Framed Ivy with Lions on via Villa Albani, Rome.

English ivy has no backbone so it clings and crawls. And wraps itself around anything it can.

Thanks to their lusty affair, Semele and Zeus were about to have a baby. But Hera, Zeus’ wife, found out and, disguised as an old woman, made Semele doubt that Zeus was really the god he claimed to be. So Semele ingeniously insisted that Zeus appear to her in his divine form. Little did she know that gods are not meant to be seen as they really are. When Zeus finally exposed himself, lightning jumped out from the sky and struck Semele turning her into ashes. Miraculously, ivy starting growing wildly around the columns uniting them so they wouldn’t fall. The ivy also grew around Semele’s baby, Dionysus, protecting him from the flames. In honor of the plant that saved his life. Dionysus wears a crown of ivy.