *actual* Japan, doing a deep dive into scent and ritual for 39BC’s next collection. I’ll share more when I’m back, but needless to say I’m already deeply inspired. More soon — though for now, all I can really say is: Japan is just the most exquisite country!

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