Cleopatra

I have a running theme for my daughter's Halloween costumes: QUEENS. Her first year she was a "Queen Bee" then "The Queen of Hearts". Last year she was Marie Antoinette, the queen of France. And this year she was Cleopatra, queen of the Nile. I don't know how long I will be able to choose her Halloween costumes, so I thought I would go all out for as long as I can. Along with this year's costume, I included a historical lesson about the female monarch behind the gold fabric and glue-on gemstones. Through our research, I realized that her story was a bit inappropriate for a three year-old. Cleopatra's rise to the throne involved imprisoning her younger siblings and then cold-heartedly having them murdered. In her lifetime, she married her brother according to the royal Egyptian tradition and then later betrayed her husband and formed an alliance with Rome by consorting with Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony. As politically conniving as she was beautiful, there is still a discrepancy as to her death; whether by suicide or assassination. Hard evidence of her existence is still ellusive and archeologists search to this day for the physical remnants of this icon. Yet earlier this year, scientists made a remarkable discovery in uncovering the remains of what they believe to be Princess Arsinoe, Cleopatra's younger sister. DNA test on the skeleton revealed that Arsinoe, and her sister by relation, were of mixed race. Forensic reconstruction of Arsinoe's skull also gave scientists the closest true-life rendering of Cleopatra's beauty (that is if she looked anything like her sister). But alas, since I know from experience that you can look nothing like your sister, her true image can only be realized in legend....and maybe these earrings. Gold dangles emulate royal Egyptian lavishness and the amber drops are symbolic of how the legend of a woman can span the passage of over 2,000 years.