
Asphodel
Asphodelus is a genus of mainly perennial plants first described for modern science in 1753.The genus is native to temperate Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian Subcontinent, and now naturalized in other places.
Asphodel is a type of lily and means ‘remembered beyond the tomb’ or ‘my regrets follow you to the grave’ while wormwood is often associated with regret or bitterness.
HOMER’S “ASPHODEL MEADOW” (ἀσφοδελὸν λειμῶνα),“where the spirits of the dead dwell” (Od. 24.14), hasthroughout Western literary history been envisionedas a pleasant and even desirable place. This was the impression=among many of the ancient Greek poets and Homeric commentators, who understood ἀσφοδελός to mean “flowery,”“fragrant,” “fertile,” and “lush,” and who even referred to the asphodel meadow as a “paradise” (παράδεισος).1
Homer’s Asphodel Meadow
Steve Reece
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