Botanical myths
9.99 €
In stock
Botanical myths
9.99 €
How often, when choosing flowers for a loved one or seedlings for the garden, do you consider their symbolic meaning? Since ancient times, plants and trees have provided us with food and shelter, medicine and clothing, color and fragrance. But they also have another, secret life—one hidden in the legends and tales of the world's peoples.
"Botanical Myths" invites you on a wondrous journey through the gardens of human culture, where timeless stories grow from ancient myths. This book will tell how familiar herbs, flowers, and trees became divine symbols, magical amulets, elegant messages, and even participants in legendary events. You'll learn how the lily emerged from the milk of the goddess Hera, and then became a symbol of the Virgin Mary and the emblem of French kings; what flowers are favored by mermaids and the wood goblin; and what to do if an over-ripe pumpkin or watermelon turns into... a vampire. You'll visit the asphodel meadows of the ancient underworld, explore a 16th-century apothecary, and, armed with all the necessary knowledge, set out on Midsummer's Eve to find a mysterious fern flower.
What does Ophelia's bouquet symbolize in Shakespeare's "Hamlet"? Why is the primrose called a "key flower"? And how did the rose become scarlet, the lily white, and tulips all the colors of the rainbow? You'll learn all this and much more in this book, and you'll also learn to compose and decipher special messages using the language of flowers—floriography. Color and black-and-white illustrations complement this magical bouquet of ancient myths, Christian traditions, and folk legends about the kingdom of flora.
"Botanical Myths" invites you on a wondrous journey through the gardens of human culture, where timeless stories grow from ancient myths. This book will tell how familiar herbs, flowers, and trees became divine symbols, magical amulets, elegant messages, and even participants in legendary events. You'll learn how the lily emerged from the milk of the goddess Hera, and then became a symbol of the Virgin Mary and the emblem of French kings; what flowers are favored by mermaids and the wood goblin; and what to do if an over-ripe pumpkin or watermelon turns into... a vampire. You'll visit the asphodel meadows of the ancient underworld, explore a 16th-century apothecary, and, armed with all the necessary knowledge, set out on Midsummer's Eve to find a mysterious fern flower.
What does Ophelia's bouquet symbolize in Shakespeare's "Hamlet"? Why is the primrose called a "key flower"? And how did the rose become scarlet, the lily white, and tulips all the colors of the rainbow? You'll learn all this and much more in this book, and you'll also learn to compose and decipher special messages using the language of flowers—floriography. Color and black-and-white illustrations complement this magical bouquet of ancient myths, Christian traditions, and folk legends about the kingdom of flora.
See also:
- All books by the publisher
- All books in the series Myths of the World: The Most Fabulous Stories of Humanity