Under Her Shade: The Mother, The Protector and The Tree

Some thoughts on the conceptuality of Trees in Ancient Egypt

Blog by Yossra Ibrahim

The agricultural landscape had a great imaginative impact on the ancient Egyptian funerary and religious conceptions. Among the number of tree species planted in Egypt, the Sycamore tress was conceptualized as a protective mother that is frequently depicted in tomb art, planted before tombs, and conceptualized at the entrance of heaven. This article examines tress from a theological entity and the practice of incorporating tress as part of the tomb decorative programme that serves the deceased with fundamental sustenance in the afterlife.

Fig. 1: Modern day Luxor. Photo by Yossra Ibrahim, 2020.

Dazzled by the fertile agricultural land of the Nile valley one can get a visualization of what the life of the ancient Egyptians looked like. Small houses by the canals and a vast green land planted with trees, palms, and different crops. It is acknowledged from wooden models dating to the Middle Kingdom (c.1981–1975 B.C) that the ancient Egyptians took great care of their gardens and exercised some talent in gardening their temples and houses. The best surviving example comes from wooden model of a house with a garden. The model depicts in the center of the garden a pond surrounded by sycamore fig trees with red fruit growing from the trunks and branches. Facing the garden is the porch of a house, displaying two rows of columns with capitals in the form of papyrus stalks bound together imitating bundles of lotus. 

Fig. 2: Wooden Model discovered in the tomb of Meketre (TT280). Date: Middle Kingdom (c.1981–1975 B.C.). Photo from the Metropolitan Museum of Art 20.3.13.

In a culture that pays close attention and observation to nature and the surrounding environment one must wonder about the role of trees in ancient Egypt. How did this beautiful and tranquil scenery shape ideologies and concepts in the minds of the ancient Egyptians? Living in this kind of nature there must have been mythologies revolving around these plants and trees.

One of the prominent trees planted along the Nile valley is the sycamore tree (known to the ancient Egyptians as nh.t). This tree in particular is the most important, since it plays a massive symbolic factor in tomb art and decoration. The tree itself is very huge and serves as a good shading place from the hot Egyptian summer sun. 

The sycamore tree is widely planted in Egypt and is characterized by its vast branches and leaves and its strong standing along the riverbanks. Being so frequently planted, one usually finds references to this tree in tomb art, poetry, and funerary beliefs. The sycamore tree is also a symbol of love that is vibrantly expressed in love songs.  Dating to the early Twentieth Dynasty (1189 BC to 1077 BC), Papyrus Turin 1966, is inscribed with two columns recording three love songs. Known collectively as The Orchard Songs, each of the three songs is sung by a different type of tree planted in the orchard of a young female lover. One of the songs is supposed to be recited by the sycamore tree describing itself.

“(The sycamore fig tree) is beautiful, and its leaves are lovely. It is growing green and flourishing, it is loaded with ripe and unripened fruit. It is more red than red jasper. Its leaves are like turquoise, their hue like (faïence), its wood is like the complexion of feldspar.” (Extract from The Orchard Songs; Translation by Thomas H. Greiner)

The sycamore tree portrayed as a huge tree plays an important role in funerary religion and is usually associated with the Goddess Hathor as it complements her role as a cow goddess and a patron for motherhood as well. However, in some occasions the sycamore tree was manifested in the sky goddess Nut and the goddess Isis as it complements their protective and maternal role. Thus, Nut, Isis and Hathor were given the epithet “Lady of the Sycamore”. Representations of the tree are attested from several tomb scenes dating to the New Kingdom. Such paintings show a female figure emerging from a tree or the arms of Hathor or Nut reaching out from a tree to offer the deceased food and water.

Fig. 4: A goddess emerging from a tree and offering libation and food to the deceased. Scenes from the tomb of Pashedu (TT3) Deir elMedina. Date: Early New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC).  Photo by Yossra Ibrahim; 2020.

Fig. 5: Thutmose III suckled by his mother Isis in the form of a sycamore tree. Scene from the Tomb of Thutmose III in Valley of the Kings (KV 34). Date: New Kingdom (1479 – 1425 BC). Image from the Theban Mapping Project.

The Tree goddess can also be depicted as a female deity identified with a tree on top of her head as she fulfils her role by serving the deceased with sustenance necessary for the afterlife.

Fig. 6: In one hand the tress goddess is provided with a tray of a meal of bread, onions, beer, and grapes, while the other holds along three stems of papyrus the symbol of prosperity. The two goddesses stand before a pile of food offerings lying on a reed mat. Scene from the Tomb of Nakht in Qurna (TT52). Date New Kingdom (1401 BC – 1391). Photo from The Metropolitan Museum.

The Egyptians believed that the tree goddess would emerge from the sycamore when the soul of the BA (the soul taking the for of the deceased’s human head on a body of a bird that flies between the world of the living and the world of the dead) rested in the tree’s shade and consequently the tree would provide the BA nourishment and water.

Fig. 7: Scene from the tomb of Amenakht (TT 218) depicting the BA souls of the deceased and his wife receiving libation and bread from the sycamore tree. Date: New Kingdom (1279 -1,213 BC). Photo by Yossra Ibrahim; 2020.

As a result of the sycamore’s significance, it was often planted near the ancient Egyptian tombs or the houses of eternity. Papyrus Nakht currently in the British Museum shed light on what the ancient Egyptian tomb looked like with a sycamore tree at its entrance symbolizing rebirth and protection.  


Fig. 8: A vignette from the papyrus of Nakht shows the god Anubis leading the deceased to his tomb. Standing before the tomb is the sycamore tree. Photo from the British Museum EA 10471.8. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

In important funerary books such as the Book of the Dead the sycamore tree is frequently attested stressing on its particular mythical significance. In one occurrence the tree fulfils her role as mother that provides shade and sustenance to the deceased. The rhetoric of the sycamore is very well illustrated in the following vignettes creating a bond between factors of cosmology and rebirth.

“Let me eat my food under the sycamore tree of my lady, the goddess Hathor” (BD 63)

In another instance twin sycamores of turquoise were believed to stand at the eastern gate of heaven from which the sun god Re emerged each day. These two trees are depicted in Book of the Dead and in New Kingdom tomb paintings with a bull young calf emerging between them as a symbol of the sun.

"I know the two sycamores of turquoise between which Re comes forth, when he passes over the supports of Shu to the gate of the lord of the east from which Re comes forth." (BD 109)

Fig. 9: Bull calf between the tress of the horizon, tomb of Irynefer (TT290) in Deir elMedina. Date: New Kingdom (1292 BC to 1189 BC). Photo by Yossra Ibrahim, 2020.

In this sense the gigantic sycamore tree transforms from its botanic nature that in real life is planted along the riverbanks to become a vibrant image of a protective goddess. The ancient Egyptian admired this tree for its shading quality as it served as a hide away from the summer sun. for its functional value it was conceptualized in the afterlife as protective human being, a lady or a mother who offers shades and nourishment to the deceased. Therefore, images of the sycamore tree became widely utilized motifs of tomb art and funerary literature.


Bibliography

Billing, N., (2004). "The Formulation of the Tree Goddess Motif in the Book of the Dead, Ch. 59", SAK 32, PP. 35-50.

Billing, N., 2003. Nut-The Goddess of Life in Text and Iconography (Doctoral dissertation, Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia).

Buhl, M., (1947). "The Goddesses of the Egyptian Tree Cult", JNES 6, No. 2, PP. 80-97.

Davies, N., (1917). The Tomb of Nakht at Thebes. Vol. I. New York.

Greiner, H. Thomas. Beautiful Trees and Vibrant Flowers: Visiting Ancient Egypt’s Gardens. Nile Scribes. Available at: https://nilescribes.org/2021/05/01/ancient-egyptian-gardens/ [Accessed February 8 2021].

Wilkinson, R.H., 1992. Reading Egyptian Art: hieroglyphic guide to ancient Egyptian painting and sculpture. Thames and Hudson.

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