ROSE

ROSE

LATIN NAME: ROSA

HOMELAND: CHINA

The longest, most colorful, most complex life story

Although rose fossils dating back 40 million years have been found in Colorado and various parts of Europe, the oldest written record about the rose of Confucius, dates back to 500 B.C..It was accepted as the homeland of China, with reference to the information that the rose's inclusion in the garden culture dates back to 5000 years ago in China.

From the beginning of its known history to the present day, it has been the most preferred flower to Express all kinds of feelings and thoughts, from war, peace, love, respect and hate, with its different colors and presentation styles.

The fact that it was accepted as the homeland of China also led to conflicting information about where and how the rose spread. According to an opinion, it is thought that it was brought to Europe by the botanist Theophrastus from Alexander the Great's Asian Expedition, but this opinion contradicts the records of Greek Mythology, Babylon and Ancient Egypt.

In the sixth chapter of Theophrastus’s Historia Plantarum, where he describes thorny plants, he talks about a fragrant flower with petals used in perfume production. However, he wrotes the fact that the most fragrant of these flowers comes from the city of Kyrene in Libya eliminates the possibility that these flowers are roses, because there is not a rose variety unique to the region also including today.

The Asian Expedition of Alexander the Great, who is thought to have compiled his work Theaphrastus Historia Plantarum and brought Rose to Europe, dates back to the fourth century B.C., but there are historical records and findings about the Rose dating back to earlier times. Except for the narrative-based Greek Mythology, rose petals were found in the tomb of Tutmosis 4, the Egyptian Pharaoh who ruled in the 14th century B.C. Daniel 3 writes that Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon, who lived in the sixth century B.C., was lying on a bed filled with rose petals. This informations shows that Rose does not dates back to Theophrastus, evenif it came from Asia to the Middle East and then to Europe.

In Greek Mythology, which is the only source describing how the rose emerged, there are 3 different stories, one of which is considered to be the source of its Latin name. In the first story, the Goddess Aphrodite is associated with the red flowers that came out of her blood flowing from the wounds opened by the thorns she rubbed while running to save the life of her lover Adonis, by removing the letter E in her name in honor of her son, the god of love, Eros, and giving the name ROS. In the continuation of this, he gives the Rose attributed to him by Eros as a bribe to Harpocrates, the god of silence, and the Rose becomes the symbol of secrecy and love from then on.

According to another story in Greek Mythology, when Flora, the goddess of flowers, finds her favorite nymph's dead body, she calls all the gods for help to turn her into the most beautiful flower that will be the queen of all flowers. Apollo gives her the breath of life, Dionysus washes her with nectar, Vertumnus, the god of climates, gives her fragrance, Pomona, theg oddess of fruits, gives her fruit, and Flora, the goddess of flowers, gives her crown. Thus, Rose, the queen of flowers, is born.