Skopelos Flowers and Greek Myths

Λουλούδια και Αρκαίοι Μύθοι

12 Sept 2024

 

With changing seasons, light and dark, storms and drought, birth and death, the ancient Greeks used fables of the gods to explain the complicated and confusing world around them. Plants with their fruit and flowers played important roles in ancient rituals and festivals and became entwined in many myths and legends. Not surprising with the telling and retelling over thousands of years myths have often become convoluted and often confusing. Some plants are associated with more than one legend and it is not always possible to be certain as to which flower  the myths are referring to, but here are some of my favourites and all refer to plants found on Skopelos.

Zeus, Europa and the Cypress Tree 

The beautiful Europa was gathering flowers on the shores of the Mediterranean was spied by Zeus who in an attempt to seduce her turned himself into a tame white bull. Enchanted Europa climbed on his back and the bull entered the sea with Europa clinging on as they entered deep water. Zeus swam on until he reached the shores of Crete, where he changed into human form and the couple made love under the shade of a Cypress tree, which became sacred to Europa.

Crocus and the nymph smilax 

The human youth named Crocus fell in love with the nymph Smilax, but his love was not returned and he grieved bitterly. The gods, knowing that love between a nereid and mortal was taboo, felt great sympathy for Crocus and to relieve his anguish turned him into a delicate flower with three golden stamens and transformed Smilax into the prickly vine which twists through the undergrowth and drapes over shrubs and trees.

The white lily, Lilium candicum, was sacred to Hera;  she was a jealous wife and her husband Zeus had fathered Heracles to a mortal woman, Alceme. As he wanted the boy to become divine, Zeus drugged Hera so that the baby could suckle her milk, endowing him with great strength and power. On waking to find the child at her breast, Hera cast him off; the milk was splashed across the heavens creating the milky way and a few drops fell to earth: Where they landed white lilies grew. Angry that the pure whiteness of the flowers was the result of Zeus’s infidelity, she adorned the lily with a long protruding stigma, as a symbol of masculine treachery.

Hera and the chaste tree

Another plant associated with Hera, was the chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus)  as she was born under the tree. The tree was associated with chastity, its branches and flowers were scattered around at an autumn festival, Thesphoria, attended only by women and dedicated to Hera, Demeter and Persephone. The berries of the chaste tree were considered to be aphrodisiacs for women and had the opposite effect on men. 

Poppies and the Greek gods and goddesses

Poppies with there bright red colour were associated with both fertility and death; with the psychoactive effects of poppy juice (opium) they were  associated with many myths and ceremonies.

Considering the sedative and hallucinogenic effects of poppy juice, it was associated with sleep and death. The opium poppy (Papaver somniferum*) was also sacred to: Nyx (night), the twins Hypnos and Thanatos (sleep and death), and Morpheus (dreams).

Demeter’s daughter, the beautiful Persephone, who while picking wild flowers on the edge of the  ocean was forcibly seized by the god Hades and taken down into the underworld. Hades married Persephone and she became queen of the underworld but this did not stop Hades philandering.

He fell in love and pursued the water nymph Minthe, who presided over the rivers of the underworld. This made Persephone, who considered the naeiad her inferior, extremely angry and Demeter, to avenge her daughter trampled Minthe underfoot transforming her into the mint plant (Minthe spicata). Mint became sacred to Hades and the pleasant but pungent mint was used in funeral rites to mask the odour of the dead.

Hades and asphodels

Also sacred to Hades are the asphodels, which fill the fields of the part of the underworld to where the souls of ordinary people go after death, those who have not done wrong and who are not heroes. The large bulbs of asphodels were considered as food for the dead.

 

The god Apollo and the West Wind had also fallen in love with the beautiful youth and Apollo spent time with him, teaching him how to hurl a discus. The West Wind became insanely jealous and caught  the discus in midair and dashed it against Hyacinthus's head, killing him. His blood was spattered across the field and a flower sprang up where each drop had landed. The italian gladiolus is thought to be the hyacinth,  of Greek mythology. The first letter of his name were written on the petals of the flowers.

Myrtle and Aphrodite

Myths tell how one of Aphrodite’s priestesses was abducted to be married in breach of her vows of chastity so Aphrodite turned her into a Myrtle bush. Myrtle is sacred to Aphrodite garlands are worn by her priestesses and myrtle bushes are grown in the grounds of her temples. Aphrodite was the goddess of sexual love and beauty and presided over marriage.The inclusion of sprigs of myrtle in  in marriage crowns in ancient Greece and often in marriage bouquets today.

Narcissus was born as a result of the rape of Liriope by the river god Cephissus. His beauty was recognised, even when he was still a child, by everyone who saw him. 

Liriope consulted with Tiresias, the blind prophet of Apollo, who predicted that Narsissus would have a long life unless he recognised his own beauty, however, while hunting the handsome youth bent to refresh himself over a clear pool and on seeing his reflection instantly fell in love. He was so raptured that he remained leaning over the pool looking at himself, that he gradually faded away leaving only the beautiful, fragrant flower with sword-like leaves and nodding heads that we know know as the narcissus.

In modern times plant names both common and  scientific have often been chosen to reflect the ancient fables, but in ancient times it was perhaps the magnificent trees and beautiful flowers which inspired myths.

*Although the opium poppies found on Skopelos today are dusky pink, those of ancient Greece were probably deep red.

Life on the beach

Ζωή στην παραλία

9 June 2024

Beaches are the main attraction of the island to human visitors to Skopelos, but life on the beach is difficult for plants and those which survive are highly adapted to resist the stressful environment

In summer they are subjected to high levels of heat and light, dry shifting sands which are poor in fresh water and nutrients but high salinity. In winter they are exposed to cool wet weather, they are blasted by wind, buried by sand and are subjected to episodes of disturbance and immersion when waves reach the upper levels of the beach.

Skopelos is known as the Green on Blue Island; the Aleppo Pines cover much of the island and reach the very edge of the surrounding Aegean Sea, in some places clinging to the almost vertical sea cliffs.

Between the dark green forest and the intense blue sea are the golden sands or pebbly beaches and silver-grey rocks. 

The area of sand washed regularly by the sea is bare of plants and the sand above the high water line is stabilised by deep rooted plants, which on Skopelos is most often Pistacia lenticus. Other plants take advantage of the shelter and grow amongst them, as can be seen with apple sage (Salvia pomifera) and sea bindweed (Calystegia soldanella)on Milia beach. Many of the other plants grow just below the high water mark and are often surrounded by stranded seaweeds which add fertility to the sandy soil. 

Where the sea meets the rocks other specialised plants grow, such as rock samphire (Crithmum maritimum), Greek sea lavender ( Limonium graecum) and eternal flower (Helichrysum stoechas). 

Many of the adaptations life on the beach are similar to those of Mediterranean plants in general, but they are more extreme. The leaves are often small, thickened and have undulating surfaces and wavy edges. A plant which is particularly well adapted to beach life is sea holly (Eryngium maritimum), seen here on the beach of Skopelos town.

The plants are often hairy or having a waxy or oily surface, giving them a dull green or grey appearance or in contrast may have shiny reflective leaves;  these strategies are aimed at protecting the plants from excessive light. 

The leaves or the whole plant may have been modified to store water in their cells, to help survive dry phases. They often have reduced numbers of stomata to prevent water loss and have evolved special metabolism to deal with excess salt.

One of the plants with extreme modifications, prickly saltwort (Sasola squarrosa), the leaves are modified to overlapping spines, the flowers are tiny and wind pollinated. This allows the plants to grow from seed and complete its life cycle within one hot summer.

Many of the plants which grow on the shore are not only interesting but also have attractive flowers.

Calystegia soldanella                 Glaucium flavium  

Eryngium maritimum         Salvia pomifera 

Matthiola tricuspidata           Medicago marina

Pancratium maritimum

The beautiful pure white flowers of Pancratium maritmum are synonymous with Mediterranean beach holidays. It has beautiful pure white trumpet flowers, narrow dark green leaves, which tend to twist, a strategy to reduce water loss. The plant is an important plant from the environmental perspective, acting as a marker  of a coastal biotope, the Mediterranean sandy shore, which is under threat.