Roses were cultivated as early as in the Sumerian times, then all over Mesopotamia, i.e. about 5000 years ago. Symbolism of these still unusually popular flowers has a very long and abundant tradition. In ancient Egypt a crown made of roses used to be placed in a sarcophagus next to other items indispensable to the deceased one in the other world. The Romans also used these flowers to decorate tombs during the Rosarias – the fest of the dead. In Greece roses were the symbol of Aphrodite – the goddess of love – and this meaning is today the most prevalent.
