The Strange Case of the Plant rivas. How the Middle-Persian Tree of Life became the Protagonist of an Episode of Austrian History

In the middle of the Nineteenth century, during the Austrian domination of Northern Italy, an oppressive censorship was imposed on literature and freedom of speech. In 1856, in the city of Verona, where there was a strong Austrian presence, the Italian naturalist Abramo Massalongo founded his own society and named it with an Egyptian allusion, “Compagnia dell’Ibis” (the Ibis Society, 1856–1858), but chose an Iranian name as his own pseudonym: Reivas. Rivas is the Iranian name of the rhubarb plant. In Iranian mythology Rhubarb is associated with the sacred origin of the first human couple Mašya and Mašyanag who emerged from a rhubarb plant after the seed of Gayomart fell into the earth. The myth evokes the image of rivas as the tree of life or the primogenitor plant.