Roses: Timeless Romantic Image or Terrible Roman Reminder?
Ladies, don’t trust a man bearing roses, or and singer who wants to lay you down in a bed of them. But why? you may ask. Aren’t roses the most romantic flower?
NO. While this little fact may have been lost to our culture in the sands of time, I come with it to YOU, the READER, to remind you of its true significance, of what our Roman forebears used these thorny, blood-colored flowers for: SACRIFICE.
That’s right — HUMAN SACRIFICE. The image of a “bed of roses” does not, as Wikipedia might have you believe, come from a shitty poem by Marlowe; rather, it refers to the sacrificial rites of the state’s Vestal Virgins in order to please the Roman gods before battle. These virgins would be laid down on a bed of roses and violated by the emperor’s top commanders before they left for battle, and then burned alive to complete the ceremony.
The mixture blood and ash was thought to please Mars for success in war and draw in Vesta to protect those left behind to tend to the soldiers’ families.
FUN FACT: Seal’s “Kissed by a Rose” also references this rite, as each bite of the thorn into a virgin’s skin was considered the rose’s “kiss.”
And so, for someone to want to “lay you down in a bed of roses” or compare you to a “kiss by a rose” has a very, very specific meaning that you can’t just ignore, now that you are armed with these facts. Anyone approaching with a rose or references to these songs should be considered hostile at the very least. Exercise caution especially around Valentine’s Day.
