Several important aspects of the real or perceived relationship between
plants and human sexuality exist in writings from the Ancient Classical World.
While obvious references to the efficacy of plants or plant-derived substances
figure prominently in some ancient medicinal and scientific works, much of this
interesting information remains scattered and half-submerged in works of
literature, requiring considerable philological detective work to uncover and
to analyze. Once these bits and pieces of information from all sources are
identified and reassembled, it becomes clear that for many common plants there
existed an elaborate and extensive framework of belief that linked them to
human sexual attraction and performance.
This perceived framework had at its core a belief in three important
concepts: physis, the actual nature of a thing; dynamis, the
innate
and essential force of an object or being, and sympatheia, the hidden
link between the natural world and the miraculous. The first of these,
physis, represents an object's tangible characteristics subject to the
regular workings of the natural world while dynamis is the vaguely
spiritual property of an object, often spanning the gap between magic,
medicine, and pharmacy. Sympatheia represents the overarching ancient
concept of magical contagion under which the entire universe was thought to
operate, and it corresponds closely to modern ideas of scientific causation.
Thus, to the ancient mind there existed an interconnected network of influence
between the animate and inanimate based on appearance and on perceived innate
properties. The importance of the interplay of these factors is immense, for as
Georg Luck has suggested, "the world of the ancients was full of magical
powers, acting in all directions." (Arcana Mundi: Magic and Occult in the
Greek and Roman Worlds, [Baltimore:1985], 19)
Specific documentary evidence for the relationship of plants to human
sexuality exists in texts of both distinguished and lowly genre; in scientific,
medical, and philosophical works of various merit; and in subliterary documents
such as collections of magic procedures and curse tablets. For example, many
subliterary texts offer information unrecoverable from works of more
distinguished generic pedigree but which provide valuable insights into the
underlying cultural bases for more elevated literary expression. Taken in its
widest compass, such evidence suggests a general commonality of popular
understanding about the relationship of the vegetable kingdom to human
sexuality in cosmopolitan Greco-Roman culture; as a result, such associations
formed an integral part of the ancient psyche.
On the other hand, any exact identification of ancient plants with
their presumed counterparts in the modern Linnaean system is fraught with
difficulty, for the subtleties and complexities of ancient associations lie
outside the modern taxonomic approach. Ancient perceptions of plants, rather,
relied on both visual identification and on a belief in their efficacious
properties (dynameis ). These two factors often mutually interacted
mutually to establish an understanding of any given plant that practically
amounted to ascribing it an individual personality.
In this resultant coalescence of vegetative properties with perceived
"human" qualities some striking associations emerge in the literary record. As
Ann Michelini has demonstrated ("HYBRIS and Plants," Harvard Studies
in Classical Philology 82 [1978], 35-44), one of the most striking of these
associations originates in ancient perceptions of excessive and rampant plant
growth and in its parallels to human activity. Both Aristotle and Theophrastus
specify this overreaching tendency of certain plants by using the terms
hybrizdein and exhybrizdein, verbs related to the familiar noun
hybris. Furthermore, both authors use these verbs to indicate the
results of an overabundance of growth caused by excessive nourishment (e.g.,
Aristotle, De generatione animalium 725b35). Such luxuriant growth is
called "goating" (tragan ) by Theophrastus (Historia plantarum
4.14.6), and with it he indicates the adverse effects of an abnormality whose
result is excessive foliar and floral growth but few appreciable
fruits.
These concepts are closely linked to sexuality as well in that the verb
tragan is itself the equivalent of tragizdein, literally "to be
the he-goat." Such verbs also have specific sexual meanings that show a
conceptual correspondence to other verbs derived from nouns designating male
animals. For example, Aristotle uses both tauran (tauros, "bull")
and
kapran (kapros,"boar") to describe the sexual attraction of the
female of the species for the male. Indeed, from the supposed promiscuity of
mares an even more vivid term (hippomanein ) is derived, clearly equating
sex drive with madness.
In the plant world a similar urge is found in Theophrastus'
descriptions of the grapevine (Historia plantarum 8.7.4). Here the
vine's tendency to run to overnourished and rampant growth is expressed by the
word phyllomanein ("to go into leaf madness") a term synonymous with
tragan and one even more graphically evocative of the concept of
excessive growth. The term is particularly apposite since the grapevine,
notorious for its vigorous growth, must be restricted in its natural tendencies
to go beyond its beneficial social role and requires severe pruning to produce
fruit.
While the rampant growth of certain plants like the vine results in
poor fruit production, the opposite is true of other plants whose innate
properties (dynameis ) prompt the untimely formation of fruit, and this
tendency, associated by the ancients with sexuality as well. For example, the
perceived influence of sexual and generative power (dynamis gonimos ) is
evident from ancient descriptions of the early (and unseasonable) fruiting of
the fig-tree (Theophrastus, De causis plantarum 5.1.4-5). This unnatural
vegetative activity is the result of an excess of generative fluid remaining in
fruiting branches after the previous year's fruit production. Activated by heat
and moisture, this residue prompts the abnormal formation of abortive fruits on
old growth behind the newly forming leaf rather than in the usual
fruiting location in the axils ahead of the leaf as is the case in
normal and seasonal fruit production. The fruit thus formed rarely reaches
maturity despite the efforts of the tree itself to effect the ripening process.
Growth habit also contributes to this production of premature fruit since it is
the nature of the fig-tree to be succulent and prone to early budding. Thus,
the fig-tree can be considered sexually overreaching, with an excess of
internal principle that results in untimely production of monstrous fruits.
Like the hybristic growth of the grapevine, it is also paradigm for human
activity.
A convenient starting point for understanding how these perceptions
intersect with the world of literature is the poetry of Sappho. Here the
prominence afforded flowers is truly remarkable, considering the meagre remains
of the Sapphic corpus. When considered symbolically, moreover, vegetation
images in general and floral images in particular represent a recurrent theme
of erotic awakening and physical attraction (T. McEvilley, "Sapphic Imagery and
Fr. 96," Hermes 101 [1973], 257-278.).
Frequent poetic references to the rose (brodos ) and to other
flowers often evoke romance and passion (as in Fr. 96LP), but there remain
other varieties of plants whose suggestion of sexual attraction is more
obscure. One such example is that of the commonly encountered dill
(aneton ). In Fr. 81(b)LP, for instance, the poetic persona (generally
assumed to be the poetess herself) bids her companion Dike to bind up her hair
with garlands of dill (orpakas aneto ) while at the same time using the
sexually charged adjectives "alluring" (eratois ) and "tender"
(apalaisi ) to describe the delicate wreaths and the soft hands of the
maiden. Such diction clearly reflects the sensual context of the piece even in
its present fragmentary condition.
The mention of dill, moreover, evokes associations with the ritual
wearing of garlands, suggestive of sensuality, seen elsewhere in Greek
literature. Alcaeus (Fr. 362LP) for one makes specific mention of garlands
of dill in a context that combines both ritual activity and sensuality;
Anacreon also uses the imagery of dill in wreaths woven with myrtle, the plant
of Aphrodite. In addition, the Hellenistic poet Theocritus writes of garlands
of dill in festive and amorous contexts (Idyll 7. 63) and in
Idyll 15 describes the "rustic arbors" of Adonis, the fabric of its
bowers woven with sprays of "soft dill" (malakoi anthoi ). Contributing
to its sensual and suggestive ambiance were suspended figures of Eros.
Of particular note is the word malakos ("soft") which elsewhere
(Alcaeus Fr. 338LP) evokes the pliancy of seduction. It likewise describes the
youthful awakening of a blossoming sexuality, especially as applied to the
Greek word leimon ("meadow"), which suggests a living, fertile,
primordial, and essentially feminine entity. Such associations pervade those
frequent literary references to the "soft meadows" where sexual encounters take
place. The same sense of fresh and vital liquidity attends another adjective
descriptive of the bowers of Adonis and (by extension) of dill: chloros,
a term associated by both Homer and Sappho with physical reaction, emotional
excitement, and sexual awareness. It is most notably associated with the rising
flush of sexual desire in the latter's famous poem (31LP) in which the poetic
persona describes how she grows "more vibrant than grass" (chlorotera de
poias ) at the sight of her beloved.
Turning to a more direct relationship between plants and humans, one
encounters a considerable number of species whose actual or perceived innate
properties were consciously incorporated into substances intended to affect
sexuality and sexual performance. For example, many of the methods for
increasing male potency (or, in fact, for curing impotence) consisted of an
external application of various substances in the form of salves, plasters, and
ointments. One of the most striking accounts of such use is found in
Theophrastus where the effects of a salve derived from some unidentified plant
were only halted by the failure of other bodily systems (Historia
plantarum 9.18.9). Ancient approaches to enhancing male sexual performance
also relied heavily on remedies internally ingested, and both methods are
intimately linked to a belief in magical influence as both a cause and a cure
for sexual failure.
Metaphorical associations identify plants with the human world as well.
These associations frequently derive from obvious visual characteristics, and
they appear in works literary, scientific, and medical. As examples of the
so-called "Doctrine of Signatures" they link the structural appearance of a
naturally occurring object or organism, such as a stone or a plant, with some
perceived effect upon a correspondingly similar human organ or condition (Jerry
Stannard, "Medical Plants and Folk Remedies in Pliny Historia Naturalis"
History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 4.1 [1982], 14). One group
of familiar plants with these particular characteristics is collectively known
as bulbi (Gr. bolboi ).
This loosely-defined group of plants, particularly two familiar members
of the genus Allium, garlic and onions, came to be considered sexually
stimulative and were deemed curative for male sexual dysfunction. One reason
for this is that the floral structure of these plants led to their association
with male sexuality because of its swollen and elongated appearance. Similarly,
there also existed a popular notion equating this visible swelling with an
increase in bodily gas when bulbi were eaten as part of a dietary
regimen considered efficacious in promoting male sexual performance. Such
associations, even when their initial visual connections lie obscured, leave
their mark in literary echoes of commonly held notions about male
sexuality.
Verbal resonances are the strongest and metaphorical associations the
clearest in Greek Old Comedy. Early on in Aristophanes' Acharnians an
intriguing exchange takes place between Dicaeopolis the main character, and
Theoros, the leader of a band of rowdy Thracian mercenaries. At this point a
number of commonly understood terms drawn from the contemporary world of
agriculture figure prominently in the lively and sexually saturated wordplay.
The specific imagery of garlic (skorodon ) stands out as especially rich
in visually-originated connotative force, and the particular expression "to
dose with garlic" (skordizdein ) plays an important role. A few lines
later in the exchange (ll. 165-166) Theoros warns Dicaeopolis about the wildly
aggressive character of the unruly soldiery, describing them as "all dosed up
with garlic" (eskorodismenois ), a verbal evocation of the practice of
feeding garlic to gamecocks prior to their combat.
Later, midway through the same play, intoxicated and randy youths from
the city of Megara, itself a prominent producer of garlic, are described as
pephysingomenoi ("all bladder-like and swollen up"), a term drawn from
the Greek root phys- ("to blow, to inflate"). Moreover, by drawing on
Theophrastus' technical discussion of propagation methods for the genus
Allium (Historia plantarum 7.4.12), it becomes clear that the
related term physinx ("bladder") represents the whole flowering mass
of the
garlic plant, swelling with buds and bulbils, and that popular association has
prompted the sexual imagery. As a result, the mention of garlic in the contexts
cited above carries with it the image of the plant swelling with flowers atop
an upright stalk, and hence pephysingomenoi in this comedic context can
be clearly understood as "sexually swollen."
Along with the concept of swelling associated with the flowering
structure of the genus Allium and its analogy in male sexuality, the
concepts of hollowness and inflation are likewise significant. In the case of
the onion (krommyon ), Theophrastus (Historia plantarum 1.10.8)
points out that the leaves of certain varieties are hollow. That the
cylindrical and upright leaves of the familiar onion appear to be inflated an
inspection of its growth habit will bear out: on warm days, after the air
trapped internally swells the waxy leaves to the point of obvious turgidity,
they may be squeezed and burst manually. The flowering stalk of the onion is
similarly hollow, and in resembling the floral structure of garlic and related
members of the genus, it prompts the same popular notions ascribed them.
Visual identification, however, is not the only thing that associated
these plants with male sexuality, for their dietary role was significant. Since
digestion itself was thought to play a role in promoting arousal, ingesting
flatulent food was highly regarded as contributing to the stimulation of the
male. The onion itself promotes the internal "gassiness" associated with this
gastric disruption as both Dioscorides and Galen attest; in fact, the former
asserts clearly that it promotes desire (Dioscorides, De mat. med.
2.151). In the literary record, moreover, this association had surfaced much
earlier in a fragment of the playwright Diphilus preserved by Athenaeus
(Deipnosophistae 2.64a), and is even more graphically depicted elsewhere
(Deipnosophistae 1.5c). Garlic, too, was well-known for its ability to
produce internal gas, and Aristotle's description of garlic's effects on the
urinary tract and the genitalia stresses the flatulent nature of the plant
(Problemata 13.6). Because of their importance in a dietary regimen
thought to enhance virility, it is easy to see how the growth habits of both
plants served also to act as an external expression of their perceived function
when taken internally.
Instances where bulbi are encountered as a dietary means to
promote male sexual performance appear in several works of Latin Literature. In
agricultural writing Columella mentions Megarian bulbi as particularly
stimulating (De re rustica 10.105-109) and associates them with rocket
(eruca ), another plant widely reputed to effect male desire. These two
plants appears as well in an epigram of Martial (3.75) about impotence,
wherebulbi are called salaces ("lust provoking"). The
Satyricon of Petronius, moreover, affords an especially good look at how
a popular belief in the efficacy of bulbi complements the themes of
impotence and social failure. In one noteworthy episode, the impotent and
hapless main character Enclopius, despite his repeated and unsuccessful
attempts at a sexual encounter with the beautiful temptress Circe, undertakes a
set of remedies based on dietary elements. Thus, after begging for yet another
opportunity to perform, Encolpius prepares his body with health-promoting
(validioribus) dietary remedies for sexual dysfunction which prominently
include bulbi (130.7).
Finally, Latin Literature also affords a particularly striking example
of how the imagery of garlic was artistically combined with other cultural
elements to function thematically in a literary text. Horace's third
Epode is a half-serious denunciation of the agonizing results of eating
garlic (cf. E. Gowers, The Loaded Table, Oxford: 1993, 280-310). In it
the interplay of magic and sexuality functions as a humorous subtext and draws
upon popular associations of garlic with venomous feminine enchantment and
rampant male sexuality.
Clearly, then, the varied associations of plants with human sexuality
were culturally significant in the Ancient Classical World, and their
importance cannot be overlooked in interpreting ancient texts. As popular
notions merge with scientific investigation on the written page, the
connections spread much wider and extend far deeper into areas of natural
history, folk medicine and magic than one might at first imagine. In fact, the
more one reexamines even the most familiar writings from the past, one realizes
that there yet remains much to be studied about how the interaction of plants
and humans functions in literary works.
For further reading, the following will be of interest.
Adams, J. N. The Latin Sexual Vocabular. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1982.
Carson, Anne. "Putting Her in Her Place: Woman, Dirt, and Desire" in
Halperin, David M., John J Winkler and Froma I. Zeitlin. Before
Sexuality: The Construction of Erotic Experience in the Ancient Greek
World Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990: 135-169.
Gowers, Emily. The Loaded Table: Representations of Food in Roman
Literature. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.
Grieve, Maude. A Modern Herbal. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1931 (repr.
New York: Dover, 1982).
Henderson, Jefferey. The Maculate Muse: Obscene Language in Attic
Comedy. Second Edition. New York: Oxford, 1991.
Henry, Madeline. "The Edible Woman: Athenaeus's Concept of the Pornographic."
in Richlin, Amy, ed. Pornography and Representation in Greece & Rome.
New York: Oxford, 1992: 250-268.
Irwin, Eleanor. Color Terms in Greek Poetry. Toronto: Hakkert, 1974.
Luck, Georg. Arcana Mundi: Magic and Occult in the Greek and Roman
Worlds. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985.
McEvilley, T. "Sapphic Imagery and Fr. 96." Hermes 101 (1973):
257-278.
Michelini, Ann. "HYBRIS and Plants." Harvard Studies in Classical
Philology 82 (1978): 35-44.
Nicholson, B. N. The Oxford Book of Food Plants. Oxford: University
Press, 1969.
Seager, Robin. "Aristophanes Thes. 493-496 and the Comic
Possibilities of Garlic." Philologus 127 (1983): 139-142.
Stannard, Jerry. "Medicinal Plants and Folk Remedies in Pliny Historia
Naturalis." History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 4.1 (1982):
3-23.
Winkler, John J. The Constraints of Desire. New York: Routledge,
1990.