The Gardens of Adonis: Spices in Greek Mythology

by Marcel Detienne, Janet Lloyd (Translator), Jean-Pierre Vernant (Introduction)

Rich with implications for the history of sexuality, gender issues, and patterns of Hellenic literary imagining, Marcel Detienne's landmark book recasts long-standing ideas about the fertility myth of Adonis. The author challenges Sir James Frazer's thesis that the vegetation god Adonis-- whose premature death was mourned by women and whose resurrection marked a joyous occasion--represented the annual cycle of growth and decay in agriculture. Using the analytic tools of structuralism, Detienne shows instead that the festivals of Adonis depict a seductive but impotent and fruitless deity--whose physical ineptitude led to his death in a boar hunt, after which his body was found in a lettuce patch. Contrasting the festivals of Adonis with the solemn ones dedicated to Demeter, the goddess of grain, he reveals the former as a parody and negation of the institution of marriage.


Detienne considers the short-lived gardens that Athenian women planted in mockery for Adonis's festival, and explores the function of such vegetal matter as spices, mint, myrrh, cereal, and wet plants in religious practice and in a wide selection of myths. His inquiry exposes, among many things, attitudes toward sexual activities ranging from "perverse" acts to marital relations.

Genres: Mythology, Nonfiction, History, Classics, Classical Studies, Religion

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Marcel Detienne was a Belgian historian and specialist in the study of Ancient Greece.

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book, I learned a lot from it.
The main theme is spices-perfumes and their triple function as seasoning, aphrodisiac and religious tool. To understand these functions we are told about different myths: Myrrh, Adonis, Minthe, Lemnian women, and others.
The book also explains the Ancient Greeks theories/beliefs about body functioning and the influence of heat-humidity on it; how certain plants were better or worst for it depending on their humidity levels (for example: lettuce was cold and humid, so it worked as the opposite of an aphrodisiac).

Now, I think you need a good (or advanced) knowledge of mythology to fully appreciate this book.

[ColleenPA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting interpretation of the dual role of food and spices in Greek and Roman mythology. My complete review is here

[Nikos · Rating 4 out of 5]

surprisingly focuses on few spices but what spices are covered goes into great detail.