Flora (mythology)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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In Roman mythology, Flora was a goddess of flowers and the season of spring. While she was otherwise a relatively minor figure in Roman mythology, being one among several fertility goddesses, her association with the spring gave her particular importance at the coming of springtime. Her festival, the Floralia, was held in April or early May and symbolized the renewal of the cycle of life, marked with dancing, drinking, and flowers. Her Greek equivalent was Chloris. Flora was married to Favonius, the wind god, and her companion was Hercules. Due to her association with plants, her name in modern English also means plant life.
Flora achieved more prominence in the neo-pagan revival of Antiquity among Renaissance humanists than she had ever enjoyed in ancient Rome.
In art
- Flora (Antoine Watteau)
- Flora or Hebe by Marie Louise Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun
- Flora by Louise Abbéma 1913
- Goddess Flora depiction Rembrandt van Rijn, 1634
- Portrait of Flora Rembrandt van Rijn, 1635
- Primavera by Botticelli, c. 1482
References
- Ovid, Fasti V.193-212
- Macrobius, Saturnalia I.10.11-14
- Lactantius, Divinae institutions I.20.6-10
See also
