A brief history of the rose

Once upon a time, the story goes that Chloris, the Greek goddess of flowers, created a new bloom by breathing life into a young female deity who had died. Dionysus, the god of wine and plant-life, blessed it with an enchanting fragrance. Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and pleasure, christened it by rearranging the letters in the name of her son Eros, the god of love and desire. The story may be a myth, but the rose is indeed one of the world’s most mesmerising flowers.

According to the fossil record, rose-like plants have existed for millions of years on Earth. However, the earliest roses known to humans looked nothing like the ones you might be imagining. They had just five petals and produced fruits known as ‘hips’. These wild roses cast such a spell on people that they were cultivated across continents to produce thousands of different varieties over time.

It is easy to believe that roses might originally have been grown, as they were pleasing to the eye. However, they also served many practical purposes. They were prized for their aroma; there are records of kings and queens in ancient empires bathing in rose water. However, they have also long been used for various medicinal purposes. In Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine, for example, they are used to treat inflammation, skin conditions, and digestive issues.

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With all their beauty and usefulness, it is not surprising that roses became powerful cultural symbols. In the Islamic tradition, the rose is sometimes called the ‘Flower of Heaven’, believed to have sprung out of the sweat of the Prophet Muhammad. Meanwhile, in Christianity, the rosary symbolises a garland of roses offered to the Virgin Mary.

The flower has also been a popular emblem throughout history. In the 15th century, for example, when King Henry Tudor of Lancaster (Henry VII) won the throne of England after a long civil war, the occasion was commemorated with the Tudor Rose, a red-and-white floral emblem that united the colours of the roses in the badges of the rival factions. It remains England’s national flower. Roses, though, are national flowers elsewhere too — the U.S., Slovakia, and the Maldives, too.

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Wikimedia Commons

While roses are omnipresent in culture, perhaps their most enduring legacy lies in literature. From Sufi poets to Shakespeare, writers across centuries and cultures have used them to speak of love, loss, and longing. Thorny yet tender, the rose holds many meanings and has bloomed richly in human imagination.