Roślina i sacrum w historii cywilizacji

The plant and the sacrum in the history of civilisation

Summary: Believing in the miraculous powers of Nature, and the beneficial properties of plants providing food, wood or medicines, have been associated with Man since the oldest times as an inseparable part of cognition. In the oldest civilizations there was an abundant knowledge of the plant realm, closely associated with religious life and curing practices. In Ancient Egypt, the knowledge of medicinal plants was accumulated by priest-physicians in the temples of either the god of wisdom (Thoth) or of medicine (Imhotep). One of the oldest written sources with botanical and pharmaceutical contents is ‘Ebers papyrus’ (ca 1550 BC), listing the names of some 150 species of medicinal plants. Many of these were worshipped as sacred plants and used in religious rites, e.g. date-palm (Phoenix dactylifera), white lotus (Nymphaea lotus) associated with cult of Osiris, as well as plants with hallucinogenic or narcotic properties such as the common poppy (Papaver somniferum). The abundance and beauty of nature of the Mediterranean have been reflected in the mythology of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The patron of the plant realm was the goddess Chloris (Roman Flora), and of medicine – Asclepios (Roman Aesculapius). The sacred plants of ancient Greece included, among others, the olive (Olea europaea) devoted to Athena, vine (Vitis vinifera) associated with the cult of Dionysius (Roman Bacchus), ivy (Hedera helix),whose evergreen leaves symbolised the power of life, and bay tree (Laurus nobilis) associated with the cult of Apollo. After the fall of ancient Rome, the scientific achievements of antiquity (together with some old beliefs regarding plants) have been saved by the Christian Church. Monasteries established in many countries north of the Alps and in Central Europe (also in Poland) became centres of cult and medical treatment. For this reason many Mediterranean plants assumed a new symbolism, associated with the Bible and the liturgy of mass e.g. bourbon lily (Lilium candidum) symbolizing spiritual purity, rose (Rosa sp.), whose thorns symbolised the torment of Christ and flowers – the perfection of life in paradise. The same happened to Mediterranean plants with evergreen leaves which symbolised eternal life, such as boxwood (Buxus semervirens), myrtle (Myrtus communis), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) and ivy (Hedera helix). In the lands of Western, Central and Northern Europe the ancient traditional knowledge of the plant world endured, which after the Christianization of Europe merged with ancient beliefs and the symbolism of the Holy Scripture. For example, there was a very popular cult of mandrake (Mandragora sp.), a Mediterranean plant with hallucinogenic and narcotic properties, later replaced in Central Europe by henbone (Hyoscyamus niger) and belladonna (Atropa belladonna). For example, the plants repelling evil powers included mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) and vervain (Verbena officinalis), used in the celebrations of Midsummer’s Day. The scientific revolution of the 19th and 20th centuries, coupled with progressive specialisation in science, brought about the separation between science, arts and humanities, and religion. The price paid for the success of contemporary science is its fragmentation into narrow specialist domains, which then lost contact with one another as well as with the whole entity composed of Nature and a cognitive subject – that is Man. Since the 1990s, many naturalists, humanists and theologians have begun stress the necessity of bringing science, art and religion closer again. All this has given rise to the development of new areas such as bioethics, eco-philosophy or eco-ethics. Perhaps a new synthesis, a new humanistic approach to Nature, will provide us with a new cultural paradigm where Nature with its multi-dimensional aspects, with the sacrum contained in each plant – as perceived by priests, artists and scientists since the earliest times – will become a new supreme value.

Domański B., Skiba S. (red.), 2005, Geografia i Sacrum, tom 2, IGiGP UJ, Kraków, s. 471-480.

Instytut Geografii i Gospodarki Przestrzennej UJ

ISBN 83-88424-43-2

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