In this way he ensured that Persephone would return to him for six months of the year – one month for each seed – during which winter would preside above. He fed her six pomegranate seeds knowing that once food had been consumed in Hades, someone’s presence could never be permanently removed. Hades, mad with love for Persephone knew he had no choice but to let her go but negotiated a final day with her in the underworld. ![]() Zeus discovered that Hades had captured Persephone and sent Hermes to bring her home. ![]() Starvation took hold amongst the mortals, alarming the gods of Olympus. In her grief plants withered and crops failed. A devastated Demeter combed the world in search of her beloved daughter. Hades, god of the underworld, abducted Persephone, emerging from a crack in the earth and descending back underground, the earth closing over without a trace. Persephone was the beautiful daughter of Demeter, goddess of crops and fertile soil. I haven’t given up hope of an Indian summer but we all know winter won’t delay forever. We’ve all felt the chill in the air as August turned to September and summer slipped away. Here are six of my favourite ancient Greek related plants – starting with Persephone’s descent into Hades. So often we refer to a plant’s latin name as shorthand for the botanical name and yet many of these originated not in latin, but in ancient Greek – either reaching us directly or through latin bastardisation of original Greek words. Whilst walking my garden so many are brought to mind and I am spotting more and more plants whose names have an ancient greek derivation or meaning. The myths give name to so many well known plants, Acis, Agave, Asclepius, Daphne, Narcissus and Hyacinth among them. The stories are so rich and evocative and I’ve enjoyed every one but it’s the stories which have given name to plants that have interested me most. The feckless inexperienced lad drove too close to the earth as he crossed North Africa hoping to wave and show off to his friend and lover below. The Sahara desert is a permanently scarred strip of dry sand as Apollo allowed his supposed son Phaeton to drive the sun chariot across the world one day. The male Chaffinch has a pinky red breast because the jealous goddess Hera strangled her messenger bird almost to the point of death whilst interrogating him for information about her philandering husband, Zeus. Reading these tales has reminded me how many geological, meteorological, zoological and botanical features of the world the greek myths sought to explain. ![]() My holiday reading was Stephen Fry’s ‘Mythos’ in which he retells the dramatic tales of capricious gods and mortals as they navigate envy, love, lust and loss in ancient Greece. We use acid-free papers and canvases with archival inks to guarantee that your prints last a lifetime without fading or loss of color.Welcome back to my garden after my holiday trip to Cornwall and Devon. All of our prints are produced on state-of-the-art, professional-grade Epson printers. Pixels is one of the largest, most-respected giclee printing companies in the world with over 40 years of experience producing museum-quality prints. Stretched canvas prints look beautiful with or without frames. All stretched canvases ship within 3 - 4 business days and arrive "ready to hang" with pre-attached hanging wire, mounting hooks, and nails. Your image gets printed on one of our premium canvases and then stretched on a wooden frame of 1.5" x 1.5" stretcher bars (gallery wrap) or 5/8" x 5/8" stretcher bars (museum wrap). Also available with black sides, whites sides, and 5/8" stretcher bars.īring your artwork to life with the texture and depth of a stretched canvas print. Corner Detail: Stretched canvas print with 1.5" stretcher bars and mirrored image sides.
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