The Rose in Mythology

Hey everyone, I want to welcome all to my new post and hope you had a great start to the new week! In this article I would like to combine nature with mythology and I am happy when you can learn new things.

Even if many flowers have already faded during this time of year, there are some that still enchant the area with their beauty, such as these roses, which I was able to photograph in different colors. Already in ancient cultures a diverse symbolism has developed around the rose and it was considered as a typical sign of love or romanticism which is supposed to express the devotion or connection between people as in Greek mythology where it was considered a typical sign of the goddess of love Aphrodite or her Roman equivalent Venus. In ancient Greece there are many legends about the creation of flowers which are often associated with sad actions or love stories and also with the rose, there is the legend in this regard that it arose from the blood drops of the young man Adonis or the tears of the Aphrodite which fell to the ground. There are different versions of this legend and in one it says that once her beloved Adonis was hunting and was killed there by a wild animal and when the drops of blood fell to the ground, a red rose grew out of it and in antiquity, the rose was also revered as the king of flowers. Also in other cultures, it's mainly consecrated to love or fertility goddesses as well as in the Norse mythology Freya and in her honor, there were special days on which it was typical to collect roses and sacrifice them for her. Over the centuries it became an increasingly popular plant which had quickly reached other countries through traders in which it has developed into a symbol of the rulers and was considered a sign of fame or status and many traces of it can still be seen today in heraldry where the rose can be seen as an emblem in many coats of arms.

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In England, during the 15th century it even came to wars between the two houses York or Lancaster which should to go down in history as wars of the roses and both families used roses in their coat of arms and while Lancaster used a red one, York used a white to identify themselves. Even in ancient China, which is considered one of the countries of origin of this diverse flower, roses are deeply anchored and there it was also a plant that was not accessible to everyone and as a symbol of status or power it could be found mainly in the royal gardens and it was also referred to as a divine flower. In many cultures, roses have a reputation as a divine flower that has supernatural powers and there were assumptions that the scent would connect people with each other, which is why the extracted oil has developed into an important aphrodisiac. Later, many other meanings have developed and the exact meaning it has is related to the color and also for the old alchemists, the rose had an important meaning and was also associated with spiritual enlightenment or the Philosopher's Stone and sometimes the rose was also associated with mysticism or the things that are hidden at first glance like secret knowledge.

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Many thanks for stopping by and I hope you could learn something new about this topic! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens.