荷马诗颂与荷马史诗的作者们用自然生长的野花与野树来比拟宇宙秩序，用人工管理的树木（特别是果园里的树木）来象征人类文明。他们认为，只有通过国王辛勤的管理，秩序良好的人类文明方能得以持续。
《奥德赛》第十九章，奥德修斯（Odysseus）是这样评价一个好君王（blameless king）的：“他心中敬畏神明，统领众多勇士，主持正义；黑土地上长出小麦和大麦，树木结满果实，羊群不断产仔，大海产出鱼类，这一切都是因为他出色的领导；人民在他的领导下繁荣昌盛。”
（who with the fear of the gods in his heart, is lord over many mighty men, upholding justice; and the black earth bears wheat and barley, and the trees are laden with fruit, the flocks bring forth young unceasingly, and the sea yields fish, all from his good leading; and the people prosper under him.）
这段话里提到了耕地上的农作物，还有果实累累的树木，从前后文判断，这些果树应该是种植于果园的。
野生植物与人工栽培的植物也用来反映野蛮世界与文明秩序的冲突。以《阿佛洛狄忒赞歌》（Hymn to Aphrodite）为例，爱神阿佛洛狄忒来到艾达山（Mount Ida），发现特洛伊王子安喀塞斯（Anchises）和其他牧羊人在野兽成群出没的山上精心建造了定居点。同伴们都去草场（grassy pasture）放牧了，安喀塞斯独自留在房舍里。阿佛洛狄忒假扮成文明世界的少女出现在他面前，“她穿着一件比火焰还要耀眼的长袍。她戴着扭曲的胸针和闪亮的花朵形耳环。她柔嫩的脖子上戴着最漂亮的项链。它（她的长袍）非常漂亮，金色的，装饰着各种图案。这些装饰就像月亮一样在她柔嫩的胸前闪闪发光，令人叹为观止。”（she wore a robe that was more resplendent than the brightness of fire. She had twisted brooches, and shiny earrings in the shape of flowers.Around her tender throat were the most beautiful necklaces. It [her robe] was a thing of beauty, golden, decorated with every sort of design. Like the moon it glowed all around her tender breasts, a marvel to behold.）
阿佛洛狄忒对单纯的特洛伊王子说了一通谎话，把自己打造成落难的白富美，成功色诱了他。他们发生肉体关系后，原先的长满青草的草场（grassy pasture ）变成了满是鲜花的草场（ flowery pastures），这表明阿佛洛狄忒的野性力量已经渗透到安喀塞斯和他的同伴们共同创造的文明空间里。
类似的花卉意象也出现在荷马诗颂的其他篇章里。例如《潘神赞歌》（Hymn to Pan）里的潘神就生活在蛮荒世界。“他是赫尔墨斯亲爱的儿子，长着山羊的双足和两只犄角，喜欢快乐的声音。穿过林间空地，他与跳舞的仙女们一起在悬崖边行走”（the dear son of Hermes, with his goat's feet and two horns —a lover of merry noise. Through wooded glades he wanders with dancing nymphs who foot it on some sheer cliff's edge），“他的活动范围包括每一个雪峰、山峰和岩石山脊；他时而穿过茂密的灌木丛，时而被柔和的溪流引诱” （hither and thither he goes through the close thickets, now lured by soft streams ），“他背上披着带有斑点的猞猁皮，他喜欢在柔软的草地上引吭高歌，草地上番红花和芳香的风信子随意绽放。”（On his back he wears a spotted lynx-pelt, and he delights in high-pitched songs in a soft meadow where crocuses and sweet-smelling hyacinths bloom at random in the grass.）
（番红花 风信子）
草地上野花乱长的情形让人想起《阿佛洛狄忒赞歌》中的“满是鲜花的草场”（flowery pasture）, 与特洛伊王子安喀塞斯试图在荒野中建立的文明秩序（如人工整饬过的长满青草的草场 grassy pasture）形成了鲜明对比。《得墨忒耳颂歌》里，珀耳塞福涅与女伴们嬉戏的草地上混生着玫瑰、番红花、紫香堇、鸢尾花、风信子、水仙花等，其中的番红花与潘神草地上的野花种类重叠。珀耳塞福涅被冥王掳走的故事发生在尼西亚平原（河神的女儿生活的溪流旁边），说明此处乃未被人类驯服的天涯海角。可见开满野花的草地是未被驯化的自然界标志之一。
我们还可以通过分析《奥德赛》里的花卉意象得出这样一个结论：奥德修斯的十年漫漫返乡路，也是从蛮荒无序的世界回归人类文明的艰难历程。
《奥德赛》第五章，上帝的信使赫尔墨斯（Hermes）来到女神卡吕普索（Calypso）生活的奥吉吉亚岛（Ogygia）解救被困七年的奥德修斯，他驾驭着汹涌的海浪到达岛屿，登上了陆地，一直走到了女神居住的大洞穴里。“壁炉里燃着熊熊的火，从远处的岛屿上传来一股劈开的雪松和杜松燃烧的香气；她（卡吕普索）在里面，一边在织布机前来回走动，用金梭织布，一边用甜美的声音唱歌。洞穴周围长着茂盛的树林，有赤杨、杨树和芳香的柏树，长翅鸟儿常在里面筑巢，猫头鹰、猎鹰和海鸦叽叽喳喳地说着话，它们在海上忙碌着。洞穴的周围爬满了葡萄藤，枝繁叶茂果实累累。四个喷泉排成一排，水流清澈，水流相继而至，朝着不同方向喷洒。四周是盛开着紫香堇和香芹的柔软草地。即使是偶然来到这里的神仙，也会凝视并且敬畏，并陶醉其中。信使阿耳盖丰忒斯站在那里，惊叹不已。”( A great fire was burning on the hearth, and from afar over the isle there was a fragrance of cleft cedar and juniper, as they burned; but she within was singing with a sweet voice as she went to and fro before the loom, weaving with a golden shuttle. Round about the cave grew a luxuriant wood, alder and poplar and sweet-smelling cypress, wherein birds long of wing were wont to nest, owls and falcons and sea-crows with chattering tongues, who ply their business on the sea. And right there about the hollow cave ran trailing a garden vine, in pride of its prime, richly laden with clusters. And fountains four in a row were flowing with bright water hard by one another, turned one this way, one that. And round about soft meadows of violets and parsley were blooming. There even an immortal, who chanced to come, might gaze and marvel, and delight his soul; and there the messenger Argeiphontes stood and marvelled.)
从大神赫尔墨斯的角度来看，女神卡吕普索居住的小岛是至美的所在。但赫尔墨斯在洞穴里并未发现奥德修斯，“因为他（奥德修斯）坐在岸边哭泣，就像他平常一样，用泪水、呻吟和悲伤折磨着他的灵魂，他会望着波涛汹涌的大海，流下眼泪。” （for he sat weeping on the shore, as his wont had been, racking his soul with tears and groans and griefs, and he would look over the unresting sea, shedding tears）
从凡人奥德修斯的角度来看，奥吉吉亚岛是一个未开化的地方，随意生长的大树与野花等组成的自然环境与他的家乡伊萨卡（Ithaca）的井井有条的种植园相去甚远。岛屿上没有各种文明仪式，生活乏味无趣。 尽管女神卡吕普索无比美丽，并不完全缺乏文明的外表，会编织和唱歌，还能为奥德修斯提供凡人的食物，但她仍住在文明人不屑定居的山洞里 – 这样的环境不是奥德修斯想要的，女神也并非他精神上的良伴。 “他的美好的生命正在消逝，他悲痛地渴望着归家，因为仙女不再令他赏心悦目。事实上，到了晚上，他不得不睡在空洞的洞穴里，心不甘情不愿地躺在仙女的身边，但到了白天，他会坐在岩石和沙滩上，用泪水、呻吟和悲伤折磨着内心，他望着波涛汹涌的大海，流下眼泪。”（his sweet life was ebbing away, as he longed mournfully for his return, for the nymph was no longer pleasing in his sight. By night indeed he would sleep by her side perforce in the hollow caves, unwilling beside the willing nymph, but by day he would sit on the rocks and the sands, racking his soul with tears and groans and griefs, and he would look over the unresting sea, shedding tears.）
《奥德赛》第七章，离开了奥吉吉亚岛的奥德修斯在航行时遭遇海难，来到斯凯里亚（Scheria）。他在前往法埃阿基亚人（Phaeacians）的国王阿尔基诺俄斯（Alcinous）的宫殿的途中，注意到宫殿附近有“一个占地四英亩的大果园，两边都有篱笆。果园里长着高大茂盛的树木，有梨树、石榴树、结着鲜艳果实的苹果树，还有甜美的无花果和茂盛的橄榄树。这些树的果实在冬天和夏天都不会枯萎，而是一年四季都可以吃；西风吹来，使一些果实生机勃勃，使另一些果实成熟；梨子一个接一个地成熟，苹果一个接一个地成熟，一串接一串地成熟，无花果一个接一个地成熟。他（国王）在那里也拥有硕果累累的葡萄园，其中一部分，是平地上一块温暖的地方，葡萄正在阳光下晒干，而其他葡萄则被人们采摘，还有一些葡萄被人们踩踏；前排的是一些未成熟的葡萄，它们正在落花，还有一些葡萄正在变紫。那一头，最后一排的葡萄藤旁边，是各种各样整洁的花圃，一年四季都开满鲜花。花圃里有两个泉眼，一个流向整个花园，另一个则在对面，从庭院门槛下方流向高大的房屋。市民们从这里取水。这就是阿基诺俄斯宫殿中的诸神赐予的荣耀礼物。” （a great orchard of four acres, and a hedge runs about it on either side. Therein grow trees, tall and luxuriant, pears and pomegranates and apple-trees with their bright fruit, and sweet figs, and luxuriant olives. Of these the fruit perishes not nor fails in winter or in summer, but lasts throughout the year; and ever does the west wind, as it blows, quicken to life some fruits, and ripen others; pear upon pear waxes ripe, apple upon apple, cluster upon cluster, and fig upon fig. There, too, is his fruitful vineyard planted, one part of which, a warm spot on level ground, is being dried in the sun, while other grapes men are gathering, and others, too, they are treading; but in front are unripe grapes that are shedding the blossom, and others that are turning purple. There again, by the last row of the vines, grow trim garden beds of every sort, blooming the year through, and therein are two springs, one of which sends its water throughout all the garden, while the other, over against it, flows beneath the threshold of the court toward the high house; from this the townsfolk drew their water. Such were the glorious gifts of the gods in the palace of Alcinous.）这一切都令奥德修斯惊叹不已。
乍一看，这里的果园的形制与奥德修斯的家乡的果园极为相似，连果树的品种都是相类似的。但这里的果园并不需要辛苦的人工管理，靠神明赐与的西风、雨水、阳光就能一年四季果实累累。对于奥德修斯这样的凡人来说，这种带着超自然元素的秩序井然的果园让人类敬畏甚至恐惧，尽管他与国王的女儿互生好感，但还是决定不留在这里。
《奥德赛》第九章，奥德修斯一行在深海里漂流了十天后，来到了“食莲者的土地，他们吃一种花香四溢的食物”。（land of the Lotus-eaters, who eat a flowery food.）他们还吃“香甜如蜜的莲花果实”（honey-sweet fruit of the lotus）。奥德赛派一些手下去打听“在这里吃地上的面包的是谁”（who here ate bread upon the earth），可见那些食莲者是不吃文明人的食物的。奥德修斯继续航行，来到独眼巨人的国度（the land of the Cyclopes）。“独眼巨人是一群傲慢无礼的民族，他们信奉不朽的神灵，不种地也不耕耘；但是，他们不用播种和耕耘，就能长出小麦、大麦和果实累累的酿酒葡萄藤，宙斯的雨水给它们带来丰盛。他们既没有议会来，也没有制定法律，他们住在高山上的洞穴里，每个人都对妻儿孩发号施令，彼此毫不在意。（an overweening and lawless folk, who, trusting in the immortal gods, plant nothing with their hands nor plough; but all these things spring up for them without sowing or ploughing, wheat, and barley, and vines, which bear the rich clusters of wine, and the rain of Zeus gives them increase. Neither assemblies for council have they, nor appointed laws, but they dwell on the peaks of lofty mountains in hollow caves, and each one is lawgiver to his children and his wives, and they reck nothing one of another.）
独眼巨人虽然和文明人吃一样的食物，却不从事农业活动，总体上回避建立文明社会。他们对面的一个岛屿（评论家称为“山羊岛”Goat Island），是一个“树木繁茂的小岛”（ wooded isle）.“这里既没有羊群，也没有耕地，土地整天都无人耕种，只有咩咩叫的山羊光顾”。（Neither with flocks is it held, nor with ploughed lands, but unsown and untilled all the days it knows naught of men, but feeds the bleating goats.）奥德修斯见到山羊岛，马上就想到可以将此处改造成一个不错的定居点，“因为这个岛一点也不贫瘠，可以生产一切适时的东西。灰色大海的沿岸有一片水源充足的柔软草地，葡萄藤永不枯萎，那里是平坦的耕地，人们可以获得四时丰收，因为草地下面的土壤非常肥沃。那里还有一个安全的停泊港，不需要系泊，也不需要抛下锚石或系紧船尾缆绳，人们可以将船停泊在岸边……现在，在港口的尽头，一股清泉从一个洞穴下面涌出，泉水周围长满了白杨树。”(For the isle is nowise poor, but would bear all things in season. In it are meadows by the shores of the grey sea, well-watered meadows and soft, where vines would never fail, and in it level ploughland, whence they might reap from season to season harvests exceeding deep, so rich is the soil beneath; and in it, too, is a harbor giving safe anchorage, where there is no need of moorings, either to throw out anchor-stones or to make fast stern cables, but one may beach one's ship…. Now at the head of the harbor a spring of bright water flows forth from beneath a cave, and round about it poplars grow.) – 可见奥德修斯根深蒂固的思维方式是在自小生活的文明世界里形成的，重回熟悉的环境是他内心深处抑止不住的渴望。
《奥德赛》第十章，奥德修斯来到埃伊亚（Aeaea），“透过茂密的灌木丛和林地”（through thick brush and woodland）发现了喀耳刻（Circe,希腊神话中的巫术女神）的住所，女巫岛上没有农田。 他与女巫在蛮荒的岛上同居了一年，最终决定离开。
《奥德赛》第二十三章，奥德修斯重返伊萨卡后，试图重建与妻子佩内洛普（Penelope）的婚姻关系，然而妻子对他看似年轻的外表既欢喜又生疑。她设了一个考验，命家中的老女仆去移动她的婚床，并让奥德修斯说出他们的婚床的秘密。奥德修斯听说婚床被移动过了，不禁勃然大怒：“谁把我的床放在别处了？……没有一个活着的凡人，无论他多么年轻和强壮，能轻易地把它从原处撬开，因为在这张精心设计的床上有一个伟大的标记，是我而不是别人建造的。院子里长着一棵长叶橄榄树，又粗又壮，树身像一根柱子。我在树的周围用密实的石头建了我的房间，直到我把它修好，我给它盖上了很好的屋顶，还装上了紧密贴合的门。然后，我砍掉了长叶橄榄树的多叶枝，从根部修剪树干，我用斧子巧妙地把它的周围弄平，把它弄直，就这样做了床柱；我用占卜术把它全部凿出来。从这开始，我凿出了我的床，直到我完成了它，用金、银和象牙镶嵌它，我在上面系了一条亮紫色的牛皮绳。我向你宣布这个标志；但我不知道，女人，我的床架是否还牢牢地固定在原处，或者现在是否有人从橄榄树桩下面砍伐，把床架放在了别处。”( Who has set my bed elsewhere? ……But of men there is no mortal that lives, be he never so young and strong, who could easily pry it from its place, for a great token is wrought in the fashioned bed, and it was I that built it and none other. A bush of long-leafed olive was growing within the court, strong and vigorous, and girth it was like a pillar. Round about this I built my chamber, till I had finished it, with close-set stones, and I roofed it over well, and added to it jointed doors, close-fitting. Thereafter I cut away the leafy branches of the long-leafed olive, and, trimming the trunk from the root, I smoothed it around with the adze well and cunningly, and made it straight to the line, thus fashioning the bed-post; and I bored it all with the augur. Beginning with this I hewed out my bed, till I had finished it, inlaying it with gold and silver and ivory, and I stretched on it a thong of ox-hide, bright with purple. Thus do I declare to thee this token; but I know not, woman, whether my bedstead is still fast in its place, or whether by now some man has cut from beneath the olive stump, and set the bedstead elsewhere.”
奥德赛的院子里的这棵粗壮的橄榄树，应该是经过人工培育才长得枝繁叶茂的。树木和柱子作为一种稳定的元素，暗示了两人的婚姻经受住了考验。
《奥德赛》第二十四章，奥德修斯前往父亲雷欧提斯（Laertes）的“美丽的秩序井然的农场”（fair and well-ordered farm ），“农场里有他（雷欧提斯）的房子，四周是棚屋，那里是他可随时使唤的奴隶们吃饭、闲坐、睡觉的地方。（There was his house, and all about it ran the sheds in which ate, and sat, and slept the servants that were bondsmen, that did his pleasure）。奥德修斯来到果实累累的葡萄园，恰巧奴隶们都不在，他们去捡石头准备修葡萄园的围墙，只有父亲“独自一人在井然有序的葡萄园里，在一棵植物周围挖土。他穿着一件肮脏的、满是补丁的破旧不堪外衣，小腿上缠着牛皮护胫，以防划伤。因为荆棘刺手，他戴着手套，头上戴着山羊皮帽……”（alone in the well-ordered vineyard, digging about a plant; and he was clothed in a foul tunic, patched and wretched, and about his shins he had bound stitched greaves of ox-hide to guard against scratches, and he wore gloves upon his hands because of the thorns, and on his head a goatskin cap） 。从这段描写可以看出，在荷马史诗的时代，拥有土地，并有足够的奴隶为其耕种是一个人拥有财富和权利的象征。古希腊的明君对农业生产相当重视，都要亲临御园躬耕。农业和父权制是文明社会的象征。
奥德修斯并没有马上与父亲相认，而是走上前对他说：“老人家，你不缺乏照料花园的本领，不，你照料得很好，田野里的每一样东西，无论是植物、无花果树、葡萄藤、橄榄树、梨树还是花圃都得到精心照料。但我还要告诉你一件事，你不要因此而心生愤怒：你没有好好照料自己，你年老体衰，衣衫褴褛、蓬头垢面。你的主人不关心你，肯定不是因为你懒惰，无论是从外表还是身材上看，你也不像个奴隶，因为你就像一个君王，甚至像一个洗过澡、吃过饭的人，应该睡得舒坦；因为这才是老年人的处世之道。”（Old man, no lack of skill hast thou to tend a garden; nay, thy care is good, and there is naught whatsoever, either plant or fig tree, or vine, nay, or olive, or pear, or garden-plot in all the field that lacks care. But another thing will I tell thee, and do thou not lay up wrath thereat in thy heart: thou thyself enjoyest no good care, but thou bearest woeful old age, and therewith art foul and unkempt, and clad in mean raiment. Surely it is not because of sloth on thy part that thy master cares not for thee, nor dost thou seem in any wise like a slave to look upon either in form or in stature; for thou art like a king, even like one who, when he has bathed and eaten, should sleep soft; for this is the way of old men.）奥德修斯话中有话，暗示老迈的明君应该让位给他这位合法继承人。现在他归来了，应该履行新王的职责，并在生活上照顾老国王。
他终于向父亲展示年少时在狩猎野猪期间留下的伤疤以自证身份，还聊起了果园中的树木：“来吧，我还要告诉你，那座井然有序的花园里有哪些树木是你曾经给我的。当时我还是个孩子，跟着你穿过花园，向你要这要那。我们经过的正是这些树，你给它们起了名字，告诉我每一棵的用途。你给了我十三棵梨树、十棵苹果树和四十棵无花果树。正如我所说的，你还答应给我五十排葡萄藤，它们在不同的时间成熟——上面结满了各种各样的果实—。”
（And come, I will tell thee also the trees in the well-ordered garden which once thou gavest me, and I, who was but a child, was following thee through the garden, and asking thee for this and that. It was through these very trees that we passed, and thou didst name them, and tell me of each one. Pear-trees thirteen thou gavest me, and ten apple-trees, and forty fig-trees. And rows of vines too didst thou promise to give me, even as I say, fifty of them, which ripened severally at different times—and upon them are clusters of all sorts—”）
这段话里说明，雷欧提斯的花园里的果树需要靠人工照料才能获得大丰收，果树还是古希腊王室成员互赠的贵重礼物之一，农耕知识是王室成员从小到大的必修课。
回顾奥德修斯的回归路，卡吕普索岛上的野花和树木与那些更文明的土地上的有序种植园形成了鲜明对比。出现在第七章的不需要人类照料的 法埃阿基亚人的果园，到第二十三章里的需要人照料的橄榄树，再到雷欧提斯管理的果园，每一次的遭遇都让奥德修斯离人类文明更近，离记忆中的家园和精神世界更近。奥德修斯对橄榄树床的描述促成了他与佩内洛普的重逢，皇家果园是他与父亲相认的地方。荷马诗人从自然环境中汲取图像，以便早期的听众们更好地理解野蛮与文明的对立，并告知世人，良好的文明秩序需要靠人类不断的劳动来维持。
