The most beautiful songs have been sung about legendary loves, terrible wars have been fought because of love. Real life has also given birth to famous love stories – romantic, but also tragic. Valentine's Day is an opportunity to remember them.
The most famous homosexual love couple of antiquity
It was probably just a close male friendship. Whether Alexander the Great and his close advisor and bodyguard Hephaestion actually shared a bed is still a matter of debate among historians. However, it is certain that in Alexander's time, in the 4th century BC, same-sex relations were common. It is also historically confirmed that Alexander and Hephaestion participated together in the great military campaigns of the Macedonian king.
It is said that Alexander mourned the death of his friend so deeply that he posthumously declared him a demigod, banned all festivities in the empire, killed an entire tribe in his grief, and ordered the torture and execution of Hephaestion's personal physician - these appear in the writings of ancient chroniclers, but have not been historically confirmed.
Cleopatra and Caesar: An affair and political gain for both sides
In 48 BC, Cleopatra VII and her brother Ptolemy are fighting for power in Egypt, which escalates into a bitter civil war. Cleopatra seeks help from Rome. She captivates the Roman general Julius Caesar with her charm and beauty. Caesar accepts – because, in addition to his relationship with the most beautiful and powerful woman of antiquity, an alliance with Egypt also brings him political benefits: through this alliance he can strengthen his position in the eastern Mediterranean.
With his army, he ends the civil war in Egypt in favor of Cleopatra. Ptolemy – lo and behold – suffers a fatal accident. Caesar lives with Cleopatra in Rome. His close relationship with the exotic queen attracts attention, but many Romans also recognize the political benefits of the affair. The affair ends with Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC. Cleopatra then begins another love affair in Rome, which will have equally powerful political consequences – but that is another story.
Heloise and Abelard: The Most Famous Loving Couple of the Middle Ages
12th century: Forty-year-old Pierre Abelard is considered the smartest scholar in Europe, and eighteen-year-old Heloise is considered the most beautiful girl in Paris. Abelard wants to win the young beauty, but he must win over her uncle and guardian, the high priest Fulbert. He begins to give her private lessons. Abelard teaches Heloise not only science, but also love - and she progresses so much that he boasts about it to his students. Soon all of Paris knows about their relationship - and Fulbert is the last to know.
When Fulber's anger subsides, he and Abelard reach an agreement: an immediate marriage to Heloise. The marriage is to remain a secret – the role of a wife could damage Abelard's reputation as a kind of "star" among medieval scholars. Heloise agrees. However, when Fulber does announce the wedding plans, Abelard is annoyed and sends Heloise to a monastery.
Fulbert is furious again, considering this an attempt by Abelard to evade his marital obligations. He orders the sinful professor to be castrated. Abelard then retires to a monastery himself, remaining deeply attached to Heloise for the rest of his life.
Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII: Love and Execution
In 1527, King Henry VIII of England is married to Catherine of Aragon. However, she is unable to bear him a son, and the king is increasingly attracted to the young lady-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn. He showers her with passionate love letters, but Anne makes it clear that nothing will happen between them without marriage. Henry is so captivated by her that he breaks with the Roman Catholic Church to divorce Catherine and marry Anne. But Anne also fails to produce a male heir. Their relationship deteriorates, and Henry is informed that Anne is having an affair. He orders his former favorite imprisoned in the Tower of London.
She was found guilty of high treason and executed on May 19, 1536. Thousands of people watched as the executioner cut off Anne Boleyn's head with a sword. Henry was not among them. He would marry four more times – and his fifth wife would be beheaded for adultery.
Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal: A World Wonder as a Proof of Love
It was love at first sight when fifteen-year-old Prince Huraim, the future Mughal ruler Shah Jahan, and Arjumand Banu Begum, a year younger, met in 1607. They were married five years later. Arjumand was given the name Mumtaz Mahal – “jewel of the palace” – and became his most beloved wife. She accompanied him on all his travels and bore him 14 children. After her last birth, she died of hemorrhage. On her deathbed, she asked him for a tomb as large and magnificent as the world had ever seen.
A widower, whose beard supposedly turned gray overnight, builds a mausoleum in Agra, India, that is to become the most perfect building of mankind. The Taj Mahal still shines in the brightest white marble today.
Gertrude Stajn and Alice B. Toklas: A Lesbian Bohemian for
In the salon of the American Jewess Gertrude Stein in Paris, the elite of the avant-garde art scene gathers. On the walls hang works by Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, and Eugène Delacroix. Ernest Hemingway and TS Eliot also come here. In the background, the woman who is Gertrude's great love - the writer Alice B. Toklas - works and works.
They met and fell in love in 1907. But Alice was not only Gertrude's lover – she was also her cook, secretary, muse, editor and critic. They lived together for almost 40 years, until Gertrude's death in 1946. Alice outlived her by 21 years. She is buried in Paris next to Gertrude; her name is inscribed in gold letters on the back of Gertrude Stein's tombstone.
Bonnie and Clyde: Kisses and Bullets
Bonnie Parker (1910–1934) and Clyde Barrow (1909–1934) met in 1930 in Texas. Both grew up in poverty, dreaming of a better life and trying to achieve it through crime. Clyde ended up in prison several times, and Bonnie waited for him – for two whole years. When she finally got out, they embarked on a series of robberies in several American states. They robbed stores, gas stations and banks, constantly evading the police.
During the Great Depression, they become a kind of rebel idol. However, sympathy disappears when the murders begin. In May 1934, they are ambushed by the police. The police shoot at their car for 16 seconds – Bonnie and Clyde are riddled with dozens of bullets.
Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis: The (Self)Destruction of a Diva
Maria Callas is at the peak of her career as an opera star and is still married when she meets wealthy shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, also married. At a glamorous party on his luxury yacht, their passionate affair begins. Both marriages end in divorce.
Callas hopes to marry, but Onassis has no intention of doing so. The relationship becomes increasingly toxic. As her career falters, she becomes more and more attached to him, and he becomes more and more distant. When he meets and marries the widow of an American president, Jackie Kennedy, Maria can only watch helplessly. Although Onassis and Maria still see each other occasionally, the relationship is irretrievably destroyed – just like Maria Callas's voice.
Gudrun Enslin and Andreas Bader: Dok nas smrt ne rastavi
Gudrun Enslin and Andreas Bader met in 1967 during student protests in Berlin. Later, together with Ulrike Meinhof, they became leaders of the "Bader-Meinhof" group, responsible for the first terrorist attacks by the Red Army Faction (RAF), which shook West Germany in the 1970s.
Bader and Enslin were arrested in 1972, followed by a long and media-monitored trial. In October 1977, both were found dead in their cells. The circumstances of their deaths have not been clarified to this day.
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