Sub rosa: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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The rose has held a deeply symbolic significance in many times and cultures as a symbol of maternal creativity and of the [[yoni]] or feminine generative power.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/sta22.htm |title=Secret Teachings of All Ages: Flowers, Plants, Fruits, and Trees |work=sacred-texts.com}}</ref> The literal rose and its essence or [[Attar of roses|attar]] has also played a role in religious and spiritual rites which ofttimes would have been held in secret.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://mirrorofisis.freeyellow.com/id125.html |title=Isis, Rose of the World |work=freeyellow.com}}</ref>

The rose has sometimes been said to have been the [[emblem]] of the god [[Horus]] in [[ancient Egypt]]. However, the gods in Egypt were usually associated with the [[Nymphaea caerulea|lotus]]. The idea of Horus being linked to the rose probably arises from Greek and Roman cultural cross-transmission of myths from Egypt. Firstly, the rose's connotation of secrecy dates back also to Greek mythology. [[Aphrodite]] gave a rose to her son [[Eros]], the god of love; he, in turn, gave it to [[Harpocrates]], the god of silence and a Greek name for a form of Horus, to ensure that his mother's indiscretions (or those of the gods in general, in other accounts) were not disclosed.<ref name="merriam">{{cite web |title=sub rosa |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sub%20rosa |website=Merriam-Webster Dictionary |accessdate=12 December 2016}}</ref> Secondly, in Egypt, the rose was actually sacred to [[Isis]], but this appears to have been during the Roman period of Egyptian history—"Probably due to assimilation with the goddess Aphrodite (Venus), during the Roman period, the rose was used in her worship."{{citation needed|date=May 2013}}

Later, the Greeks and Romans translated the god's Egyptian name [[Horus#Heru-pa-khered (Horus_the_Younger)|Heru-pa-khered]] as Harpocrates and regarded him as the god of silence. The association of Harpocrates with silence and secrecy originates from a misunderstanding of Egyptian depictions of the god. Heru-pa-khered was represented as a naked youth with a finger-to-mouth gesture—in Egyptian artwork this gesture imitates the [[Child (hieroglyph)|hieroglyph for child]] and is used to represent youth, but was misunderstood by Greeks and Romans as a gesture for silence.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}}