Flower Myths

1. Flower Myths Narcissus,Hyacinth,Adonis

2. Flowers • In Greece flowers are considered to be the most beautiful. • They are rarely found in Greece because Greece is a place of rugged mountains and rocky hills. • The flowers are scattered and few so that’s why they are considered very beautiful when seen. • Many mythology story tellers of the earliest times told stories of flowers to explain how and why they were created.

3. Flower’s connection to the gods • Everything in the heavens and earth was somehow connected to the gods, especially things of beauty and loveliness. • Some say that the creation of certain flowers, like the narcissus, a bloom of purple and silver, were of direct use of the gods • Zeus created the narcissus in order to help his brother, the Ruler of the underworld Hades,lure Persephone into picking that certain flower and get snatched away

4. Narcissus • Narcissus was a beautiful young man who was so beautiful that all the girls who saw him fell in love with him. • The only problem was that he would have none of them. He would pass the most loveliest carelessly by, ignoring how hard they tried to catch his attention • Heart broken young women were nothing to him • There was even the fairest nymph chasing after him, Echo (who could only repeat what was said because Hera had put her under that spell for being a lover of Zeus’s)but she wasn’t even successful in catching his attention • She left to live in caves to hide her sorrow and could never be comforted from Narcissus’s rejection

5. Narcissus cont. • One day one of the maiden’s prayed a prayer against Narcissus: “He who loves not others loves himself” • The god Nemesis saw right to it that this would happen and the moment Narcissus bent down over a clear pool for a drink he fell in love with his reflection. • Narcissus did not want to leave his reflection and decided that the only way to free himself was death • He pined away leaning perpetually over the pool staring at his reflection • All the maidens who mourned his death found a new kind of flower growing where his body had lain and decided to call it Narcissus

6. Hyacinthus • Hyacinth is a flower lily shaped and deep purple or crimson • This is what was made of the outcome of hyacinthus’s tragic death • Hyacinthus and a close dear friend ,Apollo were playing a friendly competitive game of discus throwing. • Apollo accidently strucks hyacinthus on the forehead with the discuss and blood starts gushing from his wound. • Apollo loved this young man for how youthful and kind he was and was at shame for what he had done. He held him in his arms until he died. • The place where his blood had stained the grass had died but gotten green again and bore some new beautiful flowers that were named after him.

7. Hyacinthus cont. • There is another story that says Zephyr , the west wind, was the direct cause of death. • He had loved the boy a great deal too and gotten jealous that Hyacinthus’s best friend was the god, Apollo. • So when Apollo threw the discus it was the west wind who directed it to hit Hyacinthus

8. Adonis • Out of all the flower myths this is the most famous • Every year the Greek girls mourned for him and rejoiced when his flower, the blood stained-red anemone, the wind flower, was in its blooming season. • Adonis from birth was loved by Aphrodite, the goddess of Love, and she decided that he should be hers. • So she sent him to be taken care of by Persephone in the underworld • When she tried to get him back, Persephone had fallen in love with him too and didn’t what to give him up. So they got Zeus to make arrangements for them and it was set that Adonis would spend fall and winter time with Persephone and spring and summer with Aphrodite.

9. Adonis cont. • Aphrodite let Adonis do whatever he wanted so Adonis always enjoyed chasing wild game through the forest dressed as a huntress • Aphrodite was always above him protecting him • One day however when she was not there watching him he decided to chase a boar. • He flung his spear at him but only managed to injure it. It then started chasing him, but Adonis couldn’t get away fast enough. • The boar rushed at him and gore him with its great tusks. • Aphrodite heard her lover’s mourn and rushed to his aid, but it was too late • Dark blood flowing down his pale skin, life leaving his eyes, she spokes to him while holding him in his eyes. (refer to pg.94-95) • Crimson flowers sprang up where each drop of his blood had sunk into the earth

10. The End