Asphodelus

In Greek Mythology the Asphodelus  is the most famous plant associated with the dead of the Underworld. It was planted on graves. Persephone was said to have worn a crown of Asphodelus flowers. Its association with death may be due to its greyish leaves. 

Homer's "ASPHODEL MEADOW" (ἀσφοδελὸν λειμῶνα), "where the spirits of the dead dwell" (Od. 24.14), could be a result of an ancient confusion between ἀσφόδελος (the plant name) and σφοδελός, or rather σποδελός, meaning "ashen"... 

The Ancient Greek word "σποδός" is regularly used in Greek poetry for the ashes of the dead, and for the ashes used in the act of mourning for the dead. It is also commonly used in funerary epigrams for the ashes of the dead contained in a vessel, in the earth...

The Hades (as in land of the dead) was always portrayed as a dark, gloomy, and mirthless place. So the translation of the "dead wondering through asphodel meadows" as "dead wondering through ash-filled meadows" fits the context well...

You can find the full discussion in "Homer’s Asphodel Meadow" by Steve Reece. 

Steve Reece does say that this could actually be a kind of play on words, considering that there was a definite association between white asphodel flower and the dead...

For instance Eustathius says that "the asphodel is suitable for the dead because it was to be found growing on tombs"...

This epigram, traditionally attributed to Aristotle, was apparently often found inscribed on Ancient Greek tombs: "On my back I hold many-rooted asphodel..."

According to the ancient historians, asphodel was also associated with Persephone (Kore): "Rhodians garland with asphodel Kore"...

Considering that Persephone (Kore) was the queen of the dead and the wife of Hades, the god of the dead, this association is understandable...

But, Persephone (Kore) is associated with many different plants, and the story about her abduction by Hades is full of plant and animal references. I discuss them in the article "Abduction of Persephone" which tries to determine when did the abduction take place? 

Yes we are back to animal and plant calendar markers. It is interesting that when abducted, Persephone was picking flowers...roses, crocus, violets, iris, hyacinth, narcissus. But asphodel was not one of them...You can find exactly which flowers Kore was picking in the "Homeric hymn to Demeter"...

Based on all the animals and plans mentioned in the description of the abduction scene, as well as other botanical references linked to Persephone, I proposed that the abduction took place in the autumn...Oct/Nov...And that it happened on Crete. Most likely Minoan Crete...

Which would explain why asphodel is not among the flowers blooming in the meadow where Persephone was abducted. The White Asphodel is found all over Crete in large populations from sea level to around 1300m. Flowering time is from early March to June depending on altitude...

And here we come to (to me at least) very interesting Greco-Roman bas relief, depicting Persephone and Hades on a throne of the underworld...Currently in the National Museum of Magna Graecia, Reggio Calabria...

I talked about this in my post "Pluto"...

Now what is very interesting about this relief, and which only became apparent to me now, is that the three things held by Persephone and Hades are all animal and plant calendar markers, all pointing to the same time of the year, Apr/May, beginning of summer...

Persephone in one hand holds ripe grain, ready for harvest. The grain harvest in Ancient Greece, as Hesiod tells us, began in Taurus, (Apr/May), at the beginning of summer. I talked about it in my post "Hesiod on grain"...

In the other hand Persephone holds a cockerel...Why? I talked about the link between the grain, the dead and the chicken which, which once obviously existed in Ancient Greek mythology, and which was preserved until today in Slavic folklore, in these articles: "Pluto", "Diduch", "Cock bashing", "The third death"...

But there is another thing that I didn't get before. The original, wild fowl from which all our chicken descend, used to have a single mating season starting in Apr/May, during the grain harvest in Greece. I talked about it in my posts "Kharif and Rabi season", "The city of cockerels", "Lei Kung", "Son of thunder", "Pero"...

I wonder did the original early chickens, that were brought into Europe in the early 1st millennium BC still have a single mating season? Which overlapped with the grain harvest season? Is this why Persephone holds both ripe grain and a cockerel?

But we are here supposed to be talking about Asphodel flowers. And apparently, on the Hades and Persephone throne relief, Hades holds blooming Asphodel plant...Which also flowers during the grain harvest season...

Very interesting. Considering that on Crete, Cyprus, Levant, Middle East, Central Asia, Iran...the climatic year is divided into two halves, the hot and dry half (Apr/May - Oct/Nov) and cool and wet half (Oct/Nov - Apr/May)...

And the hot dry half, which begins with the grain harvest, chicken mating season and the blooming of Asphodel, is the time of death...The time of droughts caused by the burning summer sun...When sun ascends to its throne...

The sun which was in Mesopotamia personified by the god of death Nergal. I talked about this in my post "Winged super human hero", "Angra Mainyu"...

The sun which was in Levant personified by the god of death Mot. I talked about this in my posts "Oldest Arabic poem", "Anat"...

And in Minoan Greece by what name?

Remember this article: "Trojan horse"? In it I talked about the fact that both Phoenicians and Greeks had the same triad of gods...And that where we find Mot in Levant we find Hades in Greece...

The hot dry half of the year is also the time of snakes and fire breathing dragons, both symbols of sun's heat. Both for some "weird" reason linked to Persephone/Demeter. Well, not really weird. Snake is the main symbol of sun, sun's heat...And an animal calendar marker for Apr/May, because this is when the main snake mating season begins in Europe...I talked about this in my post "Who are Persephone's parents"...

Very interesting...Finally, do you remember the belief in "thirsty dead"? Why are the dead always thirsty? Cause the land of the dead is a hot, dry, dusty desert ruled by the blazing summer sun???

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...