We all know roses as beautiful popular flowers traditionally given to loved ones, particularly on Valentine’s Day, but digging into their rich heritage unveils a lot more to their lasting popularity than first meets the eye.
Legends surrounding the rose prove as intriguing as their structure, as delicate unfurling petals belie stems often full of sharp thorns (officially known merely as prickles).
In Christian beliefs roses had no thorns and grew in the Garden of Eden. As flowers of beauty in the earthly paradise they gave only pleasure to Adam and Eve, however, after their expulsion and the fall of man thorns were added. Meanwhile the pure white rose still remains a popular symbol for the Virgin Mary.
In Greek and Roman mythology the rose was sacred to Aphrodite and Venus, both goddesses of love and beauty, so the flower subsequently became synonymous with the same qualities. While Cleopatra, another icon of beauty, famously had the floors of her palace deeply carpeted with rose petals to enchant and beguile Antony.
The rose has a long tradition as a keeper of secrets. An original legend of the flower’s association with secrecy is that it was a rose that Cupid offered when trying to bribe Harpocrates, the God of Silence, not to betray the confidences of his mother Venus’s various amorous escapades.
Meanwhile it was a Roman custom to place roses on doorways and ceilings in rooms to remind guests to keep secret what was said within those walls. The phrase ‘sub rosa’, literally meaning ‘under the rose’, is derived from this ancient practice and still used today to mean secretly or confidentially.
Legends surrounding the rose prove as intriguing as their structure, as delicate unfurling petals belie stems often full of sharp thorns (officially known merely as prickles).
In Christian beliefs roses had no thorns and grew in the Garden of Eden. As flowers of beauty in the earthly paradise they gave only pleasure to Adam and Eve, however, after their expulsion and the fall of man thorns were added. Meanwhile the pure white rose still remains a popular symbol for the Virgin Mary.
In Greek and Roman mythology the rose was sacred to Aphrodite and Venus, both goddesses of love and beauty, so the flower subsequently became synonymous with the same qualities. While Cleopatra, another icon of beauty, famously had the floors of her palace deeply carpeted with rose petals to enchant and beguile Antony.
The rose has a long tradition as a keeper of secrets. An original legend of the flower’s association with secrecy is that it was a rose that Cupid offered when trying to bribe Harpocrates, the God of Silence, not to betray the confidences of his mother Venus’s various amorous escapades.
Meanwhile it was a Roman custom to place roses on doorways and ceilings in rooms to remind guests to keep secret what was said within those walls. The phrase ‘sub rosa’, literally meaning ‘under the rose’, is derived from this ancient practice and still used today to mean secretly or confidentially.
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