floriography, part two

Far before the era of Shakespeare, flowers were big in Greek mythology, as well.

Daffodils–which mean regard, according to Kate Greenaway–correspond with the myth of Narcissus. According to legend, the nymph Echo fell in love with Narcissus, a very handsome mortal, but he broke her heart. Nemesis, the goddess of revenge, cursed him to constantly stare at his reflection, up until the day he died. Once he died, he turned into a daffodil.

Sunflowers resulted from another nymph, this time, one who was in love with the sun god, Apollo. Apollo was in love with Clytie, a water nymph, too, but a mortal princess captured his attention, and he neglected Clytie. Clytie took revenge on the princess, and Apollo was livid. After ten days of watching Apollo’s sun chariot cross the sky and going without food (to show her remorse), Clytie turned into a sunflower. Sunflowers are famous for their tendency to turn their heads to follow the sun throughout the day, but they can also symbolize “adoration” or “haughtiness”.

The anemone comes from a myth about the death of Adonis. He was a beautiful mortal, loved by both Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and Persephone, the goddess of spring and queen of the underworld. Adonis was killed by a boar during one of his hunting trips, much to the dismay of the goddesses. Aphrodite cried over his dead body, and Adonis’ blood mixed with her tears to create anemones. Greenaway’s dictionary contains two different iterations of anemones: anemone (zephyr flower) corresponds with sickness or expectation, and anemone (garden) means “forsaken”.

This myth also spawned an ancient Greek festival during midsummer, celebrated by women. They would plant pots full of plants that grew quickly. These plants would also die quickly in the sun, and women would then grieve for Adonis, publically exhibiting their sorrow.

 Plain delphinium (also known as larkspur) symbolizes lightness or levity in Greenaway’s dictionary, while pink delphinium means fickleness and purple means haughtiness. The origin myth of the delphinium starts after the death of Achilles in the Battle of Troy. Odysseus and Ajax fought over Achilles’ body, but they couldn’t reach a conclusion on who should have the full body, so they decided they would both have parts of it. This then created another argument, because they couldn’t decide who should take the arms. They were eventually given to Odysseus, and Ajax was so distraught that he killed himself. His blood formed the delphinium flower, the petals of which are said to hold the letters “A I A,” Ajax’s initials.

A universally acknowledged depiction of roses is that they symbolize love. The origin myth includes the Greek god of love, Eros. The goddess of flowers, Chloris, found a dead nymph in the forest once, and it grieved her. As a consolation, she turned the nymph’s corpse into the very first rose. It was so beautiful that it became known as the Queen of Flowers among the other Greek gods. Aphrodite took such a liking to the flower that she named it after her son, Eros, the god of love.