The “Love forever” written on books and walls by modern romantic teenagers drawing a heart next to it, to declare that their love will last forever, “appears” on a mosaic floor of a basilica of the 6th century AD, found north of the temple of Taxiarches in Thessaloniki.

In it, hearts are clearly visible, formed from ivy leaves, which also for the ancients and Byzantines symbolized eternity.

“Light” on plants and symbols that are more or less visible on objects exhibited in the Museum of Byzantine Culture, is shed by the “Green Cultural Routes”, the nationwide action of the Ministry of Culture, which aims to educate citizens in matters of protection and promotion both of the natural environment as well as the cultural wealth of the country.

“The ivy for the ancients symbolized immortality and for this reason we see it appearing very often on tombstones. It is characteristic that the inscriptions were closed – not with a period, since punctuation was not used then, but with an ivy leaf“, the archaeologist – museologist Tasos Antonaras emphasized during the tour of the participants in the Green Cultural Routes.

“The mission of our Museum is extroversion. We want to share the stories of the objects in our exhibitions and clubs with as many people as possible and show them the connection these objects have with their own lives today. At first reading these relationships are not so obvious, but when you look closely you can see them“, he said speaking to the Athenian/Macedonian News Agency.

The man of that time identified with nature, which existed alive in his daily life in a way that today’s inhabitants of European cities where there is no greenery, cannot see. For this reason, representations from nature are also reflected in the art of the Byzantines.

A typical example is the Corinthian capital, which prevailed for centuries throughout the Western world as a recurring motif in churches, museums and many other buildings.

In his tour, the archaeologist talked about the history behind it, based on the report of the Roman writer and architect Vitruvius, who says that at the end of the 5th BC. century, the Ancient Greek sculptor Callimachus, who had a reputation as an excellent statue maker, saw an image in the cemetery outside Corinth that impressed him and he then copied it.

“It was the grave of a girl, on which her parents had left a basket with her toys at the beginning of winter and had covered it with a slab to protect it. But with the spring and the rebirth of nature, the acanthus, the plant with the large leaves, occupied this space and began to grow around and through the basket, forming something like the image we see on the Corinthian capitals, which others also took. sculptors then shaped and embellished it“, he emphasized.

He even said that the column itself is the transition from the real to the man-made. “After the man came out of the cave and wanted to make a place where he would be protected, the simplest way was to use leaves, branches and other things, supporting them with a trunk. From this trunk is inspired the column, which we consider the quintessence of the ancient Greek and Roman civilization, while to this day we use columns to build a house”, he underlined.

At the end of the tour, Mr. Antonaras stood on a laurel wreath that appears on the marble lintel of a church and reminded of the legend that follows it and Daphne, the fairy of the fresh waters of Greco-Roman mythology.

“Eros, once quarreling with Apollo, in order to avenge him, struck him with a golden arrow, making him fall in love with Daphne. At the same time, he shot her a leaden arrow, causing her to loathe him. Apollo was chasing her and when he tried to catch her to kiss her, she ran to her father, the river god Pineos, who to save her turned her into a laurel tree. So Apollo, in love, cut a branch from her trunk and made a wreath with it that he wore on his head, to carry her on him. For the first time, the winner of the Pythian Games, held in honor of Apollo, was honored with a corresponding laurel wreath, and from then until today the winners are crowned with laurel“, he said.

In similar activities carried out by the Museum of Byzantine Culture aimed at children, the students locate the laurel tree as well as other plants in the gardens of the Museum and on the balconies of houses and then look for them among the ancient objects in the halls of the Museum.

Bees, birds, lizards and snails, hide in the circles formed by the winding vine, in the relief representations of a small vertical column of Panagia Achiropoiitos, which the archaeologist helped the citizens to observe.

“Here there is one of the few depictions of a bee in Byzantine times and an even rarer depiction of a snail with its horns. We also see a little bird pecking at the bunch of grapes, as well as a lizard lying on a leaf to collect the heat it needs under the sun“, he said.

In the same room, the visitor will see pesses from Agios Dimitrios, where roses appear, a little different from the ones we have in mind today.

“Today’s multi-petal roses begin to develop and exist in the 17th – 18th century. Until then there were only two main types of rose with only five petals“, says.

However, the visitor can spot a rose, just like rose petals, in the room where the typology of the tombs of Thessaloniki is presented.

“We have roses in all graves, as flowers are the hope and anticipation of rebirth. Accordingly, our soul is reborn and this is the reason why to this day we fill the coffins of the dead with flowers, a habit we do repeating what we found from our ancestors“, concluded.

The Museum of Byzantine Culture participates in the “Green Cultural Routes” highlighting the plant world through its exhibits, for the tenth year.