Tree
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The hieroglyph probably represents the sycamore but
several types of trees appeared in Egyptian mythology. The sycamore was
of particular significance. In the Book of the Dead, two turquoise
sycamores stood at the eastern gate of heaven from where the sun god Re
emerged each day. These same trees appear in the New Kingdom tomb
paintings with a young bull calf emerging between them as a symbol of
the sun. Although the tree could take on a male aspect in the form of
the solar god Re-Herakhty the sycamore was regarded as a form of the
goddesses Nut, Isis and Hathor (Lady of the Sycamore). Many paintings
show Hathor or Nut reaching out from a sycamore to offer the deceased
food and water thus symbolically supplying all their needs in the afterlife. Sycamore trees were often planted near tombs and
representations of the leaves were used as funerary amulets. The ished,
a deciduous fruit-bearing species also had solar significance and was
protected from the serpent Apophis by the great cat
of Heliopolis. |
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