The year is 39 BC. Cleopatra VII is the mother of three royal children, by two of the most powerful men of her age: Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Yet she rules alone — a queen not through marriage, but by lineage, strategy, and unmatched political acumen.
Just a year earlier, Cleopatra and Antony had shared a winter of alliance and intimacy in Alexandria. She became pregnant. He departed — not to return to her side, but to Rome, where he married the sister of his rival, Octavian. The world expected a broken queen. Instead, Cleopatra governed.
She gave birth to twins and then stabilized Egypt’s fragile economy. She expanded her navy, secured trade routes, commissioned temples, and strengthened her rule with precision. While outsiders speculated about her heart, she consolidated her empire and deepened her bond with her people. Her beauty was famed, but it was never her true power. Her mind was.
By 37 BC, Antony returned. This time, he needed Cleopatra. He had a war to fight, and her wealth was indispensable. But the queen who received him was not the woman he had left. She met him not as a lover abandoned, but as a goddess prepared. Her empire was stronger, her court more resplendent, her children fully recognized. What followed was not merely reunion, but the integration of power and desire.
Their story would end in 30 BC, after the devastating defeat at Actium. Both would die, leaving their legacy in ruins. Yet their myth endures. From Shakespeare to Hollywood, Cleopatra has been cast as seductress, Antony as victim. The truth is sharper. This was no simple love story. It was the collision of worlds — the end of one empire, the beginning of another.
At 39BC, we return to this moment. Because within every layer — love, politics, downfall, and desire — lies something that speaks to us now. Power can be tender. Pleasure can be strategic. Even ruin can leave behind a fragrance that lingers.
That is the essence of Denarii, our fine-fragrance shower oil inspired by Antony’s return to Cleopatra. Notes of frankincense, black pepper, patchouli, and balsams capture the tension of power and intimacy — the moment when smoke and sweat soften into something unforgettable.
Bathing, like history, is never just routine. It is ritual. It is archive. It is memory held on the skin.
Step back into the story. Begin in water.
