Greek mythology is alive with such things as love life , lecherousness , heroism , betrayal – and bloom . blossom spring up everywhere , sometimes as as a independent feature of a myth , sometimes as a part of the backcloth and sometimes blurring the line between plant and person . When flowers seem in Hellenic myth , it is often according to sure themes and scenario – a red flower , for example , might make the lector cerebrate of blood , for instance . Many of these flowers produce in our garden today .
Metamorphosis Stories
In Greek myth , both gods and mortals often change form and , often , the circumstances are tragical . For instance , the blossom heliotrope is the end mannikin of the nymph Klytie , according to myth . After the Sunday god Helios press her aside in favor of another , Klytie gazed yearningly at her love , withering aside to become the bloom . The crocus is the youth Krokos transformed . One myth says grieve Hermes made Krokos into the crocus after the spring chicken died ; another sound out Krokos transmute after the nymph he get it on died . The famed story of Narcissus , who stare lovingly at his own reflection until he changed to his namesake flower , is another transmutation myth .
Flower Origins
Often the extraction of flower are explained by myth , commonly take a hop up from some bodily fluid like tears , spit and bloodline . The drool of Kerberos ( Cerberus ) , dog - headed guardian of the Hades , produce wolfsbane , or , aconite , which has purple - blue flower . The blood of slain Adonis in one myth became the red flower anemone thanks to lamentable Aphrodite ; in another myth , the blood became the gallic rose . The larkspur , too , is a product of blood , either that of the severe prince Hyakinthos or the poor boy Aias ( Ajax ) .
As Tools
In Greek myth , flowers sometimes served as handy pecker in the hand of gods and someone . When Prometheus bring fire from the gods to humanness , he hid it within the stalk of the giant fennel , which grows up to 15 groundwork marvelous and blooms with yellow flowers . The lenten uprise , cognize also as hellebore , cured the daughter of King Proitos , whom the god Dionysus made mad as punishment for their irreverence . Zeus , wrapped on seduce Europa , a Phoenician princess , transform himself to a bull’s eye , breathed out a crocus flower to entice her close , then abduct her .
Religious Use
Particular immortal had particular flowers associated with and sacred to them . The bloodstone was sacred to the sun god Helios , the anemone to Aphrodite and the poppy to Demeter , for instance . The strawflower , also called sodding flower , was sacred to all the gods and ancient Greeks used dry golden everlasting to decorate temples . The Asphodel , the flower sacred to Hades , god of the underworld , looked ghostly to the Greeks . The plant life ’s leave of absence are greyish unripened and the flowers a pink , hoar - white . Myth places the flower in the underworld , where it is used as food .
Supporting Role
Flowers as part of a myth ’s circumstance often serve well an important function or even are key to certain eddy in a story . For instance , Persephone was abducted by Hades as she picked flush with her companions . Myth nominate the flowers : lily , crocus , violet , iris and rose . Drawn to some narcissus flowers , though , Persephone wander from her fellow , fall in Hades his chance . It was in a garden of careen - roses that Poseidon seduced Medusa , whose expression later move around man to stone .
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