It ’s what makes some women wear torturous undergarments and feign interest in sporting ritual . It ’s also what makes some men hold dainty purses outside of fitting rooms and suffer through theTwilightmovies . What could be this sinewy ? Why , erotic love , of course .
We ’ve comb throughCupid ’s handcraft and selected someromantic pairingspowerful enough to influence culture , trigger wars , and breed outside dirt .
Antony and Cleopatra
Cleopatraalways had a in high spirits - profile love life . The pouf ofEgypt , she was the schoolma’am ofJulius Caesar , ruler of Rome , until his character assassination in 44 B.C.E. After Caesar ’s end , Mark Antony get down sharing an awkward alliance with Gaius Octavian ( Caesar ’s grandnephew ) and army general Marcus Lepidus as triumviral swayer of the Roman Empire .
Looking to advance a knock-down political friend , Antony invite Cleopatra to Tarsus ( in what is now Turkey ) in 41 B.C.E. for a meeting that would become legendary . Cleopatra had a captivate mien and was bonk for her intelligence , wit and , at times , ruthless ambition . Antony was charmed instantly and followed Cleopatra back to Egypt . In Rome , Octavian was clearly angry , because Antony had antecedently we d his baby , Octavia , to strengthen his position . He start to look at Cleopatra as a grasping enchantress who had turned Antony into a helpless puppet . Octavian declare war on thetwo lovers , which culminate in the Battle of Actium in westerly Greece in 31 B.C.E. There , Octavian ’s naval fleet defeated the joint forces of Antony and Cleopatra , and the pair fled back to Egypt . Octavian , still pursuing sole control over the Roman Empire , invaded Egypt and forced Cleopatra and Antony to surrender .
During the terminal battle against Octavian in Egypt , Antony received a false report that Cleopatra had put suicide . Antony , overcome with brokenheartedness , thrust a sword into his abdomen . His men carry him to where Cleopatra was hiding , and he croak in her arms . shortly after , Cleopatra was taken prisoner . Legend has it she smuggled a venomous snake into her cell and aim it upon her chest where it redeem a black smasher . Cleopatra was buried next to her beloved , where they lay together for eternity .
Catherine the Great and Grigory Potemkin
Catherine the Greatand her lover , Grigory Potemkin , definitely take the patty for the best “ how we run into ” level . In 1761 , Catherine was the married woman of Czar Peter III of Russia . But after only one year in power , Peter was overthrow ( in all likelihood with Catherine ’s supporter ) and killed ( she may have give those orders , too ) by the Imperial Guard in acoup d’état .
It just so happened that , the right way about the time Peter was meeting his low-spirited circumstances , Russian soldier Grigory Potemkin was on guard tariff insure Catherine ’s safety . Catherine , who wouldbecome empressonly days later , take a liking to Potemkin , despite the fact that he was weighty , vain , and miss an eye . But Catherine was n’t exactly get laid for being picky about her lovers ; she had many , but she show the longest fidelity to Potemkin .
By 1771 , Catherine had made him an official Russian national leader , a count , and the commander of her armies . Although their love life affair ended in 1776 , Potemkin rest the honey of her life-time . When he died at geezerhood 52 , Catherine went into a depression from which she never full recuperate .
Napoleon and Josephine
AsNapoleoncontinued to rise in powerfulness and riches as emperor of France beginning in 1804 , he became focussed on deliver a son to pack on his lineage . But he eventually come to the finale that Josephine was unable to believe , and the couple disunite in 1809 .
Less than a year afterwards he splice 18 - year - old Marie Louise of Austria and had a Word . But withoutJosephine , it seemed his destinywas cursed . After withering military losses he was exiled to the island of Elba on May 4 , 1814 . Josephine , still heartbroken , wrote aletter to Napoleonand asked permit to join him . He wrote back that it was impossible , but Josephine conk out on May 29 , before his letter arrived .
In 1815 , Napoleon miss from Elba and return to Paris . The first mortal he visited was the doctor who treat Josephine . When Napoleon beseeched the medico as to why his darling Josephine had died , the doctor replied that he believed she had succumbed to a upset heart . He then remember violets from her garden and wore them in a locket until his dying in 1821 .
Czar Nicholas II and Alexandra Federovna
Young Nicholas II , the future czar of Russia , fall for the ravishing German princess Alexandra of Hess as soon as he saw her . The yoke became inseparable and , to the disheartenment of their regal house , often engaged in public displays of philia . Nicholas and Alex ( as he called her ) became engaged in 1893 . The following year Nicholas ’s father died , and , only mean solar day afterward , the young couple was married , though it was a sober observance due to the tsar ’s recent destruction .
yet , Czar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra had a happy and passionate marriage . But while they were enjoying lavish royal parties and racing yacht outings , their subjects fag in poverty . During WWI , the Russian people suffered famines and worse , and by 1917 , support for the royal family was all but gone . Russians stormed the streets of St. Petersburg ( then known as Petrograd ) in protest and topple the monarchy . Nicholas and his class were arrested and broadcast to Siberia . On July 16 of the next year theentire familywas executed by the novel Bolshevik government , ending the 300 - yr - oldRomanov dynasty .
Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas
It was sexual love at first sight betweenGertrude Stein , 33 , and Alice Babette Toklas , 29 , in Paris in 1907 . Like many great lovers , they fulfil by accident . Stein ’s parents had run to Oakland , California , to delay on attribute damaged during the 1906 Bay Area earthquake , where they met Toklas and enchant her with their story of Paris . Toklas moved there two year later , met up with Gertrude , and the two women soon start living together .
Besides being a well - known avant - garde author , Stein was a bright , bizarre intellect who ran a Modernist beauty salon and collected art . Alice B. Toklas work as Stein ’s secretary , cook , and biggest fan . The span became inseparable . Their apartment at 27 Rue de Fleurus , now a famed turning point , became the world-class confluence piazza for artists and author like Henri Matisse , Pablo Picasso , Ernest Hemingway , and F. Scott Fitzgerald .
King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson
Edward , the handsomePrince of Walesand heir to the British throne , changed the course of his life , as well as that of British history , when he fell in honey with Wallis Warfield Simpson — a cleaning lady who was not only American , but also married .
Edwardmet Simpsonat a party in 1931 , hosted by Lady Thelma Furness , a viscountess with whom Edward had conducted a foresighted relationship . Edward was not outright smitten , but he and the upward - Mobile River Mrs. Simpson journey in the same social round , and after many society clump and dinner party parties , he was fascinate by her charm and poise .
By 1934 , Wallis was separate from her husband , and Parliament grew increasingly nervous over the family relationship . Then , in 1936 , Edward ’s founding father died , and he enter to the throne . But his brief hitch as Riley B King only create a media fury due to his relationship with Simpson . Miserable , Edwardabdicatedin a famous wireless broadcast in which he tell the world that he “ found it impossible to carry the heavy effect ” of being king without the living of “ the woman he hump . ”
Edward ’s young brother , Albert , became King George VI in reaction , and , as only the manlike heir manifest can gestate the title Prince of Wales , Edward was made the Duke of Windsor . George VI made indisputable that his brother kept the courtesy title of His Royal Highness , but he also pointedly decree that should he tie Wallis , she ( and any children they give rise ) would be denied royal status . After Simpson ’s divorce in 1937 , Edward and Walliswere marriedin a small ceremony and spent most of the relaxation of their living in France .
Julius Waties Waring and Elizabeth Avery Waring
The floor of Julius Waties Waring and Elizabeth Avery Waring is not just a great love affair , it is a great romanticism that castrate the course of instruction of America’scivil rightsmovement . Growing up in Charleston , South Carolina , Julius Waring was the personification of the patrician Old South . In 1941 , at the historic period of 61 , he was appointed as a federal judge and became a democratic fellow member of the Charleston elite group .
Yet , Waring was already showing sign of objection : He stop segregated seating in his courtroom and appointed John Fleming , a Black man , as his bailiff . But eyebrows were raise even higher when Waring disjoint his wife of 32 years and married Elizabeth Avery , a double - divorced aboriginal of Detroit . Waring and his new bride determine themselves shunned by Charleston society ; Elizabeth was disliked for being a Yankee and for encouraging her husband to take an even more aggressive stand against racism .
By the late 1940s , consume had undergone a rebirth that turn him into an outspoken critic of segregation and a champion for racial justice . In fact , it was due to Waring ’s key legal influence and a lawsuit in his tourist court that challenged the segregator ’ “ separate but adequate ” philosophy , laying the groundwork for the historic Supreme Court ruling inBrown v. Board of Educationin 1954 , which declare schoolsegregationunconstitutional .
Harry Tyson Moore and Harriette Simms Moore
Harry and Harriette Moore helped pave the way for the civil rights move of the 1960s . The two met in 1925 while Harry , 20 , was teaching elementary schoolhouse in Cocoa , Florida , and Harriette , 23 , a former teacher , was sell insurance .
The two fell in love and were married within a year . Both warm - willed and compassionate the great unwashed , the Moores raised a class of two girl whilefoundingand start the Brevard County chapter of the NAACP in 1934 , championing equal pay for dim and snowy teachers and other issues . With the support of the future Supreme Court justiceThurgood Marshall , the Moores became successful leaders in the movement .
By 1941 , Harry was the president of the Florida chapter of the NAACP , and his raw stage of activism took him into the dangerous arena of lynching and police brutality . At first , Harry ’s involvement was limit to letter to government officials , but he get launching his own probe , which likely precipitated the tone-beginning on December 25 , 1951 .
On that Clarence Day — also the Moores ’ 25th anniversary — a dud exploded in their bedroom . Harry pop off before he reached the infirmary ; Harriette passed away nine day later on from her injuries . Though authorities believe that theKu Klux Klanwas involved , the execution have never been clear .
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A translation of this story was originally published in 2009 and has been updated for 2025 .
