The Tree of Life

Lore & Background

Various trees of life are recounted in folklore, culture and fiction, often relating to immortality or fertility. They had their origin in religious symbolism. According to professor Elvyra Usačiovaitė, a 'typical' imagery preserved in ancient iconography is that of two symmetrical figures facing each other, with a tree standing in the middle. The two characters may variously represent rulers, gods, and even a deity and a human follower.

In ancient Mesopotamia, the Assyrian tree of life was represented by a series of nodes and crisscrossing lines, attended to in Assyrian palace reliefs by human or eagle-headed winged genies, or the King, and blessed or fertilized with bucket and cone. Assyriologists have not reached consensus as to the meaning of this symbol. The name 'Tree of Life' has been attributed to it by modern scholarship; it is not used in the Assyrian sources. In Urartu, the tree of life was drawn on walls of fortresses and carved on the armor of warriors, with branches equally divided on the right and left sides, each branch having one leaf, and one leaf on the apex.

Servants stood on each side with one hand up as if taking care of the tree. In ancient Egypt, the phrase and name of 'tree of life' directly occurs in writings such as the Great Cairo Hymn of Praise to Amun-Re, the Great Hymn of Osiris, the Pyramid Texts, and the Book of the Dead, representing a fruitful life in this world and eternal life after death. In ancient Iran, the Gaokerena is a large, sacred haoma planted by Ahura Mazda, guarded by two kar-fish against a frog created by Ahriman.

Haoma is a sacred plant used in Zoroastrian ritual, bestowing health, fertility, husbands for maidens, and even immortality. In Hinduism, the Puranas mention a divine tree called the Kalpavriksha, guarded by gandharvas in the garden of Amaravati under Indra's control. In Chinese mythology, a carving of a tree of life depicts a phoenix and a dragon; a Taoist story tells of a tree that produces a peach of immortality every three thousand years. In Christianity, the tree of life appears in Genesis 2:9 and 3:22–24 as the source of eternal life in the Garden of Eden, and reappears in the Book of Revelation (Chapter 22) as part of the new garden of paradise in New Jerusalem.

Reader's Guide

The tree of life is a symbol found across many cultures and religions, often representing immortality, fertility, or eternal life. Its specific meanings and depictions vary widely by tradition.

Did You Know?

• Scholars differ on whether Egypt or Mesopotamia was the originator of the tree of life motif, or that it was a 'meta-metaphor' which arose in different cultures.
• In the Epic of Gilgamesh, a similar quest for immortality appears; in Babylonian religion, Etana, the King of Kish, searched for a 'plant of birth' to provide him with a son.
• The tree of life appears in Asherah iconography, particularly on the Lachish ewer and Pithos A from Kuntillet Ajrud, where it is flanked by ibexes.
• In Egyptian mythology, the sky goddess Nut was at times depicted as a sycamore tree giving food and water to the deceased.