Читать книгу Love Potions Through the Ages: A Study of Amatory Devices and Mores онлайн

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In later ages, amatory talismans assumed a great variety of forms, in the shape of rings, necklaces, plaques engraved with formulas or astrological figures and signs of the Zodiac or possibly a bull, a dove, a number or a series of mystic numbers. A piece of parchment might be inscribed with names, or the alphabetical sign of Venus. Precious stones were talismans, each possessing an esoteric virtue or property according to color or substance. A periapt might be set in some strategic spot: buried underground, placed under a pillow: or even ground into a powder.

The all-powerful goddess herself, Venus, had her own minerals. Copper, associated with the love goddess, was known to the Greeks as aphrodon. Tin also was of Aphroditic significance: while sulphur springs were also, in a legendary sense, related to Venus.

It has even been credited that floral nomenclature contains amatory significance, and that certain plants have their erotic symbolisms.

Flowers in antiquity as well as in modern times had their erotic implications. To the Greeks and Romans, the essence of areté, of beauty and perfection, was the rose, while the Egyptians too revered the rose as the prototype of perfection.