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History of Flowers
FLOWERS IN CIVILIZATION Some of the earliest surviving images, artefacts and buildings are those of ancient Egyptian dynasties, which date back to earlier than 2500 BC. Theirs war a society in which symbols, rituals and the beauty of the human form played a large and significant role. Two plants recur constantly in Egyptian symbolism – the water lily and the papyrus. Both plants were used decoratively in buildings, and were offered as tributes to gods and dignitaries and incorporated into garlands for the dead. THE GARDENS OF ISLAM: By the first millennium AD, gardens were being cultivated as tranquil havens in the rugged, often desert, landscape of the Middle East, particularly in Syria and Iran (which was formerly known as Persia). These gardens were usually walled and four-square, and included water features .The word “paradise” actually derives from the Persian word for enclosed garden “pairidaeza”. It is not untill the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, however, that we find evidence of flowers being cut and arranged in the Islamic culture. Frescoes, tiles, and tomb decorations of this period reveal richly decorated ceramic vases with rather formal arrangements of flowers fountaining out of them. Later, in the sixteenth century, onyx water basins filled with floating, perfumed rose petals were suspended in the canals beside the main thoroughfares of the Persian city of Isfahan. Carpets with flower and vase emblems were designed to represent the paradise gardens. In Turkey, a favourite present was a small, narrow, specimen vase carrying a single tulip; these vase offerings were also depicted on tiles. SYMBOLS OF LIFE: It is easy to see why, in a dry that is so profoundly dependant on its river for survival, these plants, which need constantly to have their feet in water, came to be seen as both symbols of life and miracles of nature, and why the strong, dramatic shapes of their leaves and flowers captured the artistic imagination of these cultured people. Hapti, the Egyptian god of the waters, who was believed to seasonally raise the level of the Nile enough to flood the waterways and irrigation canals of its valley, is always depicted in carvings and paintings surrounded by water plants such as these. The beauty of the human form was of paramount importance in Egyptian culture, and plants were used to make a range of cosmetics and perfumes, in what amounted to a major industry. From the evidence of tomb paintings, it is surprising how contemporary the faces of the ancient Egyptians appear to us today: rich gold and enamelled jewellery embellished with flower motifs bedeck slender necks and wrists; cheek bones are accentuated by make-up, while liners and shadow highlight the eyes. Perfumed bunches of flowers, or just a single bloom, were carried to ceremonies by both men and women, and original recipes for perfumes have recently been discovered. At banquets, the guests would be dressed in fine linen, the women adorned with beautifully crafted necklaces, bangles, rings, and headdresses. The banqueting tables would be laid out with delicacies and decorated with bowls of flowers and garlands, and the air would be filled with their delicious perfumes. AROMATIC HERBS AND PETALS: At the beginning of the first millennium AD, Pliny the Elder, the author of the vast Natural History encyclopaedia, wore a headdress of rosemary, as this highly aromatic herb was believed to sharpen the workings of the mind. In classical times, the fragrant leaves of the herb bay laurel were used to make the garlands for victorious athletes, heads of state, and elders. When a recently discovered tomb of a young Roman woman was opened, she was found to be lying on a bed of bay laurel leaves. Flower petals also played a significant role in classical life. For very special occasions, the floors of Roman villas were strewn with flower petals and leaves (usually roses and bay leaves), while guests wore sweet perfumes and carried scented flowers. The Romans also prepared sorbets flavoured with orange blossom and rose oils, using ice that was transported from the Alps and kept in underground stores. FLORAL MOTIFS: Many state buildings in Egypt were raised on thick stone columns with carved bases and capitals that frequently depicted the water lily, the papyrus and the fronds of the date palm Phoenix dactylifera. The walls of such grand ceremonial buildings, as well as those of tombs, were decorated with carved and painted scenes depicting both everyday life and state occasions. Flowers are often shown as offerings in these, sometimes in bunches, sometimes as arrangements, as well as being used to adorn the human figure, in the form of garlands for the hair and threaded together as necklaces or collars. Many stone, gold and silver vases, in which the flowers were arranged and floated, were made in the shape of water lilies. It is now known that the flowers once thought of as the lotus are not in fact the sacred lotus, Nelumbo nucifera. They are species of white, often night-flowered, water lily, Nymphaya lotus (Egyptian lotus), which has fragrant blooms that can be up to 30cm (12in) in diameter. Poppy, iris, olive, cornflower, rosemary, lupin and narcissus have all been found in Egyptian funerary headdresses and necklaces, some dating back to 3500 BC, although it was not untill two thousand years later that the rose was introduced from China via Greece. ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME: Both learning and physical beauty were of great importance to the ancient Greeks and Romans, in whose cultures the “body beautiful” attained cult status. Just as we now go to health clubs to tone ourselves up, so too did both the Greeks and Romans, and we have evidence of the success in many of the surviving pieces of sculpture of the period. To celebrate their physical perfection, whether in the sports arena or at ceremonial events, both the Greeks and Romans employed flowers and leaves, often in the form of headdresses and garlands. The Greek terracotta vases with their illustrations of everyday and ceremonial life, which were produced in such abundance, were created simply as decorative pieces and were never intended to hold flowers. They would have been superb for displaying cut flowers both for decoration and for their perfume, but there is no evidence of such use in the first century of the first millennium.
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