Mythology of Salad

Hey dear community, I hope you are doing well so far and you had a day that brought many interesting experiences into your life! In my new post, I would like to discuss mythology and hope you will be able to expand your knowledge.

You can see here pictures of the salad and this species is also known under the scientific name Lactuca sativa and where the exact origin is, is often puzzled but it is assumed that it could be Europe or some parts of Asia. Already in ancient times it was of great importance and starting from ancient Egypt it spread more and more among the Greeks and Romans where it was cultivated more and more and in ancient cultures, people consumed the salad even differently and was considered more as a kind of pest plant which one would have to boil before consumption and then it was seasoned and consumed. Most of the time, salt was also used for seasoning, with which the name is probably also associated and the word salad is probably derived from the Latin word Sal for salt and in addition, people also used oil or herbs and mixed them with the salad. Salad was not popular with all people in the past and some people avoided consumption and in the Middle Ages the plant became more known and was cultivated on a large scale and the ruler who contributed a large part to the spread was Charlemagne from the Carolingian dynasty who had these vegetables grown in his lands. From a symbolic point of view, the salad was mostly considered as a sign of fertility and here there are also connections to the Egyptian mythology where the it was worshipped as a divine plant and was used as an aphrodisiac and it was also associated with the god of fertility Min or Menas and it is suspected that he was also considered a protective god for cultivation and the salad was also linked to the god of the sky Horus as well as Seth. The importance of this plant emerges from many old reliefs in which about the cultivation was reported and it was also used for ritual practises and the ancient Greeks also worshipped it as a mystical plant and particularly appreciated the healing and calming properties of the salad and so it appears in ancient writings that it was also used as a method to sleep better.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you could learn something new about mythology! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens.