Focus on The Exaltation of the Flower and explore the Flowers, fungi, or bones.
It is generally agreed that the plants depicted in the stele fragment are either poppies or pomegranate flowers, however, classical archaeologists and historians of ancient Greek art discuss different species in the literature: German scholar Ernst Langlotz (1895–1978) thought that the women were holding a type of rose; Picard recognizes the symbolism of Demeter and Kore and identifies the flowers as a species of poppy, possibly the opium poppy, the Oriental poppy, or the Iranian poppy. Careful examination of the thick 'stems' fails to resemble that of the flowers. German scholar Eugen Petersen (1837–1919) proposed that the figures were holding knucklebones (talus bones from goats or sheep used to play the game of jacks) in their left hand and roses in the right hand; Hampe argues that the stele depicts only knucklebones, not flowers.In 1911, Greek scholar and archaeologist Rufus B. Richardson, formerly of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, observed that what was being described as flowers in the relief, looked similar to mushrooms. English classicist Robert Graves and Italian ethnobotanist Giorgio Samorini both have referred to the fragment as evidence for the entheogen hypothesis, speculating that the significant items depicted in the work are a type of psychoactive mushroom that was used in the Eleusinian Mysteries. Graves even featured the image as the cover of one edition of The Greek Myths, noting that although it might be depicted in artwork, it would remain unnamed in texts because of its sacredness. American classicist Carl A. P. Ruck has made similar arguments. Although the entheogen hypothesis is controversial and generally rejected by mainstream scholarship, in a review of Hampe's Die Stele aus Pharsalos im Louvre (1951), Picard notes that "one may be increasingly reminded that Pharsalos was indeed an Eleusinian center".
center jacks Ernst Langlotz psychoactive mushroom entheogen hypothesis Giorgio Samorini Louvre talus bone opium poppy Robert Graves Oriental poppy Iranian poppy Eleusinian Mysteries The Greek Myths knucklebones left Carl A. P. Ruck Rufus B. Richardson Eugen Petersen American School of Classical Studies at Athens