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.