"Many things grow in the garden that were never sown there."
~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732
Cyrenian coins with Silphium seed and plant
The Plant that was fucked from existence
Much like the old saying "take that frown and turn it upside down" same can be said about the modern day symbol of love. Like all of histories tails even the story of love can be a little bit seedy...
In almost every culture around the world, the Heart is accepted as the modern day symbol of love. This symbol had much more of a sexual tone at its origin starting with turning the heart upside down. This is the first use of the heart shape only as a representation of the seed of the Silphium plant.
Thought to have been in the fennel family, this plant was worth its weight in coin. Why? It was used for many things in the ancient world like spices, medicine and a well loved drink but the ancient use as a birth control is thought to be at the heart of the plants demise....
The Silphium seed(modern day shape of the heart) was originally dipicted 180 degree's from present depiction. This made for a much more womanly type shape hinting at the much loved use for the silphium plants resin called "Lazer", birth control.
tetradrachm, dating from between 485 and 475 BC, shows Cyrene’s eponym, the nymph Kyrene, gesturing toward a silphium plant; her other hand is in her lap. Behind her is silphium’s heart-shaped seed. Notice the heart in its original upside down representation.
The Silphium plant was said to be only able to grow on its own in the wild & on a small stretch of ancient day Cyrene coast (present day Libya). This lack of not being able to cultivate the plant also lead to its downfall as nature could not keep up with the lust of man.
The silphium resin lazer was taken as a birth control by mixing it in with a drink or taken orally by women not unlike a modern day pill. This plant fueled the Roman orgy scenes, the Egyptians culture and much of the ancient world helping the party go on.
For hundreds of years this went on until around the 1st century when the last Silphium plant was picked and sent to Emperor Nero, who was said to nonchalantly eat it...
Arcesilas II, king of Cyrene from 560 to 550 BC, is shown watching the weighing and loading of silphium for export on a sixth-century BC Greek kylix, or drinking cup.
Although the womanly shaped silphium seed could have easily been labeled as the symbol for lust, gluttony, greed, envy or really any of the deadly sins, Love over came...
.jpg/1280px-THOMAS_COUTURE_-_Los_Romanos_de_la_Decadencia_(Museo_de_Orsay,_1847._%C3%93leo_sobre_lienzo,_472_x_772_cm).jpg)
Romans of the Decadence, by Thomas Couture -1847
~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732
Cyrenian coins with Silphium seed and plant
The Plant that was fucked from existence
Much like the old saying "take that frown and turn it upside down" same can be said about the modern day symbol of love. Like all of histories tails even the story of love can be a little bit seedy...
In almost every culture around the world, the Heart is accepted as the modern day symbol of love. This symbol had much more of a sexual tone at its origin starting with turning the heart upside down. This is the first use of the heart shape only as a representation of the seed of the Silphium plant.
Thought to have been in the fennel family, this plant was worth its weight in coin. Why? It was used for many things in the ancient world like spices, medicine and a well loved drink but the ancient use as a birth control is thought to be at the heart of the plants demise....
The Silphium seed(modern day shape of the heart) was originally dipicted 180 degree's from present depiction. This made for a much more womanly type shape hinting at the much loved use for the silphium plants resin called "Lazer", birth control.
tetradrachm, dating from between 485 and 475 BC, shows Cyrene’s eponym, the nymph Kyrene, gesturing toward a silphium plant; her other hand is in her lap. Behind her is silphium’s heart-shaped seed. Notice the heart in its original upside down representation.
The Silphium plant was said to be only able to grow on its own in the wild & on a small stretch of ancient day Cyrene coast (present day Libya). This lack of not being able to cultivate the plant also lead to its downfall as nature could not keep up with the lust of man.
The silphium resin lazer was taken as a birth control by mixing it in with a drink or taken orally by women not unlike a modern day pill. This plant fueled the Roman orgy scenes, the Egyptians culture and much of the ancient world helping the party go on.
For hundreds of years this went on until around the 1st century when the last Silphium plant was picked and sent to Emperor Nero, who was said to nonchalantly eat it...
Arcesilas II, king of Cyrene from 560 to 550 BC, is shown watching the weighing and loading of silphium for export on a sixth-century BC Greek kylix, or drinking cup.
Although the womanly shaped silphium seed could have easily been labeled as the symbol for lust, gluttony, greed, envy or really any of the deadly sins, Love over came...
Romans of the Decadence, by Thomas Couture -1847
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might also be that poster!
