10/18/19 Cornelia Murja PD7

Cornelia Murja Blogger #18 Period 7 Modern Mythology 2020

Aim: How can we explicate the flower myths to derive morals? 

In class we started discussing the flower myths and each team was responsible for giving a
short summary as well as the moral of the myth. 

Team 1: Persephone 

Persephone was gathering flowers with her companions when she saw the prettiest flower.
She was so captivated by it and the moment she went to fill her basket with it, Hades
appeared and kidnapped her to the Underworld. 

Moral: Temptation leads to downfall and curiosity killed the cat.

Team 2: Narcissus

Narcissus had great beauty so all the females were attracted to him, but he was not able to
reciprocate those feelings. One nymph named Echo adored him very much, but she was
cursed by Hera because the goddess believed Zeus fancied her. Echo would “always have
the last word, but no power to speak first”(Hamilton, 114). The last girl Narcissus emotionally
hurt cursed him to love himself, so Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection and ended up
dying with Echo not being able to do anything besides saying goodbye. 

Moral: You reap what you saw, love for yourself shouldn’t translate to scorn for others 

Team 3: Echo

Hera, the goddess, cursed Echo, the nymph. Since she could not speak first, she had to
watch Narcissus die.

Moral: Only speak when spoken to, Know thy place and be respectful,  Moral from Hera-
you can’t misdirect anger, decisions based on anger will not be pragmatic.

Team 4: Hyacinthus

The West Wind, Zephyr, was believed to be the cause of Hyacinthus’s death, not Apollo. 

Moral: Jealousy will stray you from your wants, If I can’t have you then no one will, Fate
can not be changed.

Team 5: Hyacinthus(with no wind)

Apollo was throwing discus with  Hyacinthus and the disk hit Hyacinthus.  Hyacinthus ended
up dying because of the strength.

Moral: Recklessness leads to destruction, good intentions pave the road to hell, bad
consequences can result from good intentions

Team 6: Adonis

Aphrodite loved Adonis and gave to Persephone to babysit. Zeus split time between the 2
goddesses. Adonis tried to hunt a boar but ended up dying because the boar was stronger. 

Moral: Love is a blessing and a curse, if you love someone you need to give it freedom
(similar to King Soloman’s story) 

It is quite ironic since Aphrodite, the goddess of love, was hurt by love.

In all of these stories, a flower blooms in the place where the person died. What does each
flower represent?

Hyacinth: Sport, game, play     Blue Hyacinth- Constancy     White Hyacinth- Unobtrusive, loveliness

Narcissus- Egotism

Pheasant’s Eye(Adonis)- Sorrowful, Remembrance

Evolution of Mythology

• Deaths of all characters, especially Hyacinthus, originated in human sacrifice.
• In Greece more ancient than Olympus, human sacrifice was common when lands were

dry, arid, and not producing.

• Corn and the Earth nourished the blood, so blood must be given back to Earth for the

land to be nourished once more.

• By the time the Olympian gods arrived, Greeks understood farming and understood

sacrifice wouldn’t actually nourish the land.

• The Olympian gods were vehemently opposed to human sacrifice. 

Personal Reflection

Today’s lesson was very intriguing because I didn’t know that flowers were actually part of
Greek mythology. It is very interesting to see how the images of the flower portray each of
the characters or lack thereof. For example, the daffodil is white but Narcissus saw himself
as above everyone, thus believed he was too “pure” to have others touch him casually. Even
in today’s society, we associate white with purity. I also learned that although flowers
represent something beautiful, greek mythology places emphasis on understanding the
morals from the tales of gods and goddesses. We are learning these tales to have a better
grasp of greek mythology and see how each tale is related to one another. For example,
we know that Aphrodite is the goddess of love so one would think she would be able to have
Adonis love her as much as she loved him. Not only did Aphrodite have to share him with
Persephone, love was what hurt her when Adonis died. It is crucial to understand the irony
in these tales because recognizing the mistakes the gods and goddess made help humanity
become smarter by not repeating the same mistakes. These lessons will definitely help us
understand more of the mythology we will read in class and understand why certain
characters make the choices they do. In addition, these lessons will be helpful for my
future so I will make sure not to repeat the same mistakes the gods made. 

https://www.theoi.com/Flora1.html   More information about flowers and their impact on
greek mythology

https://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/myth-aphrodite-adonis/ Aphrodite and
Adonis’s story as well as a different version

https://www.cornellcollege.edu/classical_studies/cla216-2-a/narcissus-echo/ background
story of Narcissus and Echo  

https://www.cornellcollege.edu/classical_studies/cla216-2-a/narcissus-echo/narcissus2a.htm  modern versions of Narcissus and Echo’s tale