Hey dear Hiveans, first of all I would like to welcome you all to my new post and hope you had a day that brought some positive experiences into your life! Today I would like to discuss an interesting topic and hope you can expand your knowledge a little.
Here are some pictures of lemons that I took earlier and hardly any other fruit has established itself more than the lemon over the millennia. It is believed that it comes from the Asian region and from there found its way to Israel and it is assumed that it was brought to Italy via traders at that time and other traditions claim that at that time it found its way to Italy through the invasion of the Romans in Jerusalem. It was quickly spread more in the Roman Empire and quickly became a fruit with an important status and the people quickly recognized the popularity and through traders it quickly reached other countries such as Egypt or the Arab region. At that time, the lemon was considered a kind of noble plant and it was considered the most important plant that adorned the culture in many ways and also the Greek philosopher Theophrastus probably also described the plant. It is assumed that with the fall of the Roman Empire, the cultivation of lemons has also moved more and more into the background and it should take a few years for this important plant to find its way back to culture and between the 15th and 16th century, it became more popular with seafarers and it quickly reached all sorts of countries and also the well-known explorer Christoph Columbus, who was on exploration tour on behalf of the Spanish crown, brought the fruit to the American continent at that time. In Europe, it was spreading more and more and many people recognized the value that the fruit has in the kitchen and they also appreciated that it can be used for medical purposes and in Europe it was also very much appreciated by the Habsburg dynasty who had specialized a lot in exotic plants.
Lemons were also important for the old alchemists and it was assumed that citric acid was already known in the Middle Ages and also the well-known Arab alchemist Geber already mentioned the importance of it. The symbolism of lemons is very diverse and it was often regarded as a symbol of eternal life or fertility and in the Middle Ages it was thought that you could stop evil forces with lemons. At that time they were considered a luxury fruit and in ancient Greece it was of great popularity as a gift and often used for festivals such as weddings or rituals and at that time it was often described as a yellow apple. It was also often considered a divine fruit and according to legends it once grew in the garden of the goddess of love Venus and there are also some views that the golden apples of the hesperides lemons are. In the past, it was also associated with the occult as a fruit and the ancient Egyptians used it to embalm the dead and it was quickly noticed what an interesting smell lemons had people and people produced fragrances from it and lemons were used in the kitchen in many ways by the Romans and were also very much appreciated by many other ancient cultures. Also in art, these fruits are often found and are depicted in numerous works of art and it can be found especially in still lifes and also in heraldry it can be found and can be seen in some different coats of arms.
Thank you for stopping by and I hope you could learn something new about this topic and like my pictures! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens!