noctua cuccubit

What a question to answer, but I was looking up information about Persephone and some sources mentioned her abduction in Sicily and also that she was picking flowers at the moment Hades abducted her, so this crossed my mind.

So to answer the question, I have decided to extrapolate the plants mentioned in the Homeric hymn to Demeter (as this is the text I have found that mentions the most plants).

For the initial identification, I used PerseusTufts, and for the main identification, in order to link the possible species to Sicily’s native flora, I used the Dryades Project website (I’ve mantained the link for each plant so you can view photos of them).

For some identifications, I have used the Spanish translation by Gredos of Theophrastus’s Enquiry into Plants, although the hymn is roughly dated to before 600 BC and Theophrastus to the 3rd century BC, it can still provide some guidance. However, as I will explain later, I have focused mainly on plants that belong to the same genus in the binomial system (= the genus and the species epithet of the plant)

Let’s get started:

Homeric Hymn to Demeter 5-9 (in ancient greek and translated by Colin Young):

παίζουσαν κούρῃσι σὺν Ὠκεανοῦ βαθυκόλποις ἄνθεά τ᾽ αἰνυμένην, ῥόδα καὶ κρόκον ἠδ᾽ ἴα καλὰ λειμῶν᾽ ἂμ μαλακὸν καὶ ἀγαλλίδας ἠδ᾽ ὑάκινθον νάρκισσόν θ᾽, ὃν φῦσε δόλον καλυκώπιδι κούρῃ Γαῖα Διὸς βουλῇσι χαριζομένη Πολυδέκτῃ,

"While she was playing with Ocean's deep-breasted daughters. Persephone was plucking flowers, roses, crocus and beautiful violets, In a soft meadow, and irises, and the hyacinth And narcissus, which Earth as a favour to Hades according to Zeus's plans Produced to be a snare for the maiden with the face of a flower."

Here Perseustufts' translations and interpretation of each plant name:

ῥόδα → ῥόδον →  rose

κρόκον → κρόκος →  saffron, Crocus sativus

ἴα → ἴον → violet, Viola odorata

ἀγαλλίδας → ἀγαλλίς → dwarf iris, Iris attica

ὑάκινθον→ Ὑάκινθος → Hyacinthus

νάρκισσόν → νάρκισσος → narcissus

Rose:

Right, first of all, let’s clarify what is considered a rose. If what you picture as a rose is this 🌹, well, not for this post, these roses are artificial hybrids that do not occur naturally in the wild. As I mentioned briefly earlier, given that “rose” is such a vague term, I’m going to define it as meaning all species of the genus Rosa that occur naturally and are native to Sicily.

Of the 25 rose species in this database, 15 are native to Sicily and only one is exclusive to Sicily (which isn’t particularly relevant to me at the moment, but it is an interesting fact). In this  there is data that the database itself considers to be erroneous, this may be due to a lack of samples, poor sampling, or results that it deems dubious. Here are the ones that the database considers as good:

Rosa agrestis Savi Rosa balsamica Besser Rosa canina L. Rosa corymbifera Borkh. Rosa gallica L. Rosa heckeliana Tratt. Rosa hermannii Burnat & Gremli Rosa micrantha Borrer ex Sm. Rosa pouzinii Tratt. Rosa pulverulenta M.Bieb. Rosa sempervirens L. Rosa sicula Tratt.Rosa spinosissima L. Rosa squarrosa (A.Rau) Boreau Rosa subcanina (Christ) Vuk.

Of all these, the one mentioned in the Spanish translation of Theophrastus Gredos is R. gallica, and the one that is exclusive to Sicily according to the database, and is not found anywhere else in Italy is R. hermannii Burnat & Gremli. It also states that there are historical records of the presence of Rosa viscosa Jan ex Guss.

My absolute favourite is, and always will be, the R. sempervirens:

R. sempervirens photo by Andrea Moro from the Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi di Trieste

To be honest, I think I’m a bit biased, the name “sempervirens” is absolutely brilliant and I love it far too much (Latin for evergreen)

Crocus:

In Perseus it is listed as Crocus sativus, but the website’s database records it as “accidental non-native”, which struck me as very odd because like it's saffron yk; however, the botanical description of the plant states that it is sterile, so it is not considered to grow in the wild. To find out a bit more about this, I’ve had a look and seen that there is indeed a wild ancestor called Crocus cartwrightianus and another called Crocus thomasii, neither of these two is found in Sicily, according to the database. So I’m ruling out all three species.

There are also other theories regarding saffron specifically in Sicily: one suggests that the Sicilian saffron mentioned by Pliny could be Crocus longiflorus Raf, and, as one might expect, this species is indeed found growing wild in Sicily.

None of this precludes suggesting other species of the same genus found in Sicily, such as:

Crocus biflorus Mill.Crocus siculus Tineo ex Guss. Crocus siculus Tineo ex Guss. Crocus bulbocodium L.

C. longiflorus, photo taken by Andrea Moro from the Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi di Trieste

Violet:

Perseus proposes Viola odorata wich us really a native species of Sicily, also in Teophrastus is as well interpred as it. There are many other species of the same genus found in Sicily, such as:

Viola aethnensis (Ging. & DC.) Strobl subsp. aethnensis Viola aethnensis (Ging. & DC.) Strobl subsp. messanensis (W.Becker) Merxm. & Lippert Viola alba Besser subsp. dehnhardtii (Ten.) W.Becker Viola arvensis Murray Viola hymettia Boiss. & Heldr. Viola nebrodensis C.Presl Viola parvula Tineo Viola reichenbachiana Jord. ex Boreau Viola riviniana Rchb. Viola tineoorum Erben & Raimondo Viola ucriana Erben & Raimondo

As a point of curiosity, V. aethnensis, V. nebrodensis, V. tineoorum and V. ucriana are the only species that grow in Sicily out of the whole of Italy.

V. odorata by Andrea Moro from the Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi di Trieste.

Viola tineoorum photo by Gianniantonio Domina taken in Rocca Busambra (PA), Sicilia, Italia

Iris:

Perseus states that the translation is "Iris attica" or "dwarf iris" but there is no Iris attica in Sicily or in Italy. I have also looked into ‘dwarf iris’ and, according to Wikipedia, the following species can also be referred to as such:

Iris danfordiae

Iris pumila

Iris reticulata, native to Russia, the Caucasus and northern Iran

Iris verna, endemic to the eastern United States

Iris lacustris, native to the Great Lakes region

None of these are native to Sicily or Italy, so I’m also looking for alternatives. According to the database, these are the irises native to Sicily:

Iris pseudopumila Tineo Iris alata Poir. Iris foetidissima L.  Iris juncea Poir.Iris lutescens Lam. var. statellae (Tod.) BakerIris pseudacorus L. Iris pseudopumila TineoIris sisyrinchium L.Iris tuberosa L.

The translation of the Homeric hymns suggests translating the term as "espadillas" know also as "gladiolos", that are plants of the genus Gladiolus or even Anagallis, and this database contains a few:

Gladiolus dubius Guss. Gladiolus illyricus W.D.J.Koch Gladiolus vexillare Martelli

Anagallis arvensis L.  Anagallis arvensis L. subsp. parviflora (Hoffmanns. & Link) Arcang.  Anagallis foemina Mill.Anagallis latifolia L.Anagallis minima (L.) E.H.L.Krause  Anagallis parviflora Hoffmanns. & Link

I. sisyrinchium photo by Andrea Moro of the Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi di Trieste

G. illyricus taken by Andrea Moro from the Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi di Trieste

A. parviflora photo by Michele Aleo taken in Birgi Sottano, Marsala, Sicilia, Italia

Hyacinth:

There has been much debate as to whether the hyacinths we are familiar with in the garden (Hyacinthus orientalis) are the ones referred to, or whether, like other terms, they might encompass many associated genera under a single term. In any case, there is no H. orientalis in Sicily (according to the database), but for me the term would essentially include all the genera within the Scilloideae family, namely:

Hyacinthus

Muscari

Puschkinia (not found in Sicily)

Hyacinthoides (not found in Sicily)

Scilla.

I shall also add the genus Delphinium, which belongs to a different family but forms part of an interpretation cited in the Spanish translation of Theophrastus of Gredos. There is a commentary on the passage concerning hyacinths (VI, 8), which mentions two types of hyacinth: the wild variety (referred to as Scilla) and the cultivated variety (Delphinium); the commentary also highlights another interpretation suggesting *Hyacinthus orientalis* as a possible alternative for ‘Escila’. Hyacinthus comosus L. Hyacinthus dubius Guss. Hyacinthus romanus L.

Muscari commutatum Guss. Muscari gussonei (Parl.) Nyman Muscari neglectum Guss. ex Ten. & Sangiovanni Muscari parviflorum Desf.

Scilla peruviana L. subsp. ughii (Tineo) K.Richt. Scilla peruviana L. var. sicula (Tineo) Fiori  Scilla cerulea (Raf.) Soldano Scilla dimartinoi Brullo & Pavone Scilla obtusifolium Poir. subsp. intermedium (Guss.) Bég.   Scilla pancration (Steinh.) Nyman

Delphinium emarginatum C.Presl subsp. emarginatum Delphinium halteratum Sm. subsp. halteratum

and Delphinium pubescens DC. has historical record

Being H. dubius, M. gussonei, S. peruviana, S. cerulea, S. dimartinoi exclusivelly from Scilly from all italy.

H. comosus by Andrea Moro and Luigi Rignanese from the Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi di Trieste

M. commutatum by Michele Aleo taken in Monte Cofano, Custonaci, Sicilia, Italia

S. dimartinoi by Pietro Pavone from Hortus Botanicus Catinensis Orto Botanico dell' Università di Catania, Sicilia, Italia.

D. emarginatum C.Presl subsp. emarginatum by Michele Aleo from Monte Sparagio, Sicilia, Italy

Narcissus:

In the notes to the translation of Theophrastus, three species of narcissus are suggested:

Narcissus serotinus L.

Narcissus tazerta L.

Narcissus poëticus L.

As neither N. serotinus nor N, poëticus are native to Sicily, we could opt for N. tazerta here . The database lists further species and subspecies:

Narcissus miniatus Donn.-Morg., Koop. & Zonn. Narcissus obsoletus (Haw.) Steud.Narcissus tazetta L. subsp. italicus (Ker Gawl.) Baker Narcissus tazetta L. subsp. tazetta

🥺👉👈

Absolutely! Bc I love them!!

What’s your favorite animal?

I have none, as they all terrify me.

hmmmm probably crabs or seals

Realised Caesar would’ve first met Brutus when he was very young because of his relationship with Servilia… I need a moment

(Bonus Latin for the nerds out there)

A little closer now

I have stumbled upon Helcass (HelenxCassandra) content on my twitter page. And i have been lured:]

So heres my little tribute bc pretty ladies.

I gave Helen some feathers bc of the swan thing.:P

Most societies in fact that supposedly made a habit of infanticide probably didn’t.