Daughter of the Fields The poppy has been an important symbol throughout history. In ancient Greek mythology the characters of Hypnos, Nix and Thanatos all had the poppy as their sacred symbol, as did the Greek goddess Demeter and the Roman goddess Ceres.Even before this the Assyrians called the poppy 'daughter of the fields'. It is this association with agriculture and how poppies grow with important crops like wheat that made them symbolic. The poppy was seen as giving life-blood to the soil, giving nourishment to the grains and as a symbol of life, fertility and death.