Vergil’s Green Thoughts: Plants, Humans, and the Divine

Rebecca Armstrong. (2019). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Armstrong’s focus is on the symbolism of plants in the Eclogues, Georgics and Aeneid and how the Vergil’s depiction of plants in relation to how the poet’s thoughts on culture and religion are understood. The introduction is concerned with the ancient understandings of the books key themes, both in terms of the definitions of key words (e.g., nature) and the relationship between the divine and natural worlds. From there, the book splits into two parts: ‘Numen’ and ‘Homo’. ‘Numen’ is concerned with the religious contexts of plants, particularly trees and woodland landscapes, both the association of certain plants with specific divinities and how plants were used in religious ceremonies and festivals. ‘Homo’ is focussed on human interactions with A) cultivated or ‘tame’ plants (and the benefits farming had for people and the plants themselves) and B) the ways uncultivated or ‘wild’ plants (such as trees, flowers and weeds) provide Vergil with ample material for vivid imagery.