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Scholars don’t study romance, but without it, there would be no reproduction; thus, we wouldn’t exist. This story is a shout-out for history’s leading lovers and the rest who kept us reproducing.

Everyone sends valentines to their sweethearts, diamonds to their fiancée, and baubles to win favors. But to reach the “Big Time Lover’s list”, you must do more. For example, Burton/Taylor with their 40-carat diamond ring are contenders. Even then, Richard and Liz only rated an honorable mention.

To achieve top contender status, you need a stupendous gift. If you aspire to reach the top of the lover’s ladder, have a look at The Fabulous Four:

First and oldest: Ramesses II

Ramesses II, 1,200 B.C., offered his queen more than a bouquet and chocolates. His favorite wife, Nefatari, got a temple all her own at Abu Simbel, Egypt. This was no shed or bungalow, but the grandest temple folks had ever seen anywhere before. This monument was commensurate in size with that of the pharaoh himself, and back in the day, nobody ever got equal billing with pharaoh.

There, it still stands some 3,200 years later as an enduring testament to Ramesses II’s adoration.

NEXT CAME THE NEBUCHADNAZZARSHANGING GARDENS OF BABALON 605 B.C.

As is often the case when you pursue a high-maintenance royal beauty from the verdant mountains of Iran (Media), problems come up. Amytis found Babylon dusty, dry, and intolerably flat. Nobody could persuade her otherwise. Dusty old Babylon was simply not to her liking.

When it came to romantic gestures, Ramases held the record for close to a thousand years. That gift did the job, and Nefatari stuck with him to the end.

   For a woman living in 605 B.C. who wanted her romance together with something more substantial than a temple of granite rocks, she should look no further than the Babylonian leader, Nebuchadnezzar. The object of Nebu’s affections was Queen Amytis.

Despite all the carping, the king refused to quibble over a trifle like his city’s landscape … so he built her a mountain in the middle of town and decorated it with fruit trees, orchards, vineyards, rice paddies, and hanging gardens.

As best we know, Amytis was content with her gift, and romance blossomed.

MARC ANTHONY’S GIFT TO CLEOPATRA 12 B.C.WAS COLOSSAL

 Mark Anthony gifted the ocean front municipality of Tarsus and a Spa to Cleopatra in the year 12 B.C. No temples or mountains for Cleo, the Empress of Egypt. She had all that. Marc offered her a vacation spot along the Aegean Sea, where she could vacation on her business trips between her home in Alexandria and Rome. A woman on a long voyage needs a break in an oceanfront resort with amenities. So, she can spend her afternoons in her city, or dip into her spa to do her hair and nails.

Sadly, the two lovers and their romance were short-lived, as was the Spa. Cleopatra’s pool still functions today, but shows signs of decrepitude.

SHAH JAHAN’S 1649 A.D. GIFT OF A TAJ TO MUMTAZ MAHAL

A woman wants a refined gift, heavenly, yet envied by throngs. She is thinking of a gift that stands out amid the treasures and baubles all the other girls receive. If that is the case, she should keep her eyes on the likes of Shah Jahan, Mughal Emperor, and a top-notch romantic.

The Shah was captivated by his wife, Queen Mumtaz Mahal, and built a Taj as a momento. Sadly, the beautiful Mumtaz died in childbirth in 1631 and was unable to flaunt her Taj Mahal

Since the time of the Shah, romantic gift-giving has not ended altogether, but has lost the “vibe” of earlier days. Does this mean that in a time of centi-billionaires, nobody gives their lover a Taj? Do we no longer have the talent, resources, or fortitude? Or is it that the beautiful Taj set a standard that’s impossible to beat?