JASMINE

JASMINE

LATIN NAME: JASMINUM

HOMELAND: THE HIMALAYAS

Kamadeva's Arrow of Love

The jasmine flower, which has a very important place both mythologically and folklorically thanks to its unique scent in the geography from its homeland, the Himalayas to Iran, although associated with Aphrodite in ancient Greek culture, was actually brought to Egypt from Iran in the Roman period. It is thought to have spread to Europe from there.

The fact that the name of the jasmine flower is not mentioned in the book Historia Plantarum of the naturalist Theophrastus, who participated in the Asian Expedition of Alexander the Great, reaching the Fergana Valley at the western end of the Himalayas via Iran in the fourth century B.C., suggests that jasmine might not have come out of India yet in those years.

In Ancient Egypt Although it is thought that jasmine flower was mentioned in one of the stamps found in a royal tomb belonging to the 21st Dynasty period, which coincides with the 10th and 11th centuries B.C., no clear evidence of jasmine flower was found in the pharaohs period. Although the exact date of the arrival of the jasmine flower in Egypt is not known, it is thought that it came from Iran during the Roman period and spread to the Mediterranean coast from there.

The fact that the jasmine flower is associated with the goddess of beauty Aphrodite / Venus without a story in Greek and Roman mythologies, where beautiful stories about plants are told, strengthens the opinion that the jasmine flower did not grow on the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts during the development of Greek Mythology.

Although the jasmine flower, which was mainly used for oil and perfume making by ancient civilizations in the Mediterranean basin, is shown as an ingredient in the blends of Mesopotamian-themed perfumes of today's perfume brands, no record of jasmine flower has been found in the history of Mesopotamia.

In Hinduism, jasmine, one of the most important votive flowers of religious rituals, is also one of the important figures of mythological stories. One of the 5 arrows of Kamadeva, the god of love, which is the equivalent of Eros, the god of love in Greek mythology, in Hindu mythology, is associated with jasmine. According to the belief, the jasmine arrow, which is one of the 5 arrows of Kamadeva, the god of love, each of which has a different effect, creates a lust and aphrodisiac effect on the person it targets.