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Hardcore difficulty: What plant is depicted on this mosaic from the byzantine church in Petra?
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Hardcore difficulty: What plant is depicted on this mosaic from the byzantine church in Petra?


It's depicted on this mosaic, but there is not description of what it is.

It sorta looks like an artichoke, but Petra is in the desert and there seems to be a palm tree in the background of that thing? Plus, artichokes usually don't have a second bloom on a side branch, do they?

I don't know, but I'm really intrigued…

Sources for the pictures:

  1. https://acorjordan.org/petra-church-mosaics/
  2. https://www.wikiart.org/en/byzantine-mosaics/petra-church-floor-mosaic-550-1

EDIT: I've tried to use ChatGPT to make an identification and research background information and have tried to confirm or research information myself after that.

Apparently this mosaic has been dated to 450-550 AD.

The city of Petra lays in what we know today as Jordan.

So whatever plant we're talking about here, should've been cultivated at that time.

Now, I've read about the history of the artichoke and artichoke cultivation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artichoke#Early\_history) It says there:

The artichoke is a domesticated variety of the wild cardoon (Cynara cardunculus),\9]) which is native to the Mediterranean area.\1]) There was debate over whether the artichoke was a food among the ancient Greeks and Romans, or whether that cultivar was developed later, with Classical sources referring instead to the wild cardoon.\10])\11]) The cardoon is mentioned as a garden plant in the eighth century BCE by Homer and Hesiod. Pliny the Elder mentioned growing of 'carduus' in Carthage and Cordoba.\12]) In North Africa, where it is still found in the wild state, the seeds of artichokes, probably cultivated, were found during the excavation of Roman-period Mons Claudianus in Egypt.\13])

I don't know what 800 BCE translates to in BC/AD terms.

I've actually denied the possibility of the depicted plant being a (wild) cardoon, because cardoons usually have spiky flower buds. Artichokes don't have spiky flower buds as far as I know – making this optin more likey in my opinion.

So there are 3 options here:

  1. The depicted plant is a wild cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) OR
  2. It's one of the first historic depictions of the domesticated variant, an artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus).
  3. The depicted plant is an entirely different plant.

by cosmoscrazy

11 Comments

  1. Somederpsomewhere

    Silphium sprout, maybe? It’s been venerated quite a bit and seems likely to have grown in that area.

  2. brynnors

    Yeah, they had artichokes and cardoons, and yes, they both often have side branches.

  5. 0LittleWing0

    My guess is Artichoke. that’s due to the pointed shape (Silphium never is depicted with a point- more of a heart shape in depictions. But you’re right, they don’t grow in pairs

  8. voglioandarealmare

    The leaf on the right side Is of the stem Is pure artichocke.

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