flower flower modern title given early classical greek marble fragment 5th century discovered church greece carved relief severe style extant upper fragment marble relief depicts women holding appear flowers fungi object hands work held museum roman background french archaeologist historian began working greece age famous discovery period town city southern antiquity area named known bce defeated great roman civil war architect involved official mission collect objects related campaigns interested artifacts unrelated work found marble relief embedded walls church neighborhood named flower informed stone originally discovered garden close stone recovered purchased stone sent paris france curator retire description precise description interpretation work remained elusive initial discovery 19th century scholars agree aspects disagree british greek art scholar notes women seen wearing tubular common classical period according descriptive text found database exhibited works art women wearing roman appear hold type flower poppy women carries resembles bag presumed carrying seeds interpretation analysis paper argued images suggested referring cult legend found hymns french archaeologist art historian explained believes monument refers core daughter suggesting greek legend recurring bloom nature french archaeologist disagreed interpretation offered perspective adherents largely fallen favor art historians according generally agreed figures represented german archaeologist believed decorative qualities originated following line reasoning scottish archaeologist compared facial features eyes lips nose similar facial features found relief american curator notes influence schools artwork ancient known question works local artists influence artists established parts greece style influence seen depiction hair net worn women relief french scholar argued fragments reconstructed missing fragment showed figure left standing right seated oblique trend belt high silhouette profile elder explained accepting seated left resting thigh handled extreme slope coming away shoulder fall vertically non seated figure right let readily forgotten turn strongly forward pass centerline marked high triumphant flower group hands maiden left cascade generally direct appropriate standing posture arched turn forward example left scarcely understood supporting effect produced leg seated woman sleeve drew little short descent carry lap spread german classical archaeologist disagreed hypothesis saying size demonstrate women standing sitting flowers fungi bones generally agreed plants depicted fragment flowers classical archaeologists historians ancient greek art discuss different species literature german scholar thought women holding type rose recognizes symbolism identifies flowers species poppy possibly poppy oriental poppy iranian poppy careful examination thick stems fails resemble flowers german scholar proposed figures holding bones goats sheep play game left hand roses right hand argues depicts flowers greek scholar archaeologist athens observed described flowers relief looked similar mushrooms english italian referred fragment evidence hypothesis significant items depicted work type mushroom mysteries graves featured image cover edition noting depicted artwork remain unnamed texts american similar arguments hypothesis controversial generally rejected mainstream scholarship review die notes increasingly reminded center alternate titles work referred different titles contemporary literature include
The Exaltation of the Flower