Greek legends ~
According to Greek legend, the poppy was created by Somnus, the god of sleep, to help Ceres, the corn goddess, who was exhausted by the search for her lost daughter that she couldn't make the corn grow. The poppies soothed her to sleep, and when she rested, the corn grew again, giving rise to the belief that the presence of poppies was essential to grow corn.
Demeter,so the legend goes, created the poppy for the purpose of getting some sleep after the loss of her daughter Persephone. The twin brothers Hypnos and Thanatos (Sleep and Death) were represented as crowned with poppies or carrying poppies in their hands. Obviously the Greeks were aware of the fact that a merciful sleep induced by opium could lead to death.
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