This chapter focuses neither on humanity’s practical, physical dependence on plants to sustain life nor on scientific inquiry founded on botanical observation, but rather on that inherent spiritual connection between humans and plants arising from a host of the latter’s notable characteristics, among them their burgeoning and growth, their life cycle from seed germination to maturity and dormancy or death, their annually recurring flowers and fruit, their diverse appearances, and their possession of a mysterious agency and vitality though rooted to a single place. The cultural perspectives offered here are those of ancient Greece and Rome, which civilizations have yielded a wealth of archaeological and textual material. In Greek linguistic usage, the phylogenetic proximity of plants and humans is particularly clear; the Greek term “phuton,” originally meaning “the thing that has grown, creature,” narrowed over time in application so as to denote plants specifically. This, in turn, provided the basis for a broad spectrum of plant symbolism and botanical metaphors (cf. Pl., Tim. 77A–C; Eur., Med. 231). For example, one spoke of being in the prime or “bloom” of life (anthein), as is still the case today, and it was not without good reason that botanical excursus in the medical texts from the Hippocratic Corpus—in De genitura (On Generation), De natura pueri (On the Nature of the Child), De morbis (On Diseases) IV, probably dating to the last third of the fifth century BCE—exhibit a striking interest in analogies between plant and human physiology (Genit. 10:2; Nat. puer. 26ff.; Morb. 4.33–5). Similarly, the Greek philosopher and author Theophrastus (c. 370/371–288/286 BCE), who is credited with being the “father of botany,” underscores the close relation between humans and plants by drawing numerous parallels between plants and humans in medical contexts (Hist. pl. 2.7.6; Caus. pl. 1.13.5ff., 4.16.3ff.; Plin., HN 17.37.218–19), and Roman encyclopedist Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE) evidences the greatest reverence for trees in his vast Natural History (12.1), noting that from earliest times they supplied “the most valuable benefits conferred by all of Nature upon humankind.” Plants in Culture Botanical Symbolism in Daily Life and Literature ANNETTE GIESECKE AND MECHTHILD SIEDE CHAPTER SIX The authors are profoundly grateful to Midori Hartman for bibliographic assistance when it was critically needed. 9781474273404_txt_rev.indd 131 24-05-2021 21:24:50