Since the dawn of civilization, the lily was the representative of the feminine ideal.
It was the sacred flower of the ancient Neolithic and Minoan goddess Dictynna, who lived atop Mount Dicta.
Painted lilies adorned the walls of excavated Minoan villas, and Dictynna was the supreme goddess in Minoan Crete.
Eventually her cult assimilated into the mythology of ancient Greece, where she became the prototype for Artemis.
This creation myth accounts for the lilys association with Venus, who personified passion and lust.
As Juno nursed her son Hercules, excess milk fell from the sky.
In ancient Greece and Rome, lilies were known as Junos rose.
As the archetypal symbols of death and resurrection, pagans, Christians and Jews all placed lilies on graves.
In Christian art, saints are pictured carrying vases of white lilies to Mary and the infant Jesus.
Early Christian theologians and scribes depicted the lily as the emblem of the Annunciation and the Resurrection.
Jesus Christ immortalized them in his speech, Consider the lilies of the field.
Yet modern science disproves any healing properties.
In the Age of Enlightenment the lily was the symbol of the nobility.
