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TREE AND BIRD AS COSMOLOGICAL SYMBOLS IN WESTERN ASIA
BY
A. J. WENSINCK
VERHANDELINGEN DER KONINKLIJKE AKADEMIE VAN WETENSCHAPPEN TE AMSTERDAM
AFDEELING LETTERKUNDE
JOHANNES MÜLLER — AMSTERDAM — 1921



Printcd by E. J. Bkii.l, Leiden



With a register comprising also "The Navel of the Earth" and "The Ocean"







TREE AND BIRD AS COSMOLOGICAL SYMBOLS IN WESTERN ASIA







PREFACE
This third and last paper on the outlines of the cosmology of some peoples of Western Asia, begs to be considered in close connection with its two predecessors. I here is, however, a difference in so far as this time research had to cover a wider field. The seal cylinders offered so manifest illustrations of the texts, that they could not be left alone. I am sorry to say that O. Webers Altorientalische Siegelbilder came only into my hands when nearly one half of this paper had been printed.
I have to thank Mr. W. Rollo M. A. for his revision of the English style.
Complying with Professor Gressmann's wish I have added a register on the three parts of the work.
Leiden, December 1920







CONTENTS
Preface 
Contents 
References 
List of illustrations 
Chapter I. Tree and Sun 
A. The tree in the ends of the earth 
B. The tree in the centre 
C. The tree in heavenly paradise 
D. The tree in Heil 
Chapter II. Bird and Sun . . .
Register comprising also the "Navel of the Earth" and the "Ocean" 
Page V
VII IX XI I I
25
29 34 36
49







REFERENCES
L'Abrégé des merveilles traduit de 1'Arabe par Carra de Vaux (Paris 1898).
Abu Zaid, Kitab al-Bad wa 1-Ta rïkh, ed. et trad. par Huart (Publications de 1'école des langues orientales vivantes, série IV, tome XVI—XVIII, XXI).
Der Kampf Adams, ed. E. Trumpp (Abh. d. philosophischphilologischen Cl. d. Bayr. Akad., vol. XV).
Bereshit Rabba (Amsterdam 1641—42).
Bochart, Hierozoicon (Leiden-Utrecht 1692).
Bodenschatz, Kirchliche Verfassung (Erlangen 1748).
Book of the Bee, ed. Wallis Budge (Anecdota Oxoniensia, Semitic Series, vol. I, part 2).
Bottari, Sculture e pitture sagre (Rome 1737—54).
Callisthenes (Pseudo-), The History of Alexander the Great being the Syriac version of the —, ed. and transl. by Wallis Budge (Cambridge 1899).
Di Cesnola, Cyprus (London 1877).
Collection de Clercq, Catalogue méthodique (Paris 1888—1903).
Cumont, 1 extes et monuments figurés relatifs aux mystères de Mithra (Bruxelles 1896).
Dalman, Petra und seine Felsheiligtümer (Leipzig 1908).
Damlrï, Hayat al-Hayawan (Kairo 1274).
Fundgruben des Orients, ed. v. Hammer.
Gunkel, Schöpfung und Chaos (Göttingen 1895).
Heuzey, Les origines orientales de 1'art (Paris 1891—2).
Ibn Hisham, ed. Wüstenfeldt (Göttingen 1858—60).
Ibn al-Wardï, ed. Tornberg (Upsala 1835—39).
Jellinek, Bet ha-Midrasch (Leipzig 1853—73).
Jensen, Die Kosmologie der Babylonier (Strassburg 1890).
Johannes Damascenus, ed. Migne (Patrologia graeca vol. 94).
De Lagarde, Materialien zur Kritik und Geschichte des Pentateuchs (Leipzig 1867).



Lajard, Introduction a 1 etude du culte public et des mystères de Mithra en Oriënt et en Occident (Paris 1847).
Layard, The Monuments of Ninive (London 1849—53).
Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great being a series of Aethiopic Texts, ed. Wallis Budge (London 1896).
Masudï, Murüdj al-Dhahab, ed. et trad. Barbier de Meynard et Pavet de Courteille (Paris 1861—77).
De Morgan, Mémoires de la délégation en Perse (Paris 1909—12).
Mudjïr al-Dïn al-Hanbalï, al-Uns al-djalïl (Kairo 1283).
J. L. Palache, Het heiligdom in de voorstelling der semietische volken (Leiden 1920).
Place, Ninive et 1'Assyrie (Paris 1867—70).
Prinz, Altorientalische Symbolik (Berlin 1915).
Roscher, Omphalos (Abh. d. phil.-hist. kl. d. Sachs. Gesellsch. d. Wiss. vol. XXIX).
Roscher, Neue Omphalosstudien (ib., vol. XXXI).
De Sarzec, Découvertes en Chaldée (Paris 1884—1912).
Suyütl, al-La'all (Kairo 1317).
Tabarï, Tafslr al-Kor'an (Kairo 1901—03).
Tha'labï, Kisas al-Anbiya' (Kairo 1290).
Tirmidhl, Sahïh (Kairo 1292).
d'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, Glossary of Greek birds (Oxford I895)-
Ungnad und Gressmann, Das Gilgamesch-Epos (Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten u. Neuen Testaments, ed. Bousset und Gunkel, vol. XIV).
Wayyikra Rabba (Amsterdam 1641—42).
Ward, The seal cylinders of Western Asia (Publications of the Carnegie Institution, N° 100).
Windischmann, Zoroastrische Studiën (Berlin 1863).
Wolff, Muhammedanische Eschatologie (Leipzig 1872).
Yalkut Shim'onï (Venice 1556).
Zohar (Mantua 1558—60).



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. i, p. 7. Lajard, Introduction pl. XXX n° 7.
„ 2, „ 8. Ward, Seal Cylinders p. 328 n° 1052.
» 3> » 8. ,, „ „ p. 321 n° io23-
„ 4, „ 8. „ „ „ p. 96 n° 270".
» 5> » 8- » » » P- 97 n° 273.
» 6, » 9* » » » P* 9° n° 2S5*
„ 7, „ 9. Lajard, Introduction pl. XVIII n° 2.
„ 8, „ 10. Di Cesnola, Cyprus pl. XXXVII n° 10.
„ 9, „ 10: Collection de Clercq vol. VII pl. XVII n° 2575
„ 10, „ 11. Lajard, Introduction pl. XIII n° 2.
„ 11, „ 12. Sphinx, vol. X p. 104.
„ 12, „ 13. Ward, Seal Cylinders p. 26 n° 46.
„ 13, „ 13. Roscher, Neue Omphalosstudien Tafel III n° 3.
„ 14, „ 14. Dalman, Petra I p. 177.
„ 15, „ 14. Place, Ninive pl. 76 g.
„ 16, „ 15. Collection de Clercq vol. I pl. XXXI n° 340.
» 17, » 15- Ward, Seal Cylinders p. 373.
„ 18, „ 15. Prinz, Altorientalische Symbolik, Tafel X n° 9.
„ 19, „ 16. Ward, Seal Cylinders p. 224 n° 679.
„ 20, „ 16. „ „ „ p. 342 n° 1155.
» 21, „ 17. „ „ „ p. 221 n° 670.
„ 22, „ 22. Renan, Mission de Phénicie p. 671.
„ 23, „ 23. Journal of Hellenic Studies 190 r p. 160.
„ 24, „ 24. Collection de Clercq vol. I pl. V n° 46.
„ 25, „ 25. „ „ „ vol. I pl. V n° 47.
„ 26, „ 25. Heuzey, Les origines orientales de 1'art p. 133.
„ 27, „ 41. Bottari, Sculture I, tav. 22.
„ 28, „ 42. Renan, Mission de Phénicie, pl. IX.
„ 29, „ 43. Collection de Clercq vol. I pl. XXVIII n° 289.
» 3°> » 43- .. » vol. I pl. XXVIII n° 292.
» 3T> » 43- De Morgan, Délégation en Perse t. XII n° 284.
„ 32, „ 43- Di Cesnola, Cyprus pl. XXXIII n° 28.
» 33) » 44- Lajard, Introduction pl. XVIII n° 7.
» 34> » 44* » » pl- XXXVI n° 11.
» 35. » 44- Ward, p. 219 n° 663.
„ 36, „ 44. Prinz, Altorientalische Symbolik, Tafel X n° 7.







CHAPTER I
TREE AND SUN
A. THE TREE IN THE ENDS OF THE EARTH
Gilgamesh, bevvildered by the deatli of his friend Engidu and fearing the same fate for himself, resolves to visit his ancestor Ut-napishtim who possesses eternal life. It may be considered as certain that he travels to the West and finally reaches the Mashu-mountains, where the sun 'goes out and in', the Western end of the earth. It is not certain which mountains bore the name of Mashu in Babylonian nomenclature. Syriac literature on the travels of Alexander mentions in the corresponding connection Masls and Müsas, the former one of the Armenian mountains, the latter probably situated to the North of Nisibis, the mons Masius of the Romans. If Mashu is to be identified with either of these, ït seems to me more probable to think of the Mesopotamian mountain than of the Armenian one. Anyhow, it is of importance to remark how a mountain, relatively near to the birthplace of the epos, is considered as the border of the earth, a symptom of primitive geography which starts from autopsis beginnings and is nearly confmed within the natural borders of the different countries a). We shall have occasion to observe in the course of the present investigation, how this originally narrow horizon is widened gradually and how the different phases of this progress have been embodied in literature.
Mount Mashu is split asunder, it forms a gate (Epos IX 41). That the Western point of the earth is marked by a gate, is a representation which has its parallels in later literature. Zecharja sees in a vision how four chariots,. each drawn by two horses, and representing the four winds, appear between two mountains: 'and the mountains were brazen mountains' 3).
1) Cf. Snouck Hurgronje in Verhand, d. Gesellsch. f. Erdkunde zu Berlin, XIV, p. 138 note.
2) Zecharja 6, I.
Verh. Afd. Letterk, 1921 (Wensinck). x



There is reason to believe that by these mountains the gate in the East is meant, for the horses 'go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth' (vs 5). Jahwe is thought to be present especially in the Eastern sky 1). — The gate in the North of the earth is described in the Romance of Alexander and known as the gate in the wall of Goe and
O o
Magog, the peoples of the North. The two mountains forming the gate are called the Breasts of the North. The chains of mountains are said to surround the earth ~). They are known in Arabic cosmology as the mountain Kaf. Evidently the sun is represented to go the way beyond the mountains — Northside — during the night and to coine within the range through the Eastern gate in the morning. It is not easy to say what is the relation between these mountains and the wall of heaven (shupuk shamë) that is mentioned in the epos (IX 39); perhaps the two are identical3).
So there is evidence for the conclusion that the Eastern, Western and Northern ends of the earth are marked by gates.
The Westérn one is guarded by two human beings — man and woman — who partly belong to this world, partly to the nether world and are called scorpion-men. 'They guard the sun' (Epos IX 44) and are so terrible that their aspect causes death. Only the sun can pass between them. Gilgamesh passes too. He vanquishes their resistance. Why? Perhaps because 'two thirds of him are divine, one part human' (IX 51). It is however to be noticed that the way of Gilgamesh is the way of the sun (IX 129), he is under the special protection of Shamash 4), his mother is a priestess of Shamash: in short, he is a solar hero. It is worth while to remark this here already; we shall often have to discuss the idea of the victorious sun in the course of this monograph.
Then Gilgamesh travels in order to find the place from where he may cross over to Ut-napishtim. Dark is the way through the mountains, but in the end he reaches light. It can scarcely be otherwise than that the poet means to say that Gilgamesh, after a travel through the Northern mountains, in the way of the sun, is reaching the Eastern end of the earth.
1) Ezekiel 43, 1 sq. Kampf Adams p. 25.
2) Syrisches Alexanderlied, lines 267 sqq.; 296.
3) Cf. however Gressmann, Gilgameschepos, p. 160 note 6.
4) Fragment of Meissner, col. 1 (epos, p. 71).



Only one point is obscure. He accomplishes his travel, not in twelve hours as is to be expected, but in twelve doublé hours. Alieady this number can only have been chosen in imitation of the number of hours required by the sun to circumambulate the universe. On the other hand, should twenty four hours really be meant, we would have to suppose that Gilgamesh after this interval reached the Western point anew. It is very improbable that the present author of the epos had any intention of saying this; he seems rather to suppose that Gilgamesh ïeaches the Eastern end of the earth. So the twenty four hours remain strange.
1 here, in the Eastern end of the earth, Gilgamesh sees a tree (IX 164 sqq.):
Cornelian it bears as its fruit
Bunches depend from it, beautiful to the eye;
Lapislazuli it bears as its twigs (?)
Fruit it bears desirable to sightJ).
The rest of the description is very fragmentary. — Then Gilgamesh asks Siduri Sabitu whether it is possible to cross the ocean and to reach Ut-napishtim. Again he receives the answer. Impossible, only Shamash, the hero, can cross. And again, after many difficulties, Gilgamesh reaches his goal.
But we have to return to the tree. It has a cosmological significance, for it stands at the Eastern end of the earth and marks the East^ The whole tree consists of precious stones, pink and blue, the colours of the sky and of the sun rising behind the morning clouds. It is placed on the shore of the ocean where the sun begins its course; so it is the tree of light.
1 erhaps the fragmentary description in the epos contained an enumeration of the kinds of its fruits. But whether this was the case or not, the tree is represented as the tree of life on account of its being the tree of light; for in the Oriental conception light and life are ideas which cannot be separated from each other.
We cannot make out by means of the description which kinds of — conventionalized — fruits the tree bears. At any rate it is never called in the epos by a generic name. Perhaps it did not possess a distinct character in the epos, because it
1) Professor Thierry was so kind as to explain to me the Assyrian text, as also that on p. 4.



had been already styled a tree of mixed character. We shall have to consider this point anew.
Assyriac literature *) contains a second description of a mythical tree, that bears a close resemblance to the preceding one. 'In Eridu there grew a dark kishkanu, in a splendid place it grows. Its aspect is splendid lapis lazuli; it is directed towards the ocean. In Eridu is the walking-ground of Ea, full of opulence. His dwelling is in the place of the earth (or: the nether world). His abode is the bed of Ba'u, in a splendid house, like a forest. Its (the tree's) shade is prolonged. Into the*midst (of the walking-ground) no one enters; in the midst of it are Shamash and Tamuz, between the mouth of the two rivers.' — The mutual resemblance between the two descriptions is so strong, that they apparently refer to the same tree: it is a tree of light; it grows on the shore of the ocean; it consists of precious stone.
But what is the meaning of the tree's being localized in Eridu? If it is really a tree with cosmologfical significance, Eridu must represent one of the quarters of the earth. Such a notion is not absurd in primitive geographical representations. We have seen that Mashu was once thought by the population of Mesopotamia to be the Western end of the earth. In the same way, perhaps to another people, Eridu may have formed one of the quarters of the earth, especially as it was situated in ancient times on the border of the Persian Gulf. Dhorme ~) has made it probable that kishkanu means 'tree of the gate of heaven', i. e. tree in the East; perhaps Eridu represented the East and so we may state that we have here a second indication of the narrowness of the primitive geographical horizon which scarcely surpassed the natural one.
The same remark may perhaps be applied to the conceptions underlying the scenery of the Biblical paradise. It is a matter of controversy in Biblical exegesis whether the East in the narrative of the second chapter of Genesis represents the Eastern part of the earth or simply some region to the East of Palestine. On the one hand the narrative does not speak of the utmost East; but on the other hand later tradition takes the geographical designation in the absolute sense. It
1) Cuneiform Texts, Part XVI, Plate XLVI sq., line 184 sqq.
2) Revue Biblique, Nouvelle série, IV, 272.



seems to me that the two notions, which to our conception are different, are identical in the primitive mind that is not aided by maps and globes, but filled with simple notions, which for this reason are very clear. Paradise in the East represents the Eastern quarter of the earth; for the only country which is really known to the narrator, is Palestine, £he centre of the world.
The consequence of this is, that the trees mentioned in the Biblical narrative have the same cosmological meaning as those in Babylonian literature. They are the trees in the East and the East represents the utmost East. We should not however overlook the fact that in the narrative no cosmological meaning whatever is attributed to the trees. This is also due to the fact that attention is drawn in the first place to paradise: the accent which in the epos lies on the tree has been placed on the surroundings here; especially the tree of life has become a rudiment. This appears also from the fact that it is not said why this tree is the tree of life; nor is its generic name mentioned.
Mention has already been made of the fact that later tradition places paradise and the tree of life in the utmost East. The Book of Henoch knows paradise in the Eastern end of the earth a). The Christian commentary in Arabic on the Pentateuch says that God planted paradise in the East because there is the light of God 2). In other traditions the connection between paradise and ocean is emphasised 3), and many times we find paradise not only connected with the ocean, but also situated on a high mountain or the highest mountain in the East4).
These features found in Christian and Muslim literature do not add anything new to the characteristics contained in the description of the epos. There we found already the utmost East, the ocean and the mountains denoting the end of the earth.
1) Ch. 28 sqq. 2 Henoch 31, 2.
2) Ed. de Lagarde, p. 26®: qI *4^ ^ ) iwjLüsji
O1 oy^y- cr» I
Cf. also Ibn al-Wardï I 1*1.
3) Adambuch, p. 3. Cosmas Indicopleustes, in Patrologia Graeca, ed. Migne, vol. 88, col. 84.
4) Book of the Bee, p. .ZIA 5 Adambuch, p. 21, 25, 29. Johannes Damascenus in Patrologia Graeca, vol. 94, col. 913. Life ... of Alexander, p. 86.



The elements just mentioned not only occur in literature, they occupy a prominent place on the monuments also: sun, tree, ocean, gate of heaven and mountains are found in combination there and here, and so we may consider the monuments in this case as illustrations of the texts. If cases like this were more numerous the interpretation of the monuments, especially of the seal cylinders, would not be of so problematic a nature as it actually is.
Before discussing the seal cylinders relating to the present subject, it is necessary to make clear what significance these monuments have in general. The main fact seems to me this, that they do not contain subjects produced by the phantasy of the sculptor; there is scarcely an element of personal phantasy in them. The artists who made the numerous cylinders of the kind which will be discussed here, borrowed their data from widely spread cosmological conceptions. In other cases they sculptured scenes of religious life; or they chose the deeds of Gilgamesh and Engidu for their subject. In short, their work is not to be compared to a picture-gallery, but to that of the artist who e. g. paints a series of Passion-scenes for a church. The scenes are given by history and tradition, the persons are for the larger part given and their types are fixed by tradition. Just sq the types of Gilgamesh and Engidu had their fixed forms in Assyrian iconography and the scenes had their fixed forms in literature, tradition and sculpture. All these pictures are conventional.
It is precisely this state of things — which made the interpretation of the artist's intention a matter of no difficulty ■— which gave rise to a process which brought about a very different result. Just because the cylinders were composed from elements fixed by tradition, these elements became beings of their own which, even when detached from their surroundings, were recognized and which might be used by themselves or in connection with others which originally had no relation with them. Here is the origin of the use of blazons etc., which are composed from elements which have nothing to do with each other and which are arranged not according to a historical or logical or symbolical principle, but in a way wholly arbitrary, perhaps only influenced by some aesthetic tendency.
It can be easily understood that the interpretation of the former class of cylinders does not present particular difficulties



if the conception or tradition which lies at their bottom, is known to us; but that an interpretation of the latter class, undertaken in the same way, would be as absurd as it would be to interpret blazons in the way of historical pictures.
These principles would give us a clue to the interpretation — or non-interpretation — of the two classes of cylinders, if we always were sure to which of the two classes a given cylinder belongs. Here lies a great difficulty.
The cylinders we have to consider in connection with the cosmological ideas and types mentioned above, generally belong to the former class; they speak a clear language, to some extent. We shall only draw attention to those elements which have a direct relation to our subject. The series of cylinders which are reproduced in the following figures represent the life of the new born sun. It rises from the ocean, lifted up by a being which in this work is assisted by a second. The sun has the form of the winged disc (fig. i). The question might
Fig. i
be put whether this scene is not a picture of the setting sun, for the sun sets in the ocean too. It seems to me more probable however that sunrise is meant, as this is a happy moment, whereas sunset is generally considered as an unlucky time. The question, however, remains unsettled. Figure 2 depicts sunrise. To the winged disc is added the image of the supreme



god, Ashshur on the Assyrian, Ahuramazda on the Persian monuments. The sun is just over the tree, which in scientific terminology is usually called the tree of life, a name which is chiefly due to Biblical influence. I -must remark however that the tree in the first place is meant as the tree of light, and
this should be its designation. The character of the tree is indicated in a plain way in figure 3, where it is united with the sun above it. In a different series of images the sun, again at the beginning of its course, has not the form of the winged disc, but is represented by Shamash on his throne. Behind him is the tree. That he is at the
beginning of his course, appears from the fact that he holds in his hands the instrument which has been explained by H. Prinz1) —• apparently rightly — as the key of heaven (fig. 4). We have discussed above the cosmological idea of the gate of heaven.
Fig. 4 Fig. 5
We find it on several seal cylinders, delineated in a way which even has some affinity with modern gateways. Usually the gate is held by a keeper. On figure 5 Shamash, again recognizable by the rays departing from his shoulders, is represented as sitting before the gate, holding in his hand the key of heaven. Behind him is the tree, again characterized by its surroundings as the tree in the East. Figure 6 is a good illustration of the fact that different symbols, all connected with the same cosmological idea, may be combined in one image. The Eastern point of the earth is represented, not only by the gate of heaven with its keepers, and by the tree, but
j) Altorientalische Symbolik, p. 82.



also by the two mountains which Shamash, at the beginning of his course, is ascending and which remind us of the mountains in the four quarters of the earth (above, p. 2). Finally
the gate of heaven is represented in a remarkable way on figure 7. The gate itself is provided with the rays which usually are the characteristic 
I cannot identify, with the tree behind the person.
But there is another feature which strikes the eye. The fiery gate of heaven is placed upon a lying buil. We have observed that the gate of heaven is sometimes realistically represented by the interrupted mountains in the four quarters of the earth. These mountains rest on the earth; so it is probable that the buil on which the gate rests, is a symbol of the earth. This surmise is confirmed by the fact that the buil as a symbol of the earth is well known in Eastern cosmology. The earth is represented by the buil, the ocean by the serpent; their mythical names are Behemot and Leviatan. They are in close connection with each other and hence in the Book of Job they occur together in a description 1). On the
Fig. 6
of Shamash ; of course they denote the fiery East at sunrise. The gate is represented by one post only, kept by one guardian. On the other side there is a seated person, whom
Fig. 7
1) On the earth as a buil cf. The Navel of the Earth, p. 56 sq.; the Ocean, p. 3 sq.



Mithra monuments the cruelly assailed buil represents the earth and in the cosmogony of Parsism the earth is a buil. We find this representation already in the epos of Gilgamesh in the enigmatic episode of the buil defeated by the hero. It is true that it is called the heavenly buil here. But Jensen 2) has made it probable that some very fragmentary lines of the epos (VI, 103—114) when reconstructed, describe how the killing of the buil would cause the death of the vegetation of the earth. If this reconstruction is right, the heavenly buil is at the same time the buil of the earth. Is this so astonishing as it seeins to be? We must remember, that such twofold characters are not rare in cosmology. The gate in the West is the gate of heaven; but it is also the gate of the earth. The ocean is in heaven, round the earth, and in the nether world. But above all — Thaclabïs) says that the buil on which the earth rests, was sent by God from the highest paradise. In general the parts" of the cosmos lying at the ends of the earth belong to heaven as well as to earth and even to the nether world.
So we find the symbol of the earth among the cosmological symbols in the East. There also we probably find other symbols of the earth. Di Cesnola in his work on Cyprus has a reproduction of a seal cylinder on which the winged disc appears above a conventionalised tree (fig. 8); the tree rests on the
omphalos fianked by two serpents. The work betrays a strong Egyptian infiuence and it may be doubted whether the artist was doing anything else than paint heraldic emblems. But we know that the omphalos is the symbol of the earth and in this sense it is in tune with the representation as a whole. Fig. 9
is cognate to it. Here again the winged disc is above the omphalos fianked by two serpents. Above the omphalos is not the conventionalized tree, but a doublé image of the Egyptian sign of life. That the tree and the sign of life are interchangeable, proves that the meaning of the tree on these seal cvlinders, thoug-h even so
conventionalized, was once understood. It is only with hesitation that I reproduce figure 10. The winged disc,
Fig. 8
1) Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek VI, 173.
2) p. 4.



which has become a divine symbol, is not as usually above the tree, but above a conic 'stone which has some affinity with the omphalos. Whether it was really meant as such I dare not decide.
At any rate the omphalos occurs in connection with the tree and the winged disc.
Hitherto we have found one tree in the East. Now we shall have to discuss the written and sculptured monuments which
Fig. 10
show a different cosmological type. The Biblical narrative concerning paradise is acquainted not only with the tree of life but also with the tree of knowledge. Here we have a doublé cosmological mark in the East, a phenomenon which we already met with in the doublé mountains. In the case of the interrupted mountains, the doublé type is given in the order of things and so may be considered as a purely material phenomenon. The case of the trees is different, at any rate in the Bible where they represent opposite spiritual realities, on the one hand life, on the other hand knowledge involving death. Probably this antithesis embodied in the trees in the East, was also known apart from the Biblical conception.
Professor Kristensen has pointed to the Egyptian parallels 1), P. Dhorme to the tree of life and the tree of truth in Sumerian literature3); and Henoch knows a tree of wisdom3). The Zohar mentions a tree of life and a tree of death and the latter is said to be connected with night 4). The character of
1) Een of twee boomen in het paradijsverhaal (Theol. Tijdschrift 1908, p. 215 sqq.).
2) Revue Biblique Nouvelle Série, IV, 271 sqq.
3) ch- 32i 3 sqi- 4) UI fol. H9a, 120b,



the two trees is not enigmatic. The antithesis between life and knowledge involving death is parallelled by the ideas of day and night in the Zohar1). We have pointed to the character of the single tree in the East as a tree of light and life at the same time. Here we have its opposite, and this opposite appears to be a tree of night and a tree of death.
This means that cosmological facts are not considered in their natural sense alone, they do not stand apart, they are intimately connected with other domains, the domain of human life, and that of religious life: nature and human existence are in the closest contact. This is expressed in a beautiful way in the passage of the Zohar cited above. At the fall of night the tree of life is lifted up from the earth and its place is taken by the tree of death. During this time all mankind tastes death. It is therefore recommended to men to trust their souls to the tree of life at the fall of night2). Is there not in this passage, though relatively modern, a strong consanguinity with the ideas, which are already contained in the old literary and monumental remains of Western Asia?
We do not always find, however, the two trees as representations of antithetical ideas, or, at any rate, it does not always appear that they were meant as such. A dim remembrance of the two cosmological trees is apparently to be found in one of the visions of Zecharja. 'Behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top
thereof. And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof' 3).
This vision has been examined by Gunkel4), who arrivés at the conclusion that the bowl and the seven lamps are a symbolical representation of the sun and the seven planets. Gunkel has not asked what the olive trees, one at every side of the candlestick, may mean as representations of a
cosmological idea. We can hardly avoid thinking of the two trees at the end of the earth which are sometimes conceived
i) Cf. Kristensen 1. c. p. 226 sqq.
3) Zecharja 4, 2 sq.
2) III, fol. H9a. 4) Schöpfung p. 124 sqq.



of as olive trees, and the sun rising betw< figure 11, a striking illustration of Zecha corroboration of the opinion that Zecharja, does not describe a purely fantastic vision, borrowed from a well known representation ration of this opinion lies in the fact that the vision of the four chariots coming between the four gates of heaven is not a purely personal invention either; it also starts from a common cosmological idea.
In other cases it is not the rising sun which is represented between the two trees, but the omphalos (fig. 13; cf. 14)-
The last examples discussed contain a combination of three cosmological types, grouped together in such a way that one symbol is flanked by two symmetrically identical types. In other cases there are fou the scheme of one central image flanked 1 or nearly symmetrical ones has remained. one of the most popular decorative types
;en them. Look at rja's vision, and a as a matter of fact, but gives an image . Another corrobo-
F'g- !3
so it is only natural that their main part belongs to the conventional or heraldic class. One central type flanked by two symmetrical ones is a decorative design in itself, but it has
r types, but usually by two symmetrical They have become ; in Western Asia ;



to be asked whether this design was also of a purely decorative nature originally.
Literature also knows this type and it will be useful to consult it first, because here rather than in plastic art we may
expect to find an explanation. The Bible relates that Jahwe is afraid lest man, having eaten of the tree ofknowledge should put forth his hand and eat of the tree of life also and so acquire the second divine attribute, that of eternal life, which, added to the gift of knowledge, would make him godlike. It is for this reason that the way to paradise and especially to the tree of life has to be shut off. Therefore
He placed at the East of the garden the cherubim with the reverse flaming sword to keep the way of the tree of life. It must be conceded that here the tree is not between the cherubs. But the close connection between the tree and the cherubs cannot be denied. The connecting bond between them is the cherubim's function of guardianship.
The Bible says expressly that the cherubim were placed at the Eastern end of paradise. They belong to the East. We find their counterpart in the West. In the Epos it is the Western gate of heaven which is kept by the scorpion-men who guard the going in and out of the sun and who bring death to every one who attempts to pass. We remember that the cherubim are mixed beings; so are the scorpion-men : the
parellelism between the Eastern and the Western end of the earth is very close indeed : at both there are two letiferous beings who act as guardians.
Fig. 15 shows two of these mixed beings, lifting up the sun above a central image representing a being which has the form of an omphalos and the conventionalized twigs or fruits of a tree, a new illustration of the identity — to a
certain extent — of tree and omphalos, in so far as the former represents the Eastern part of the earth, the latter the earth as a whole. The beings are partly human, partly animal;
Fig. 15



perhaps they could be called scorpion-men; but the imao-e does not give sharply defined details. They are connected with the sun which they assist in rising. The beings seem to guard the sun in the first place, not the tree, whereas in the Biblical narrative this order is reversed. We find here anew the ideas of light and of life; the seal-cylinder has the accent on the idea of light, the narrative on the idea of life. But as the two aie really identical, there is no question of an antithesis.
Fig. 16 represents the same scene. But here the central symbol is certainly not the omphalos, but the conventionalized tree. This class of images shows many varieties. The sun is
Fig. 17
sometimes represented by Shamash; fig. i7 shows Shamash
beginning his daily course. The same scene s repres^ted on
lig. 18 where the gate of heaven is indicated by two hio-h
* ö
Fig. 18
posts on each of which a lion is resting. It is clear that the image as a whole represents nearly the same scene as the prece ing ones: the rising sun, flanked by two guardians. The value which the oriënt attached to this scene of the rising sun becomes manifest in the variety of images representing this scene. One thing is to be remarked here. The great changes which take place daily in nature excite in us at most a feeltng



of admiration whereas in the eyes of primitive peoples they
were looked on as dramas which from day to day gave rise
to a curious interest. The acting forces are no dead instruments
of nature. They are living persons acting according to their
mood. And every sunrise is a triumph of the great victor, who
defeats the opposing power of the ocean, and clears his way
to heaven. In connection with this conception we have to ask
whether the usual image of the sun with its two attendants
has always a peaceful character. Very early already, in the
monuments of Telloh, the two lions, in the grasp of a third
beinp- — the bird — are illustrations of the idea of victory, b ,
the submitted lions being conceived of as the vanquished enemies or the vanquished parts of the earth a). And even in the middle ages the sun, taking hold of two lions, is an idea of victory. In the Fundgruben des Orients2) there is a reproduction of a page from an illuminated manuscript of Kazwïnï, showing the sun as victor over two lions. We must leave aside the great mass of monuments showing the group of three types, and be content with the few. specimens given above. There is only to be remarked, that the cosmological scene in some cases seems to have been turned into a ritual one, which perhaps could be styled cosmologico-ritual. Figures 19, 20, 21 may be reckoned
of West-Asiatic religions. If there exists a very popular worship of the sun, it is only natural that in the ritual of this worship the great events in the life of the sun — sunrise and sunset should be reflected.
as a pictorial illustration of the connection between these two domains. This connection is a priori evident to the student
Fig. 19
Fig. 20
1) Cf. beneath, p. 47.
2) I, p. 6; cf. explanation, p. 8.



The great majority of the examples hitherto discussed deal with the tree in the East, though it is not always clear which
region of the earth the tree is connected with. We shall now have to discuss the tree in the other quarters.
In the first place the West. Where is the utmost West? We have dealt with this question and seen that in an early historical period to a certain people the Mashu mountains formed the Western border of the earth. In a later period
of history the Strait of Gibraltar is the utmost West, as has been shown by examples from literatureJ). That the geographical horizon was extended from Mashu directly to Gibraltar, is scarcely to be expected. Moreover we know that once to the Assyrians the West was represented by Palestine and Syria. At this time the Mediterranean must have been conceived of as the Western border of the earth.
This idea we find reflected in a description of Tyre in Nonnus' Dionysiaca3). In Tyre there is in the ocean a doublé rock, called the ambrosiac one. In its centre ([isaófxcpalov) is an olive, which automatically emits fire, setting it in a perpetual blaze s). It can hardly be doubted that here we have the Western partner of the tree described in the epos. Stark4), in a discussion of the significance of the olive, arrivés at the conclusion that it is a symbol of light, a corroboration of the views expounded in this monograph; a corroboration which is the more striking because Stark in his time was not acquainted with the cosmological views of Western Asia.
The tree in the West as a tree of light seems to be con-
1) The Ocean, p. 26 sqq.
2) Book XL, vs. 467 sqq.
3) Cf. Roscher, Neue Omphalosstudien, p. 71.
4) Belichte über die Verhandlungen der Sachsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, Vol. VIII.
Verh. Afd. Letterk. 1921 (Wensinck), a



nected with sunset, as the tree in the East is connected with sunrise. The tree in the West is also a symbol of light. Is it also a symbol of life? It can hardly be denied. The rock, in which it grows, is called ambrosiac. Oil, in the Eastern conception, has special vital powers and the tree of paradise is sometimes conceived of as an olive-tree. But the West is neither the region of light nor that of life. How can these antithetical ideas be united in one medium? There are two possibilities, which do not form an alternative, but can have worked together. In the first place, the fact that cosmological conceptions are liable to be conventionalized, to become heraldic and symmetrical must not be lost be sight of. The attribution of four quarters to the world favoured this tendency: what belongs to one, must also belong to the other. Here is a mental process which has no longer anything to do with primitive cosmology as a synthesis of geographical and religious ideas and based upon direct observation. Should the tree in the West be the outcome of such a mental activity, then it is of a secondary nature in comparison with the tree in the East.
In the second place it must be acknowledged that in the Oriental cosmological conception of East and West, apparently apart from the symmetricizing tendency, there appears often a vague uniformity which justifies the question: Did not extreme East and extreme West coincide according to the old oriental conception? We observed this uniformity already in the epos. From the Western point of the earth Gilgamesh undertakes his travel of twelve doublé hours. Then he apparently reaches the Eastern point and there he crosses over to Utnapishtim. Where does the latter dweil? Again: in the utmost point of the earth at the mouth of the streams (XI 204). No one can say whether this is the Eastern or the Western point and no one knows what the mouth of the streams means. Eridu perhaps? (Cf. above p. 4). Probably the expression was still living in the Oriënt at the time of Mohammed who in the eighteenth süra (vs. 59) where he tells the adventures of Alexander and Khadir uses the expression madjma' al-bahrain, the place where the two rivers or seas are united. The different interpretations of this expression are perhaps only due to the Muslims who simply looked where in the world two rivers or seas are united and so guessed that the isthmus of Suez or the Strait of Gibraltar might be meant. And so here is perhaps only a



foi tuitous coincidence with two regions which in successive times were conceived of as the Western border of the earth. At any rate this uncertainty of interpretation could also be the inheritance of the predecessors of Muslim interpreters. For it appears also in the different ideas concerning the way of Alexandei. History knows of Alexander's journey to the far East and some redactions of the Romance follow the data of histoiy in this respect. But other redactions represent him as travelling to the far West in order to find the nether world or paradise. The explanation of these apparent contradictions may lie in the fact that extreme East and extreme West no longer belong to this earth in reality. They have given up their relations with this world, belong to the nether world or paradise and have so been bereft of geographical reality.
But we have to return to Nonnus' description of the everburning olive at Tyre. We are acquainted with the fact that the extension of the geographical horizon can be followed in the cosmological literature. A striking illustration of this fact is found in a description occurring in Philostratus' Life of Apollonius 1). Here again is an olive, growing near the temple of Herakles at Gades. It is of gold and its fruits of emerald. W hat does this mean ? That the signs characteristic of the extreme West3) have been removed from Tyre to Gades; the Western border of the earth is no longer the Mediterranean, but the Atlantic. It goes without saying that the olive at Gades is nothing but the tree at Tyre. Perhaps the former has preserved one antique feature which fails in Nonnus' description: its golden twigs and emerald fruits. For this reminds us of the tree in the epos which also consists of cornelian and lapis lazuli. And the tree in Eridu is likewise a tree of light and its fruits or twigs are of lapis lazuli. It cannot be denied that the descriptions in classical literature are the continuation of an old Oriental tradition.
Can this also be said of the god who at Tyre as well as at Gades is closely connected with the tree, viz. Herakles? If the extreme Western point of the earth with all its connections was transferred from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, it is
0 v 5-^ '4 tvytixtimot; Se ia«/« sf zputrij xvxxsirxi i; to 'Hpxxteiov o&tct pw li( Qxtri kxi tov SaMoC Stxv^eiv <p Hkxhtxi Sxvpx&rZxi S' &v Wï Kxpirü /.jSaaot fipven yècp xutov 0-ij.xpxySov A/Sou.
2) Cf. Herodotus' description of Tyre II, 44.



possible that also Herakles orig'inally was the hero who reached the Mediterranean, just as Gilgamesh in an earlier layer of tradition reached what was then the utmost Western point of the earth, viz. Mashu. As far as I see we can hardly do more in this case than draw a parallel between Herakles and Gilgamesh. But I wish to draw attention to a fact which deserves
o 
notice. Traditions concerning the Strait of Gibraltar and the columns erected there or in the vicinity, are in Arabic literature generally connected not with Herakles but with Alexander. Now Alexander many times has taken the place of Gilgamesh. Is not here also Herakles a Greek rendering of old oriental Gilgamesh? This question is the more pressing, because in an analogous case the Oriental origin of Herakles is recognized.
O O
The story of Geryones (which as early as 600 B. C. had currency among the Greeks) places Herakles in the West. This Herakles is by modern scholars considered as being of a Tyrian origin and is identified with Melkart1).
So the Herakles of Tyre originally may have been Gilgamesh, the hero of the far West. The parallelism between Gilgamesh and Alexander as well as the similarity of the Western and the Eastern point of the earth, are illustrated by a description belonging to the Muslim stock of traditions concerning Alexander. In the Book of Marvellous Things there occurs a passage containing a description of one of the Western islands of the Ocean: II est raconté dans 1'histoire d'Alexandre que ses navires abordèrent a une ïle blanche, pure, riche en eau, en bois et en fruits. Au milieu de 1'ile est un fleuve d'une extréme blancheur, sur les bords duquel croit un grand arbre chargé de toutes sortes de fruits, délicieux au goüt, colorés de toutes nuances. Le feuillage de eet arbre ressemble au halak (ou pour la grandeur, la douceur et la beauté. L'arbre croit avec le soleil, du matin a midi. Quand le soleil cesse de monter il s'arrête, puis il décroit avec lui et disparait lorsqu'il se couche. Son fruit est plus doux que le miel, plus suave que la crème, et le parfum de son feuillage est meilleur que le musc 2).
Two features are clear at once: the island described here cannot be separated from the Isles of the Blessed in Greek literature, which have left traces in Arabic folklore3). In the
1) Kindly communicated to me by Professor Vürtheim.
2) Abrégé des merveilles, p. 71 sq.
3) The Ocean, p. 64 sq.



second place the description reminds us of the island of Tyre with its tree, and of the tree in Gades.
But there is another feature. The tree which grows and decays with the sun is of course a "sun-tree" and here we have a complete description of the sun-tree in the West, which leaves no unsolved riddle, but gives the solution expressis verbis. It is not to be overlooked that the fruits of the tree are said to be of all kinds and of all colours. The first qualification will be discussed beneath; as to the second it not only proves anew that the tree is a solar tree, but it recalls directly the descriptions in Babylonian literature discussed above; only, in the Romance of Alexander the tree is in the West; as all or nearly all Arabic traditions concerning Alexander speak of a journey to the West only.
The materials discussed here, prove that Eastern cosmology and folklore are well acquainted with the tree in the West as a solar symbol. In the Book of Henoch the tree of life in the North-West is mentioned. And in the Romance of Alexander are described two trees in the South which reach the sky; one is called the tree of the sun; the other the tree of the moon. As far as I know, there is no mention anywhere of a characteristic tree in the North. What really lived was the tree in the East and the tree in the West.
Even on the monuments of Mithra we find a tracé of this symbolism. These monuments, for a large part, are cosmological images; in the centre of interest are the earth, represented by the buil, which is subdued by its enemies, and the sun, the head of the enemies, which is also represented by its chief critical points, East and West, or by the four seasons. East and West are usually characterized each by a torchbearer, one with his torch uplifted, the other with his torch down, symbols of the young and the old sun. Now these points of spring and autumn are also characterized each by a tree. It is possible that Cumont rightly thinks that the tree of spring is arid, whereas that of autumn is loaded with fruits. But it is certain that on the majority of the images there is no characteristic difference between the trees. Seeing that the torchbearers are symbols of light, it is possible that the trees are also meant as such (Cumont, Textes et monuments II, fig. 49, 51, 63).
We have observed, that the tree in the East is conceived of in the first place as a tree of light, in the second place as



a tree of life. That in the old literature and monuments it is not described as belonging to a definite kind, may be due to two reasons. On the one hand we see that already in the epos the tree is conventionalized; it bears no real fruits, nor does it consist of real twigs: their place has been taken by various kinds of precious stones which at the same time indicate its luminary character. On the other hand the tree is connected with life and as such its character can hardly be expressed in one kind. An exception is to be made here, to some extent at least, for the olive. Nonnus and Philostratus call the tree in the West an olive; and so is the tree of life in the Life of Adam and Eve 1). Oil indeed unites the ideas of light and of life; I need not explain this here. But usually the tree bears a mixed character. In the Epos of Gilgamesh the description is very fragmentary, but of lines 183—194 of the ninth song there is at least so much left, that we can quite clearly see that the tree is compared with a cedar and with a kharüb.
The mixed character of the tree is carried a step further in those descriptions which provide it with all kinds of fruits, as for instance in the passage from the Book of Marvellous Things cited above 2): its fruits are of all kinds and colours, its leaves resemble those of the halak.
In the Avesta there occurs a description of a tree which grows in the Ocean, and has the name of " all-seed". The conception is apparently dependent upon that which occurs in the epos. I mention this case, because it is typical for the relation between some features of Persian and Babylonian cosmology, of which we shall find other examples. 1 Henoch 8 A and B is a description of the tree that covers all and bears all fruits. Bousset3) has remarked that this description goes back to the example of the Persian all-seed and Haoma.
Ward in his work on the seal cylinders has discussed the meaning of the tree with many seeds and from the old materials as well as from modern data has drawn the conclusion that it is a tree of fortune. I have no serious objection against this conclusion. The ideas of fortune and happiness are fïrmly connected with that of life, in the old Oriental conception. But still, the name 'tree of fortune' seems too narrow.
1) XXXVI 2; XL sqq. Cf. 2 Henoch 8 (B).
3) Die Religion des Judentums p. 461,
2) p. 19.



So we have seen that the doubtful species of the tree may be due to its mixed character and also to the conventionalizing style which in early times took hold of it. It may be asked whether the conventionalizing tendency has not gone as far as to transform the tree into a pillar. The fact that the pillar often occurs between two symmetrical or heraldic types, just as the tree, gives us reason to answer this question in the affirmative. A good example of the transition from a highly conventionalized tree to a mere pillar, is given by figures 22 and 23.
In the beginning of this chapter stress has been laid upon
the solar character of Gilgamesh. Now that we have inquired into the literary and monumental evidence concerning the
cosmological ideas connected
o
with the four ends of the earth, we have to return to Gilgamesh again.
Before inquiring into a possible relation between the images of Gilgamesh and those which we have discussed in the preceding pages, one thing is to be remarked, viz. that the images which represent Gilgamesh have not been
modelled after data of the Fig- 23
epos as we know it. It is a
limited portion from the history of the hero which is reproduced; as far as I see, there is not a single image of the chief episodes: the crossing of the ocean, the discourse with Ut napishtim, the snatching away of the herb of life by the serpent. On the other hand there are images showing Gilgamesh in surroundings unknown to us from the epos. And finally the



heraldic or conventional current of the time has spoiled a good many figures; as an example of the latter kind I may mention the scene, where the hero is represented fighting against himself1). Consequently we shall have to be careful lest our interpretation of this series of images be influenced too much by the epos.
The hero in surroundings unknown to us from the epos, is shown by fig. 24, representing Gilgamesh giving a drink to a
Fig. 24
buil with enormous horns from the spouting vase. I think it is clear that we have before us not an ordinary scene from the life of Gilgamesh, but a mythic one. The vase is not the usual instrument from which animals are given a drink: it is meant for something peculiar and often the water has been conceived of as the water of life. In that case the buil can scarcely be other than a mythical representation of the earth, which we found at the gate of heaven.
This conclusion is corroborated by the fact that the lower border of the cylinder represents the stream from which the buil is watered. The earth which drinks the waters of the ocean is a well known idea in Eastern cosmology3), of which this cylinder may be called a pictorial expression. What is true in this case, may also be applied to other images representing Gilgamesh together with animal — images which do not betray their mythical character. Gilgamesh is often depicted fighting a buil and a lion. We have found these animals at the gfate of heaven and in connection with the interpretation of fig. 25 we must reckon with the possibility of all these images being
1) Ward, p. 68 n° 173; p. 94 n° 199.
z) The Ocean, p. 19.



not simple hunting-scenes but meetings between the solar hero and the representative of the earth, the guardian of the gate of heaven. Gilgamesh vanquishes these forces, jast as the sun does.
The same idea is expressed by some Mithra monuments.
Fig. 25 Fig. 26
Here also the sun is represented in connection with other cosmic powers and as victor. These monuments are the direct continuation of the old Oriental thought as expressed in the literature and in the seal cylinders; even if their interpretation in this respect could be doubted, antiquity itself seems to have been anxious to take away all ambiguity, for some of these monuments bear the dedication : soli invicto.
B. THE TREE IN THE CF.NTRE
In the fourth chapter of the Book of Daniël Nebukadnezar describes a dream which he has seen: I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth. I he leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it and the fowls of heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it (vs. xo—12).
I he features of this tree deserve close attention : it represents the whole earth, it feeds the whole earth and it connects earth and heaven. 1 he case is the same as in the vision of Zecharja1):
1) above p. 2.



the description is not wholly the result of the aüthor's phantasy : he makes use of a symbol which is well known to his contemporaries.
This appears from the description of a similar tree in Ezekiel, a cedar in Libanon, the roots of which reach down to Tehom. In height it surpassed all the trees of the field. All the fowls of heaven made their nests in its boughs and under its branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under its shadow all great nations had their dweiling1). — The only additional feature of importance here is the connection of the tree with Tehom2): it is a tree representative of the earth and connected with nether and upper world.
Ezekiel further describes the tree as an object of envy on the part of the trees in the garden of God. Apparently the tree itself belongs to their number and is to be considered as the tree in the centre of paradise, the tree of life. In later descriptions of this kind, the character of the tree as the tree of life is expressly mentioned: the tree of life has a circumference of five hundred years and all the waters of creation come forth from under it8). In the Yalküt Shimconi it is said that this tree reaches all living beings 4). Here the central tree is the tree of paradise and, consequently, paradise is in the centre of the earth.
This idea is in contradiction to what we found in our first chapter, where traditions were adduced showing that paradise is in the East of the earth. This contradiction can only be understood if we keep in mind that paradise in the centre of the earth, is an idea belonging to the theory of the sanctuary. It has been explained how the nucleus of the earth was created long before the rest, and how this nucleus was the place from which the rest of the earth was spread out, its centre and the place of the sanctuary. Considering the close connection between this preexistent sanctuary — the place where God has fixed his throne, the origin of all sweet water, the place from which the earth gets its food — and paradise6), it is only natural
O 31, 3 sqq-
2) Cf. The Ocean, p. 61.
3) Bereshit Rabba § XV, ed. Theodor: IQ bj) HUW rVlNO t£>Dn "|VlD D^TI YV
rnnno y^ono mwra
4) fol. 7: Di-inn *72 iJD by "i^no OT
5) Cf. J. L. Palache, Het Heiligdom, p. 139 ff.



that the latter has been taken up into the same cosmological scheme as the former. This appears also from the fact, that the preexistence of the navel of the earth has been transferred to paradise. In the Apocalypse of Ezra x) it is said that paradise was planted by God before even the earth came forward; and paradise appears among the other preexistent entities in the usual enumerations2). That paradise in the centre of the earth was also a well known idea, appears from Origenes' commentary on Genesis 8).
Now this central tree, in the descriptions cittd above, is the tree of life: its food sustains all men and animals. But it is also the tree of light. It not only symbolizes the earth, but also the sun, exactly as appeared to be the case with the tree in the East which belongs sometimes to the earth, sometimes to the sun.
Remarkable in this respect is one of the most celebrated, though obscurest, verses from the Kor'an: God is the light of the heavens and the earth. His light is as a niche, in which is a lamp; the lamp is in a glass; the glass is as a shining star, receiving light from a blessed tree, an olive, neither Eastern nor Western, the oil of which would give light, although no fire touched it4).
It is as if Mohammed — in his usual jumping style — were reproducing a cosmological image which once had made a great impression upon his mind, Whether this was a picture or a seal cylinder or even a literary description we cannot say, but his description recalls the seal cylinders and also passages from Nonnus and Philostratus, such as those cited above. But we have to consider the single features of the tree. It is neither Eastern nor Western; this apparently means that it holds a central place; it is in this sense that the sentence is already interpreted in Arabic literature6). The same feature causes
1) IV Ezra III, 6. 2) cf. The Navel of the Earth, p. 17.
3) ed. Migne, Patrologia Graeca, vol. 12, col. 100: 'ESè/i xeei (partv aiiTOv néirov
etvzi rov xó<r[J.ov u$ KÓpyv ocpSzA/xov
4) Süra 24, 35: „Lwalt s^j LV_i.^o (joyil5 ötaJJI
ö w
jli W Jb
5) Tabarï Tafslr XVIII, p. 99: jij'
O*» O*



other commentators to point to its connection with the sun: its situation is such that at sunrise and sunset it is wholly enveloped in lighta).
That the tree is an olive is not so astonishing2) and our attention is anew drawn to Nonnus by the addition that the oil would give light even though it were not in contact with fire. Does not this look like a translation of a'j~6tj.a.xov nvp?
There is only one difference which at first seems to forbid a near relationship between the two descriptions. The tree in Tyre and the tree in Gades are trees in the extreme West. The tree in the Kor'an is central. Is this not a contradiction ? It seems to me that the different character of the tree in the different descriptions is to be understood thus. The tree in the East and the tree in the West are chiefly conceived of in connection with the sun; they are symbols of light. Originally the tree belongs to the East as the region where light is born; from here it is not only transferred to the West and the South, but also to the centre, just as paradise — by a different process — is transferred from its extreme place to the centre. We can observe this transition very clearly in the description cited above from the Book of Marvellous Things. Here the tree is represented to be on one of the Western islands; but it grows along with the sun, reaches its greatest height and circumference at midday and decays in the evening. Here the tree is partly described as the central one, partly as that ol the utmost regions. In another of the Western islands a similar tree is localised: On dit qu'il y a dans cette ïle un arbre qui germe au temps oü le soleil se léve, et crolt tant que le soleil monte; après midi, il décroit, et disparait au coucher du soleil3).
It has already been pointed out that these descriptions in Arabic literature have to be connected with the traditions concerning Alexander. In Aethiopic literature the same tree, as a matter of fact, occurs in the Romance of Alexander *). This redaction goes back to an Arabic original or to Arabic traditions.
Further, in the Syriac Romance of Alexander the tree is
1) Tabarl ib. p. 98, 4 infra: : ^ ^ <3 i,' 1^° *^-r~
I_Jyuj LjAc JILIJ
2) above, p. 22.
3) Abrégé des merveilles, p. 69.
4) p. 84; cf. p. 90.



described in the far East:): On the bank of the river was a tree which increased from day-break till the sixth hour; and from the sixth hour till sunset its height diminished, till nothiner
o ' o
more of it was visible. Its smell was very pleasant; I ordered [my men] to gather from its leaves and fruits; but suddenly an evil wind assailed my hosts and troubled them in a pitiless way. And we heard the sounds of heavy blows, and and rtfkwcvx. appeared on the back of my hosts. Then we heard a voice from heaven as a voice of thunder, which spoke thus: No one shall cut from this tree, nor approach unto it. For if ye approach, all your hosts will die.
It is to be observed that the Arabic and Aethiopic tradition ascribe to the West, what originally was localized in the East; cf. above p. 18.
In the Zohar the tree of life is conceived of as the sustenance of all living beings on the earth. Its height is five hundred miles, its circumference six hundred miles. From it is emanated a light which contains all colours 2). In other descriptions in the Zohar this tree is localized in heaven 3).
The cosmic tree is found by Gunkel in the candlestick with seven arms in the temple of Jerusalem *): the arms with their seven lights represent the planets, the middle pole the heavenly tree. I hat such ideas existed in antiquity is shown by Gunkel from Philo and other authors. It is, however, doubtful whether the objects in the temple were made with a view to this symbolism 5).
C. THE TREE IN HEAVENLY PARADISE
I hat Oriental cosmology knows not only a tree on the earth, but also a heavenly tree, is to be expected after the data discussed in the previous chapter. The central tree belongs not only to the earth but reaches to heaven and as such is a tree of heaven and the sky.
We know that Oriental cosmology has acquired but only after a long develópment the highly symmetrical character which
1) ed. Budge, p. 178.
2) II, fol. 2»
3) II, fol. 58b, 59a
4) Schöpfung und Chaos, p. 124 sqq.
4) cf. J. L. Palache, Het Heiligdom, p. 127 sqq.



it bears in Jewish and Muslim writings. While the Bible usually speaks of heaven, and Paul mentions the third heaven, the later system knows seven heavens, which one and all have a sanctuary in their centre. This sevenfold symmetrical system has not been worked out in every direction and we shall never find it applied to the whole of the old cosmological ideas. Yet it is good to be aware of the tendencies of cosmological evolution. If we find a central tree in heaven, we can explain this fact at once.
In the present case there have also been other influences at work. It is hardly possible to consider the heavenly tree without its usual surroundings and so we have to speak of heavenly paradise. Oriental eschatology is a symmetrical doctrine, just as cosmology is a symmetrical scenery: what was in the beginning, will return in the end. Paradise which occupied so prominent a place in the early history of mankind, will be of no less importance when the new era begins. At the same time it will be elevated and no longer be sought on the earth, but in heaven, just as the second Adam is not an earthly but a heavenly person. And so we find paradise in heaven or, according to the Muslim conception, in the seventh heaven, where it occupies the central place.
It is clear that this conception does not start from an earthly paradise in the East, but from a paradise in the centre, an addition to the data communicated above on p. 26 sq.
The descriptions of this heavenly tree for a large part are composed from the features of the tree on the earth. We have observed that the tree in the centre of the earth is of a cosmic bulk. The same holds good for the tree in the centre of heaven. Usually the impression of the bulk of the heavenly tree is embodied in the tradition that a man on horseback could continue riding in its shadow for a hundred years 1).
A second characteristic of the tree on the earth — its being the bearer of light — belongs also to the tree in heaven. In 2 Henoch2) it is looking as gold, vermilion and fire and it covers all. The main part of the traditions, however, are found in Muslim literature, a consequence of the fact that this literature knows only the heavenly paradise and is either not at all, or
1) Tirmidhi, ii, 85} Bukhari, Rikak, b. 515 Abu Zaid, i, 183, 7 infra.
2) 8, 4.



but little acquainted with the earthly one. So it does not speak of the tree of life; it is the heavenly tree that has attracted all attention. But there is another ground for its being popular in Muslim literature; this tree is mentioned or supposed to be mentioned in the Koran (53, 14) under the name of sidrat al-muntaha 'the sidra of the utmost limit'. The exegesis of the Iyor an unanimously explains the term 'utmost limit' by the highest stage of the universe. What Mohammed meant by it, is not known to us; apparently he borrowed the term or the idea from the current cosmological views of his days. It reminds us in a remarkable way of the other well known term al-masdjid al-aksa which is usually applied to Jerusalem, but seems rather to have a cosmological meaning, as well as sidrat al-muntaha. What 'the utmost mosque' as a cosmological term should mean, is not difficult to guess, now that we know that the earthly sanctuary was very closely related to the 'distant' one in heaven.
The descriptions of the 'lotus of the utmost limit' are very numerous in Muslim literature. We will consider only those which are of interest for our present purpose. They are in the fiist place those which mention precious stones on the tree: Behold, its fruits are like grasshoppers and its leaves like elephant s ears. And when a certain divine order covers it, it is changed into hyacinth and emerald and the like' J). Here is the feature which we already found in the description of the tree in the East in the epos of Gilgamesh, and which seemed to express its luminary character, but at the same time its being conventionalized. Here, on the other hand, the original nature of the tree is preserved; only at some special occasions is it changed into precious stones. In another description it is said that sometimes 'the golden carpet' covers it2); or 'the light of the Lord 3) or a great number of colours 4).
These traditions need no further explanation: it is the tree of the sun which is described here. This is expressly said in an Arabic description: 'its counterpart on the earth is the sun, which is in heaven and its rays descend along its ladder and
1) labarl Tafsïr XXVII, 29 above: ^tiï JJu LM, oLs\J|
^5 L» M ja' ^ L^£ Uü
2) i>!i Lfcykc j JLüj Tabari Tafsïr XXVII, 30.
3) Ibidem.
4) Bukharï, Salat b. i (end).



reach every place' 1). There is another feature in these descriptions which deserves attention: the tree is covered with carpets of silk and brocade3), as are the trees around the throne of Solomon 3). A tree covered with carpets is something exceptional; it is a priori probable that these covers are only transferred to the tree by the way of analogy. The Tabernacle was covered with carpets of several colours and the Ka'ba is yearly clad with a new kiswa, which nowadays is black, but is recorded to have been of different colours is previous times 4). In the same way it is reported that the Kanaanitic high places were covered with coloured garments: 'And of thy garments thou didst take and rnake high places with divers colours' 5). And the thronos in Syriac churches was covered with carpets e).
It is not easy to make out what was the idea underlying this custom ; perhaps we should not look for one idea; such rites are often capable of manifold interpretations. But it may be asked whether those garments of many colours were not destined to give the covered object some cosmological aspect? This line of thought is made more acceptable by the fact that the description of the tree with coloured stones serves to illustrate the idea of the sunlight or the sunny sky as we have found occasion to point out. The coloured garments may be a mere variation of the coloured precious stones and so may serve the same purpose. It must be conceded that in that case the garments would have nothing to do with the idea of covering; they would have been considered simply as the bearers of colours.
However this be, the fact that the tree as well as the throne and the sanctuary are covered with carpets, points to a similarity between these sacred places and objects. That throne and sanctuary are entities of an analogous value — the former beingf considered as the nucleus of the latter — has been pointed out7)-, attention has also been drawn to the fact that
1) Wol ff, Moh. Eschatologie 109: L^Loi LocXjI ^ li
2) Tabarï Tafsïr XXVII, 29: SJJi ^ Cf. 3°n-
3) Jellinek, Bet Hamidrasch V 36.
4) Ibn Hisham, p. 126.
5) Ezekiei 16, 16: rn*ót3 niDD v^j?ni 1^330 ''npnv
6) Cf. The Navel, p. 56.
7) The Navel, p. 54 sqq.



both are representations of the navel of the earth and have the significance of central symbols.
It cannot be a matter of wonder that the central tree coincides with these symbols. I he close connection between tree and sanctuary is well known; nearly every sanctuary in Palestine possessed its sacred tree and often it was the tree which determined the character of the place. It is not necessary to say more concerning this point which is well known to all students of Semitic religions.
It is however worth while to prove by literary evidence, that the connection between tree and throne was once feit. In the Apocalypse of Moses it is said that the throne of God , was fixed where the tree of life was 1). According to 2 Henoh the tree of life is in the third heaven, at the place where God rests in Paradise 3). In Muslim literature the connection between tree and throne is indicated in those traditions which describe its roots as being under the throne8), or that it is above the head of the throne-bearers 4).
In Jewish and Muslim cosmology the throne of God forms the summit of the Universe. Accordingly the sidra is represented as reaching this highest cosmic stage; 'unto it reaches knowledge, but not farther'. It would not be important or interesting to reproduce the Muslim traditions which partly describe the sidra as being in the sixth, partly as being in the seventh heaven. The usual view is that it originates in paradise and from there reaches up to the throne of God5). At any rate the tree is represented as having a cosmic bulk.
The tree in heavenly paradise is called in Muslim literature by the proper name of Tuba. In some traditions the origin of which is not known to me, it is described as growing from its high place in the Universe downwards to the lowest heaven G); it is a kind of network which covers nearly the upper part of the Universe.
1) Books of Adam and Eve XXII, 4.
2) 2 Henoch 8» (B). Cf. Books of Adam and Eve XXV 3.
3) Tabarï Tafsïr XXVII 28 n.
4) Tabarï Tafsïr XXVII 28 '20.
5) E. g. |abarï Tafsïr XXVII, 28 in the middle; Zamakhshharï's Kashghaf ad 53, 14*
6) M. Wolff, Mohammedanische Eschatologie, p. 109.
Verh. Afd. Letterk. 1921 (Wensinck).
3



D. THE TREE IN HELL
In some passages of the Kor'an*) the tree al-Zakküm is mentioned which has its origin in the lowest part of Heil, alDjahlm. The name is really no special name, but the designation of a plant known both in and outside Arabia. According to Baidawï ad 37, 60 it has small leaves, its fruits are stinking and bitter. It is not going too far to suppose that, according to popular belief, the zakküm was demoniacal, and that Mohammed made use of this tree, as well as of the sidra, to introducé foreign eschatological ideas into the circles of his followers.
According to Jewish and Muslim cosmological conceptions, Heil had its seven departments as well as heaven3) So the tree is represented as growing up from the lowest part of Heil along the ascending departments3).
As far as I see it is not possible to make out from where such a tree came into Muhammed's brain. Geiger *) points to a Jewish tradition 5) mentioning two palmtrees in Gehinnom, the entrance of Heil. But the two palmtrees which were supposed to grow in the valley near Jerusalem do not bear a close resemblance to the devil tree in Heil. Two explanations seem possible. It is well known that Muhammed's knowledge of the Bible was not solid enough to prevent quaint blunders in reproduction. The tree of which the fruit was foi bidden and which should cause the death of man, was possibly transformed in his brain into the tree of death which belongs to Heil. As a matter of fact he says in the Kor an that the tree of Heil as it were is provided with devils heads (serpents heads according to an explanation mentioned by Tabarï °), and its fruits serve to feed the damned.
It is however also possible that the tree owes its origin to the well known symmetricising tendency. When once the tiee on the earth had found its counterpart in heaven, the third
1) 37, 60 sqq.; 44, 43 sqq.
2) Uns I, 148 infra sqq. as compared with cEvubin I9a.
3) Baidawï ad 37, 60: (»-»■£?■ .
4) Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judentum aufgenommen2, p. 66.
5) Suklca 32.
6) Tafslr XXIII, 37 20.



part of the Universe, the nether world, coulcl not remain without a representative.
I he symmetrical features of this cosmolog-ical system become particularly prominent when we remember the tree Tüba which covers the upper part of the Universe downwards to the lowest heaven. I he tree zakküm, on the contrary, originates in the lowest pit of Heil and climbs upwards along its divisions. So the Universe is enclosed between these two cosrnic trees.



CHAPTER II
BIRD AND SUN
Muslim tradition has elaborate descriptions of a cosmic cock. I reproduce here the redactions which occur in Suyötl's La'all:): God possesses a cock whose wings are interwoven with emerald, pearl and hyacinth. One wing is in the East, the other in the West. His feet are in the lowest (i. e. seventh) earth and his
head is bent under the throne When the day of resur-
rection begins, God says to him: Take thy wings in and lower thy voice that the inhabitants of heaven and earth know that the Hour is near. — The second tradition is as follows: God possesses a cock in the lowest heaven; his breast is from yellow gold, his belly is from white silver; his feet are of red hyacinth, his feet of green emerald; his crest is under the lowest earth etc. 3).
Three features are prominent here. The bird is of a cosmic bulk: he reaches from the lowest earth to the highest part of the Universe,'so that he can be said to represent the world. He has a solar character, as appears from his wings in East and West, his many colours, which, as in the case of the tree, are represented by jewels. He has some relation to eschatological events.
The two last mentioned features will be discussed by and
1) T, 32: A! ÖL>L*J> LXJO &U
c* 
L\Ï XcLWJI q( ^^[5
2) I, 334: Q*» L01A-Ü Q!
^



by. The first has to be supplemented by referring again to the symmetrical character of Western Asiatic cosmology. It is said in Arabic literature that the earth was created in the form of a bird x). It is clear that the earth in the form of a bird and the cosmic bird have not originated separately, but are a replica one of the other.
The origin of Muslim tradition in this point is to be found in Jewish folklore. Bochart in his chapter on the ostrich cites the Targum on Psalms 50, 11: Before Me are revealed all kinds of birds which fly in the air of the sky; and the wild cock whose feet stand on the earth, whereas his head reaches heaven, cries before Me 3).
The identity is unmistakeable. But the eschatological character of the bird is also found in Jewish literature (if we are entitled to identify it with the bird Bar jukne — which can hardly be contested): it will serve as food to the faithful, just as Leviatan and Behemot:!). Leviatan and Behemot are the animals representing the ocean and the earth; the bird is the symbol of the sun. Earth, Ocean and Sun in the end of the present era will be subdued by the one God who triumphs over the old cosmic potentials, who were of old His antagonists. Again the idea of victory; but here sol invictus has to acknowledge a still higher power — the revenge of monotheism on polytheism, which we have met also in the relation between the one God and the ocean 4).
In these traditions the solar bird is the cock, who is well known as a bearer of this characteristic5). It may be asked whether the numerous seal cylinders with the figure of a cock, have not their origin in this deeper significance of the animal. We must here again touch the question of the meaning of the cylinders. I am glad to see that Thompson in his Catalogue of Greek birds, also works on a principle which does not stick to the purely phenomenal side of his objects.
As a matter of fact we find the cock often on Oriental
1) Abrégé des merveilles, p. 29.
2) Hierozoicon II 239: TIKD 1TDD1 NSÏJ7 "0"ö b? ^Dlp
■'Dip p-K *00150 U3D KjnjO p-|tf mVimpi
3) Bodenschatz III, 57 cites Baba batra 73b; Wajjikra Babba § 22. Bochart II, 230 cites Elia Tisbita: -Qj-| QJ? D">pi"lï£ mij® 13,00
4) The Ocean, p. 14.
5) For the Greeks cf. Thompson, Greek birds, p. 22; III (Greek) Baruch 6, 16.



cylinders and coins 1). In many single cases it would be impossible to show that any deeper meaning underlies the picture. And further it must be admitted that such pictorial animals have become what lions or bears are in the blazons of Europe. But still we may surmise, that in other cases the cock — as well as the buil and the eagle — has been chosen as a cosmological symbol.
The cosmos, represented by a cock, is an image which finds its counterpart in traditions which, in a context different for the rest, speak of a peacock. According to the theosophic conceptions, Muhammed, before the creation of the world, was a luminary substance in the form of a peacock and the peacock was on the tree of certainty (yakïn). From this substance the world was created a). Similar ideas appear in theological papers having currency in India 3). What makes these traditions valuable for our purpose, is the peacock which was likely to become a solar bird on account of its many colours.
Among the solar birds a primary place is taken by the eagle. From Oriental descriptions I choose only those which, put together, sum up its solar qualities. Just as the sun, it flies from the East to the West in one day4). Several traditions serve to point out its unusual visual power6); and we think of Yjddog éq tocvt' epopa vs/.i ratv-r' faxxovet. It flies higher than all other birds; it even reaches the firmament and comes so near to the sun, that it has to cool itself in the ocean; then it revives and flies up anew and returns to its youth 6). — Such and similar traditions underly Psalms 103, 5 and the Arabic proverb, living longer than the eagle7).
It is not difficult to make out how the eagle has acquired its popular reputation. It looses its feathers and recovers them again. Such a characteristic, in the popular belief, is interpreted as immortality, just as the serpent has got this reputation
1) Lajard, Planche XIII n» 3; XL1I n« 9, 12; XLV n» 12; LIV c n» 15.
2) M. Wolff, Mohammedanische Eschatologie, p. sqq.
3) Kindly communicated to me by Professor Snouck Hurgronje.
4) Damïrï II, 403: ^
5) Bochart II, 174. Cf. Thompson, p. 6.
6) Bochart II, 167 cites ICimchi who cites Sacadja: pfan bj b"3 "HMD
ttnnrm mn nno a-a ICÜJ? bw wn oin1? anp1! Qiocn rp"1 w ^
vs)by wb dwi n1?^
7) ^ Damüï II, 405 ".



because of changing its skin 1). Now this continual dying and reviving is also a prominent characteristic of the sun. And it can hardly be doubted that along a similar way of thought the eagle has become a solar bird.
We must not loose sight of the fact that we are not always certain of the variety which is meant by nasr. This is proved anew by the fact, that Saadja's statement concerning the nasr occurs in Arabic literature in connection with the cukab, which is often translated by vulture. Kazwlnl has the following passage on the cukab: When its eyesight has become dim and weak through old age, it ascends towards the sky, till its feathers are burnt by the heat; then it descends and plunges itself several times into a fountain, out of which it reappears strong and fresh, having left behind the weakness of old age 3). And Damïrï3) relates that the old vulture is taken by its young ones to a fountain, and, by bathing in it, becomes young again.
It is clear that nasr and cukab are interchangeable in Oriental tradition. It is not necessary to point to the sundry solar features contained in the traditions mentioned. I will only recall the connection with the ocean in which the sun sets, and into which the bird plunges itself. It is worth while to point to a legend mentioned by Mas'üdl4). In Egypt, situated to the West, there is a town called Madlnat al-cukab 'vulture's town', which contains a great mass of treasures •, but people have forgotten the way to it. Now there are numerous traditions concerning the fabulous town in the West and the treasures which it contained 5). It is highly probable that Mas'üdï's legendary report belongs to the same subject, and if this is true, the name 'vulture's town' is an allusion to the legendary bird which has her nest in the far West. And further bird and town recall the antique descriptions of the phoenix which is at home in Heliopolis in Egypt.
The bird in the far West occurs in Arabic literature also
1) Frazer, Folklore in the Old Testament I, 66 sqq.
2) Kazwïnï, 'Adja^ib al-Makhlükat, p. 418: q*» ^ ^[3
er* o'
XSji \>Jz> j*
3) II, Hó.
4) Murïïdj, II, 381 sq.
5) The Ocean, p. 26 sqq.



under a different name and with different characteristics, although cognate to eagle and vulture, viz. as the 'anka' mughrib, who differs also from the previous ones in this point, that it is not only provided with mythical features, but is described as a totally mythical being. Its eggs are as large as mountains; it dwells in the West, on one of the islands of the Ocean; it lives two thousand years x).
The male and female 'anka', when grown old, gather wood and make fire by rubbing their beaks together; then one of them devotes itself to the fire-death and its place is taken by the young one 3). — Here is the solar feature which we found in a different form in the traditions concerning eagle and vulture.
Another characteristic which completes these mythological descriptions is the bird's hybrid character: She has a belly like that of an ox and bones as those of a lion. Or: she has a human face and resembles all animals3). The being which is bird, ox and lion at the same time, brings us back to the cherub and here tree and bird meet, for the cherub is the attendant of the tree. Here it appears that the cosmic tree and the cosmic bird belong to each other.
It is clear without any further demonstration, that this bird bears a close resemblance to the phoenix of the classical authors. The latter themselves point to the fact that the phoenix has an Oriental origin; and the name is a corroboration of this opinion 4).
The solar character of the phoenix appears not only from the myth of its partial immortality, but also from its outward appearance: auri fulgor circa colla, cetero purpureus, caeruleam roseis caudam pinnis distinguentibus, cristis fauces, caputque plumeo apice honestari sacrum in Arabia Soli esse 5).
Now the phoenix is related to two cosmological symbols: to the tree and to the sun, just as the 'anka'. For phoenix is not only the name of the bird but also the name of the tree; or is this simply a case of homonimity? However this
1) Damïrï, II, 86. On the Jewish ^nka0 cf. Bochart II, 190.
2) Kazwïnï, p. 420.
3) Damïrï II, 186.
4) Bochart II, 818 sq.; Thompson, Greek birds, s. v.; Plinius, Naturalis Historia X, 2: nobilem Arabiae phoenicem.
5) Plinius, Naturalis Ilistoria X, 2.



be, the Ancients themselves have traditions which suppose a close relationship between the bird and the tree 1).
Not only in this connection, but also with a view to the whole of the problem discussed in this paper, it is worth while to look at fig. 27, a specimen of how old Oriental symbolism
Fig. 27
could be adapted and transformed by Christianity. Christ stands between two palmtrees, on a mountain he takes the place which formerly belonged to Shamash. His feet are on a mountain from which four streams depart. This means that the mountain is that of paradise, and that the whole scene represents the Eastern point of the earth. The East is moreover characterized by the two trees-, cf. fig. 11, p. 12; further by the two castles which, on the one hand, are to be viewed in the light of the data printed in 'The Ocean' 2); on the other hand they are to be compared with and to be considered as a development of the gate of heaven, cf. fig. 16 p. 8. In the left palm is a bird which may be identified with the phoenix that has its nest in the palm.
In Persian literature the bird is called Sïmurgh. We are
1) Ovidius, Methamorphoses XV, 396.
2) p. 26 sqq.



well acquainted with the mountain Kaf which surrounds the world. According to the Persians Sïmurgh inhabits this mountain 8). It is very probable that such ideas, which do not originate in Muslim cosmology, go back to Persian national tradition. According to Windischmann4) Parsism knows Sïmurgh as the bird that is at the gate of the world. It is not difficult to recognize the relation between the gate of the world and the mountain Kaf. We have already seen in the epos of Gilgamesh and its literary successors — the different redactions of the Romance of Alexander — that the mountain which surrounds the earth or some part of it, has a gate in the West and in the North, probably also in the other characteristic points, and that the sun goes in and out through this gate. In Muslim tradition it is said, that the sun rises from mount Kaf. So all these traditions are really identical, and we may consider the bird in the gate of heaven as a cosmological symbol parallel to that of the sun in East and West and the tree in those cosmic points.
These popular conceptions of eagle, 'anka', phoenix and Sïmurgh clearly show the solar character of these birds. We
find this symbolism also expressed in the monuments, especially on the seal cylinders. Lajard, in his splendid collection of
1) Sacdï, Bustan, 1, 18.
2) Zoroastrische Studiën, p. 93.



plates, gives two tables showing a great many solar images, chosen from all kinds of monuments. Here the sun is chiefly represented by two types: the winged disc and the bird. That the winged disc represents the sun, could hardly be doubted; that the bird has the same significance, is not always clear at first sight and has usually to be concluded from surrounding types or from parallel images. An example of the latter kind is shown by figure 28, a doublé image found by Renan in the temple of Amrit. It can hardly be doubted that the two images delineate the same idea. The two pairs of wings are delineated in exactly the same manner. One of the images has the disc between the wings, the other the eagle's head J). It is clear that the eagle is intended here to reprèsent the same dea as the winged disc.
Remarkable is another group of monuments, showing the close connection between the bird and the tree, a connection already indicated in the tradition concerning phoenix and palm. Figure 29 gives the well known scene: the tree with the sun, which is above it or united with it; the central figure is flanked by two pairs of beings. Fig. 30 has the same scene; but here
Fig. 29 Fig. 30
the place of the solar tree is occupied by the bird which, to some extent, is represented in the style of the tree. To the same class of images belongs figure 31 where the bird in the centre even has the solar disc from which the tailfeathers go
Fig. 31 Fig. 32
down. The wings are modelled in the way of twigs with leaves. The wings of the bird on fig. 32 have the same characteristic.
1) The head was somewhat effaced and has been supplemented by Renan.



That bird and solar disc have the same function on the monuments, appears from the fact that one sculpture has the bird where its counterpart has the disc. On figures 33 and 34 the eagle (or sorne cognate species) takes the place which usually is occupied by the winged disc.
Hgure 35 will now be clear. The tree between the two
F'g- 33 Fig. 34 Fig. 35
conventionalized mountains is a symbol of one of the characteristic points of the world; the mountains represent one of the gates of the earth which are at the same time the gates of heaven ; as representatives of the earth they may assume the form of the omphalos. The tree is the tree of light and the bird near it can only be the symbol of the sun. This figure represents the same scene as n° 36, which however expresses the idea in a different way. Here is Shamash, recognizable by the rays starting from his shoulders; the gate of
Fig. 36
heaven, represented by the two conventionalized mountains; and the bird.
It is not to be wondered at, that the eagle, as a symbol of the sun, finally becomes the central point of the Zodiac,



as is the case on a Mithriac plate, reproduced by Cumont1).
The bird in the West, in conjunction with the other symbols, occurs also in literature. We have discussed Nonnus' description of the doublé rock with the olive at Tyre and concluded, that there is the description of the typical symbols of the West2). It is to be remarked that the eagle is not missing:
axcozazoiq $1 aisrèv cï.Spr/.tvjts jiapedpvaaovrex xopvfj.[ioig y.v.i rpiaXrjv ebvMzov 3).
It is clear that the eagle with the cup in the top of the olive belongs also to the cosmological scenery localized at Tyre. And in connection with the examples given above, the eagle cannot be but the symbol of the sun. It is remarkable that Nonnus' description comes back, even in details, in one of the tales from modern Palestine, collected by H. Schmidt4). The hero of the tale is ordered to travel to the other side of the garden of the vireins; there is a doublé mountain and a
O O '
tree, the fountain of life, and, in the top of the tree, a bird with a cup hung on its neck.
The identity of the two descriptions is evident ; and so the latter may explain the former: the cup mentioned by Nonnus has the same meaning as that in the modern tale: it is connected with the water of life which does not occur in Nonnus' lines.
Here it may be asked again whether many images of Gilgamesh have not a cosmological meaning. It is not only Gilgamesh with buil and lion that occurs, but also with the other animals typical for the Western and Eastern points: the serpent, the bird and the scorpion 5). But it is easier to ask this question than to answer it.
The cosmological bird occurs in a different connection which seems clearer: I mean the many Greek images of the omphalos with a bird on it, or flanked by two birds, usually eagles, perhaps sometimes ravens6). If it is certain that the omphalos is a symbol of the earth, it is probable that the birds have also a cosmological meaning akin to that which was known in Western Asia. The cosmological significance may still be traced in the myth according to which Zeus let the eagles fly from
i) I, 88 sq. 2) above, p. 16 sq. 3) Liber XL, vs. 471 sqq.
4) Volkserzfthlungen aus PalSstina, p. 148.
5) Ward, n° 171, 178, 185, 187b, 197.
6) Roscher, Omphalos. Tafel VII n° 4} VIII n° 2, 3; IX n° 5. Miinztafel n° 1,9, 17, 19.



the East and the West which met in the centre of the earth *).
The eagle also occurs on Greek altars 3). This case may be parallel to the previous one: the altar is a symbol of the earth 3), as well as the omphalos.
Here have to be discussed some monuments and texts which seem to belong to our subject, viz. the images of an eagle holding a serpent in its mouth or paws. Nielsen in his book Die altarabische Mondreligion 4) mentions a plate of white marble, found in South-Arabia, on which a serpent is sculptured which holds a serpent. Now there are many antique coins and moniunents representing an eagle with a circled object in its mouth or between its paws. It is not always easy to make out what the object is; moreover it is often conventionalized so as to have only the circular form and some dots on it, which could represent the scales of the serpent as well as the leaves of a wreath 5).
Thompson in his Catalogue of Greek Birds °) mentions a long list of references to Greek and Latin authors who mention the fight between eagle and dragon. It is particularly interesting' to see that Nonnus in his description of Tyre also mentions the two as antagonists 7).
Indeed, the eagle with the serpent in its mouth or between its paws is a striking illustration of the idea of cosmic victory, as discussed above. Eagle and serpent are the representatives of two of the mightiest cosmic entities, the sun and the ocean. In this respect the picture of the serpent and the eagle combined, belongs to the same kind as that of sun and tree, tree and mountains etc. So we have here another illustration of the idea of the supremacy of the sun over the other cosmic powers: Gilgamesh conquering all resistance, sol invictus etc.
It is remarkable that Arabic literature also has preserved a reminiscence of cosmic victory, clad in the form of a story. We are acquainted with the fact, that Meccan tradition conceals some cosmological ideas in the stories about the saklna and the serpent which inhabited the Ka'ba8). Now these tra-
1) Roscher, Omphalos, p. 55 sqq.; Neue Omphalosstudien, p. 20 sq.
2) Thompson, Greek birds, p. 10.
3) The Navel of the Earth, p. 40.
4) p. 109, Nielsen cites the journal San'a3.
5) On the eagle with the wreath cf. Cumont in Revue de 1'Histoire des Religions, tome 62, p. 119 sqq. and Ronzevalle in Mélanges de la faculté orientale de 1'Université de Beyrouth, V, fase. 2, p. 1 * svv.
6) p. 3. 7) vs. 476.
8) The Navel of the Earth, p. 60 sqq.



ditions are completed by those which relate how God sent from the cupola of heaven a bird in the form of an cukab, a bird with a black back, a white breast and yellow paws. While the serpent on the wall of the Ka ba opened its mouth in order to repel the bird, the latter eame, caught it by its head and took it to one of the surrounding mountains x). — Here again the three great cosmic powers are represented: the sun by the bird, the ocean by the serpent and the earth by its navel, the sanctuary. It is the ocean which proves to be inferior to the other powers, just as in its strife with Marduk and Jahwe. Is it fortuitous that in the epos it is just Marduk who slays Iiamat? The data of the present inquiry seem to give us the right to deny the question: Marduk is the representative of the sun, and as such he is the antagonist of the ocean.
It is not to be wondered at, that the eagle, once taken up in this current of thought, has become the symbol of power in general. As such it seems to have been known already in the • old Babylonian states. De Sarzec's excavations at Telloh have brought to light some monuments showing the eagle, apparently with this symbolical signifïcance. Prominent among these is the eagle above two lions3). Heuzey has explained this group as an expression of the supremacy of the king of of Lagash, as a ruler over East and West. This explanation agrees with the one given here.
It is only natural that the eagle has become heraldic; it has been duplicated and taken its way from ancient Western Asia via the realm of the Seldjuks to modern Europe. The eagle as a symbol of power and victory was the most apt ïepiesentation of royalty. Ezekiel3), in a parable, describes the king of Babel as a great eagle with great wings, long winged, full of feathers, with divers colours. It is this current of thought which makes it understandable to us that already in antiquity the eagle is reckoned as the king of birds4). And the idea of victory which was inherent in the bird, explains its being taken with predilection as a military Standard5).
1) Ibn Hisham, p. 125. TaVikh al-khamïs I, 112.
2) De Sarzec et Heuzey, Découvertes, PI. 4>is; 5bis; 43IÜS; texte p. 205 sq.
3) 17, 3-
4) Bochart II, 161 sqq. Thompson, p. 2.
5) Mohammed's Standard was an cukab, possibly taken over from Roman usage. Damïrl II, 155; Thompson, p. 4.







REGISTER ON THE NAVEL OF THE EARTH THE OCEAN AND THE PRESENT PAPER
Verh. Afd. Letterk. 1921 (Wensinck).







REGISTER ON THE NAVEL OF THE EARTH THE OCEAN AND THE PRESENT PAPER
N = The Ideas of the Western Semites concerning The Navel of the Earth (Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen, deel XVII n° t).
O—The Ocean in the Literature of the Western Semites (Verhandelingen,
deel XIX n° 2).
T =" the present paper.
Abü Kubeis first mountain N. 12; prayers on — heard N. 25; Adam's grave N. 27.
Adam created in the sanctuary N. 21 sq.; his grave N. 27; his grave and the altar N. 41; dwells in a tent on the spot of the sanctuary N. 45; God's substitute N. 52, 55.
Alexander the Great slays the dragon O. 4; has taken the place of Herakles O. 28 T. 19 sq.; has built a tower in the Ocean O. 28; founds the brazen town O. 29; his aims O. 41, 65; — and Khadir T. 18; — and Gilgamesh T. 20; journeys to the West T. 21.
All-seed tree T. 22.
Altar the place where Adam is created N. 21; connected with the netber world N. 26; — and navel N. 40, T. 46; — the navel of heaven N. 47.
'Anka' mughrib T. 42.
'Arafat N. 11 sq.
Atlantic Ocean the Western border of the earth T. 19.
Baptism and Tehom O. 55.
Bar Jukne T. 37.
Behemot O. 3, 18; representative of the earth O. 19, T. 9; — food of the faithful T. 37.
Bethel, its stone and Eben Shetiya N. 41.
Bird. Earth in the form of a — T. 37, — in the West T. 39 sq., 45; — and
tree T. 40; — in the gate of heaven T. 42, 44; solar — T. 36 sqq.; — on omphalos T. 45. See also s. v. 'Anka', Cock, Eagle, Peacock, Phoenix, Sïmurgh, Vulture.
Buil and earth N. 56 sq., O. 3 sq., 18 sq.; T. 9 sq., 23; gate on — T. 9; — on Mithra monuments T. 10, 21; heavenly — T. io, 24.
Cadix the end of the world O. 30. See also s. v. Gades
Carpets on the heavenly tree T. 31.
Cave in the sanctuary N. 29. 42 sq.
Chaos O. 49 sqq.
Cherubim of Genesis 3, T. 13; — and tree, ib.; belong to the East, perhaps also to the West, ib.; — and bird T. 40.
Christ on the mountain of paradise between two palmtrees T. 41; fig. 27.
Cloud preexistent O. 6; — and ocean O. 11; dwelling-place ofthegodhead O. 12 sq.
Cock as a cosmic and solar bird T. 36 sqq.; wild — T. 37; in eschatology T. 37.
Creation. Muslim story of the — O. 8.
Cupola on the spot of the future sanctuary N. 39; O 8; earth in the form of a cupola N. 39; heaven as a —, N. 43 sq.
Darkness. Land or place of — O. 23, 40 sq., 42, 59.
Dead Sea O. 47.



Death and knowledge T. n, 12.
Deluge does not submerge the holy land N. 15; O. 14; — and the reign of Tehom N. 15; — and the cave in the sanctuary N. 29; — checked by Holy Rock N. 42; — and creation O. 13; — as a representation of Tehom O. 21; is the reign of chaos O. 50.
Desert representation of chaos O. 52 sq.
Disc. Winged —, T. 7, 10, n, 43 sq.
Djabalka and Djabarsa O. 31.
Djidda and the navel N. 36, 41.
al-Durah N. 48 sq.
Ea N. 65; T. 4.
Eagle as a solar bird T. 36, 40; central point of the Zodiac T. 44; — at Tyre T. 45; — on omphalos ib.;
— on altar T. 46; — and serpent ib.; symbol of power and royalty T. 47; — and lioiis ib.; heraldic — ib.; king of birds ib.
Earth, its foundations N. 2; — as a mountain N. 13, 37 sq.; nucleus of the — N. 19 sq.; — as a hemisphere N. 38; as a shield, ib.; as a cupola N. 39; has the same form as the navel, ib.; as a quadrangle N. 39;
— and buil N. 56 sq.; O. 18; T. 9 sq., 20, 23; covered by water O. 2 sq.; compared to an egg O. 3; its connection with subterranean Tehom O. 17; attacked by enemies T. 21; represented by central tree and by tree in the East T. 25; has the form of a bird T. 37.
East often concides with West T. 18 sq.; represented by a torchbearer T. 21. See also s. v. Gate, Tree.
•Eben Shetïya N. 41; O. 16. See also s. v. Rock.
Engidu T. 1, 6.
Eridu T. 4, 18.
Exile and chaos O. 51.
Fountain of life in the land of darkness O. 23, 59; — and ocean O. 57 sq.; — and rivers of paradise O. 59.
Gades T. 19, 21. See also s. v. Cadix.
Gate of heaven, earth, world. Western
— T. 1; Eastern —, T. 2, 8, 14; Northern —, T. 2; — with rays T. 9; — on buil ib.; — of heaven
identical with — of earth T. 10,44;
— of world T. 42; — with lions T. 14 and fig. 11.
Gehenna, its gates N. 25, 41; preexistent O. 6; behind the mountains of darkness O. 41; entrance to — T. 34. See also s. v. Heil. Geography. Primitive T. 1, 4, 19. Gerizim and the navel N. 15.
Ghost. Holy — brooding over the
waters O. 56.
Gilgamesh travels to Mount Mashu T. 1; passes the scorpion-men T. 2;
— as a solar hero T. 2, 25; travels through the mountains T. 2; crosses over to Ut-napishtim T. 3, 18; — on the monuments, T. 6, 23, 45; — and buil T. 24.
Grave has the form of a tumulus N.
58 sq.; — and navel N. 59. Haoma T. 22.
Harburc N. 6.
Heaven as a cupola N. 43, 53; as a tent N. 44; number of heavens N. 50; creation of — O. 9; created from water O. 9 sq.; navel of— N. 45 sqq.
Heil T. 34.
Herakles. Columns of —-O. 26 sq.; his place taken by Alexander O. 28, T. 20; his temple at Gades T. 19;
— and Gilgamesh T. 20. Hierapolis N. 29.
Hira' N. 12, 53.
Images. Brazen — in the Western Ocean O. 27, 30; red — O. 27; three — O. 28; — of stone ib. Islands of the Happy 0.28,32,62 sqq.;
T. 20. Western — T. 20, 28. Jerusalem the highest place N. 13 sq.;
— and creation N. 16 sq.; thecentre of the earth N. 22 sq.; connected with upper and nether world N. 24 sqq.; as a sepulchre N. 27; provided with rain N. 31 sqq.; the origin of all water N. 33; the throne of God N. 54; the navel of the earth N. 35 sq.
Ka'ba the highest place N. 15: freed from the deluge ib.; preexistent N. 18; — and the centre of heaven N. 47-
Kaf N. 5 sq., 45; O. 24, 40, T. 2, 42.



Key of heaven T. 8.
al-Khadir O. 30.
Kishkanu, T. 4.
Kiswa T. 32.
Knowledge and death T. 12.
Kuzah N. 11.
Land without return O. 42.
Leviatan N. 62, 64 sq., O. 18; vanquished by Jahwe O. 3; — and the tinnïn O. 5; representative of Tehom O. 18, T. 9; food of the faithful T. 37-
Lion. Rising sun above two — T. fig. 11; — at the gate of heaven T. 15 and fig. 18, T. 24; Gilgamesh and — ib.; — and eagle T. 47.
Madïnat al-'ukab T. 39.
Marduk T. 47.
al-Masdjid al-Aksa T. 31.
Mashu the Western end of the earth T. 1.
Mediterranean considered as the Ocean or a gulf of it O. 26; as the Western border of the earth T. 17, 19 sq.
Mekka situated between two mountains N. 11; the highest place N. 14 sq.; — and the creation N. 18; the centre of the earth N. 23; con-
nected with upper world N. 25; as a sepulchre N. 27; — and the nether
world JN. 29; — and the provision of water N. 34; navel of the earth N. 36; the primitive form of the Mekkan sanctuary a hill N. 38.
Mithra monuments T. 10, 21, 25, 45.
Monuments. Their significance T. 6; — of Telloh T. 16.
Mountains the navel of the earth N. 1 sqq.; the first solid spots in the Ocean N. 2, 3; the foundations of the earth N. 2, 3, 5; — preserve
the earth from tottering N. 14; 
are coagulated billows N. 4; connected with upper and nether world N. 5 sq.; pro vide the earth with food N. 7; — of paradise N. 13, T. 41; fortresses against Tehom O. 2; — of the Moon O. 35; two — as gate of heaven T. 2, 8; — and tree T. 44 sq.
Mouth of the two rivers T. 4, 18.
Muhammed created from the navel
of the earth N. 21; as a luminary substance T. 38.
Muhït O. 26, 43, 64. See also s. v.
Ocean.
Muzdalifa N. 11 sq.
Navel of the earth at Shekem N. 1; Palestine as — of the earth N. 35; Jerusalem as the — N. 35 sq.; Mekka as the — N. 36; form of the — N. 37 sqq.; — and altar N. 40 sq.; Djidda and the — N. 41 sq.; — stone at Petra N. 60; — and bird T. 44; flanked by serpents T. 10; with winged disc ib.; with tree T. n; between two trees T. 13.
Noah and baptism O. 55.
North. Breasts of the — O. 34, T. 2. North-West. Tree in the — T. 21. Ocean hostile to the gods O. 2 sqq.; Western — O. 4; annihilated in the end O. 5 ; the instrument of the godhead O. 5 sqq.; navel of the — O. 8; returns with the deluge O. 14; fountains of — O. 18, 36 sq.; stinking O- 24, 47; surrounding — O. 25; mother of the seas O. 26; one or three — O. 36; sweet and salt — O- 37 sq.; place of darkness O. 40 sqq.; dark — O. 43, 63; place of distress O. 44 sq.; place of death O- 45 sQ-j without human or animal beings O. 46; and chaos O. 49 sqq. See also s. v. Tehom.
Oil a symbol of light and lifeT. 18, 22. Olive in the vision of Zecharja T. 12; on the rock at Tyre T. 17, 19; a symbol of light T. 18, 28; at Gades T. 19; tree of life an — T. 22. Palmtree and phoenix T. 40 sq. Paradise a mountain N. 13 sq.; T. 5> 4i; — and the Navel N. 14, 50; not reached by deluge N. 16; preexistent N. 17; O. 6; T. 26; its place O. 57; T. 4, 5; its rivers O. 59 j — and Tehom O. 62 sq.; — central T. 27, 30; and sanctuary T. 27; heavenly — T. 30.
Peacock T. 38.
Pen O. 6.
Petra N. 43, 60.
Phoenix T. 39 sqq.
Pillar T. 23.



Preexistent things N. 16 sq.; O. 6; T. 26.
Prophets N. 28.
Rahab O. 3.
Red Sea O. 54 sq.
River of sand O. 28.
Rivers and sublerranean Tehom O. 16 sq.
Rock (holy) at Jerusalem N. 33; — and the Navel N. 41; checks the deluge N. 42; God's throne N. 54, — at Tyre T. 17 sq.
Sakïna at Mekka N. 60 sqq.
Sanctuary and mountains N. 11 sqq.; the highest mountain N. 13 sq.; not attained by deluge N. 15; preexistent N. 15 sq.; O. 6; place of communication with upper and nether world N. 23 sqq.; — as a sepulchre N. 27; provided with rain N. 30; its quadrangular form N. 40, 42; in Tehom N. 42; image of the heavenly one N. 49; fourteen — N. 51; andparadise T. 26; and tree T. 33.
Scorpion-men T. 2, 14, 15.
Serpent and the sakïna N. 60, T. 46; represents the Ocean N. 61, 64; O. 25; Mekkan sanctuary built upon the — N. 62; — on the wall of the ka'ba N. 63; T. 47; — around the world O. 25; — and eagle T. 46.
Shamash T. 2, 4, 8, 9, 15, 41, 44.
Shekem N. 1, ix.
Sidrat al-Muntaha T. 31, 33. See also s. v. Tuba.
Siduri Sabitu T. 3.
Sign of Life T. n.
Sïmurgh T 41 sq.
Sion the highest mountain N. 13 sq.; the centre of the navel N. 22.
Sol invictus T. 25.
Solomon founder of the brazen town O. 29.
South and Mountain of the Moon 0.35.
Statues. See s. v. Images.
Strait of Gibraltar T. 17, 20.
Streams (Mouth of the) T. 18.
Suez (Isthmus of) T. 18.
Sun. Victorious — T. 2, 16, 46; on the seal cylinders T. 7; winged disc T. 7, 44; over tree T. 7; united with tree T. 8; with guardians
T. 2, 14; with two lions T. 16; enemy of earth T. 21 ; — and Mithra monuments T. 21, 25; represented by bird T. 36 sqq.
Tabernacle covered with carpetsT.32.
Tammuz T. 4.
Tehom and mountains N. 2 sqq.; upper and nether — N. 7 sqq.; blessings of — N. 7; gate of Gehenna N. 25 ;
— and Jerusalem N. 26 sq.; etymology of — O. 49; — and tree of life O. 61; — and paradise O. 62 sq. See also s. v. Ocean.
Throne of God above seventh heaven N. 54; upon the waters N. 54; O. 5, 60; — and the Holy Rock N. 54;
— in the sanctuary N. 55, T. 31; — and Navel N. 56; bearers of the — N. 56; rivers flowing from — N. 51; surrounds the Universe N. 57; surrounded by serpent N. 62; preexistent O. 6; in Syriac church N. 56, T. 32;
— and tree T. 32.
Throne of Solomon N. 58, T. 32.
Tinnïn representative of Ocean O. 4.
Town. Brazen — O. 28 sq.; founded by Alexander O. 29; place of riches and of death O. 30; — in East and West O. 31 sq.;—in the West T. 39.
Tree in the East T. 3, 29; — oflight T. 3, 27, 28; not called by ageneric name T. 22, 28; united with sun T. 8; — with Navel T. 11; - in Eridu T. 4; — of death T. 12; — of life T. 5, 12, 22, 27, 29; — of knowledge T. 11; — of wisdom ib.; — of truth ib.; — in the West T. 17 sq., 19, 21, 28; — growing and diminishing with the sun T. 20, 21, 27; — with fruits of all kinds and colours T. 20 sqq.; — representing spring and autumn T. 21; — in the East compared with cedar and kharüb T. 22; — of fortune T. 22; — representing the earth T. 25; — in Libanon O. 61; T. 26; central — is tree of life T. 27; central — in the Kor'an T. 27; cosmic — and candlestick at Jerusalem T. 29; — covered with carpets T. 31; — and sanctuary T. 31; — and throne T. 32; — growing downwards T. 33; and bird



T. 40, 43; between two mountains
fig- 35Tüba T. 33, 35.
Tyre T. 17, 19, 21, 45 sq. Ut-napishtim T. 1 sqq., 18.
Victory. Cosmic — T. 46; Marduk's and Jahwe's — over Ocean O. 1 sqq.; Jahwe's — over the representatives of sun, earth and ocean T. 37. Seealso s. v. Sun.
Vulture as a solar bird T. 39; vul-
ture's town ib.
Wall of Gog and Magog T. 2; — of heaven (shupuk shamë) T. 2.
Water food of earth N. 7; preexistent O. 6; creation of — O. 6; Universe created from — O. 7 sq.; — under God's throne in heaven O. 11; living — O. 60; — of life T. 45; — and resurrection O. 60; masculine and feminine — O. 62.
West raarked by image, town, castle, etc. O. 26 sqq.; other characteristics O. 58; utmost — T. 17; often coincides with East T. 18 sqq.; —represented by torchbearer T. 21; Western end of earth T. 1.
Zakküm T. 34 sq.
PASSAGES FROM BII3LICAL AND APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE
Genesis 1, 2 O. 8.
26, 19 O. 60.
28, 12 N. 24.
29, 2 N. 33.
49. 25 N- 7; O- x5> 17Leviticus 14, 5 sq., 50—52 O. 60 note 1. Deuteronomy 4, 11 N. 46.
27 N. 11.
33, r3 N. 7. Joshua 8, 30—35 N. 11.
Judges 9, 36 sq. N. 1.
Sam. 2, 8 N. 3.
1 Kings 1, 9 N. 65.
2 Kings 18, 4 N. 65. Isaia 2, 1 N. 13.
24 sqq. O. 51
27, 1 N. 61.
38, 16 N. 16.
40, 3 sqq. O. 52.
40, 22 N. 37,
41, 18 sqq. O. 53.
42, 16, 18 O. 52.
43, 16—18 O. 54. 43. 19 sq- 5245, 8 O. 62. Si, 3 O. 51. 51, 9—12 O. 54.
54, 7-9 O. 54.
55, 1, 3 O. 52. 66, 1. N. 58.
Jeremia 2, 13 O. 60
Ezekiel 5, 5 N. 22.
31 O. 61.
note r.
44; O. 23.
43, 1 sq. T. 2 note 1.
47,1 sqq- O- 57; 60 not
20 O. 22.
, 3 sqq. O. 44.
ia 4, 2 sq. T. 12.
6, 1 T. 1.
9, 10 O. 21.
14, 8 O. 60 note 1,
14, 16 N. 31.
18 O. 13.
29 O. 6.
40, 2 O. 44.
42 O. 44.
49 O. 40.
71, 20 O. 44.
72, 8 O. 22.
74, 14 N. 62, O. 3.
75, 4 N. 3.
87 N. 32.
88 O. 40. 89, 10 O. 3. i°3, 5 T. 36. 104, 2 N. 44. i°4, 3 O. 9.
io4. 5—7 N. 3; O. 2.
note 1.
104, 13 N. 120—134 N. 133 N. 136, 6 O.
148, 4 N. Proverbs 8, 24 sqq. N. Job 6, 18 O.
9, 6 N.
727.
3°!S5°-
1 sq.; O. 2,18,23.
53-
3-



Job io, 21 O. 40.
22, 14 O. 23.
26, 10 N. 37; O. 23.
26, 11 N. 5.
38, 8—11 O. 11.
38, 16 O. 18.
Nehemia 2, 13 N. 65.
1 Chronicles 29, 23 N. 54.
2 Chronicles 6, 26 sq. N. 32.
Romans 6, 3 sq. O. 56.
1 Corinthians 10, 1 sq. O. 55.
1 Peter 3, 20 O. 56.
Apocalypse 12 O. 5.
Apocalypse 21, 1 O. 5.
Book of Jubilees N. 22.
Henoch 17 sqq. O. 33, 37, 58. 22 O. 34.
26 N. 25.
28 sqq. T. 5.
32, 3 sqq. T. 11. 40, 26 N. 22.
II Henoch 31, 2 T. 5.
8 (B) T. 22, 33. 8, 4 T. 30.
Books of Adam and Eve 22, 4 T. 33. IV Ezra III, 6 T. 27.
PASSAGES FROM THE KOR'AN
Sura Süra
2, 9 N- 24- 27, 62 O. 20.
2, 27 N. 51. 31, 26 O. 24.
6, 92 (= 42, 5) N. 23. 37, 60 sqq. T. 34.
ü, 9 O- 5- 44, 43 sqq- T. 34.
15, 22 N. 34. 51, 22 N. 7.
16, 15 N. 4. _ 53, 14 T. 29. ï8, 59 T. 18. 55, 19 sq. O. 20. 21, 3i O. 7. 57, 13 N. 26.
24, 35 T- 27. 78, 6 sq. N. 44.
25, 55 O. 20, 37.











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