What is the significance of cedar in mesopotamian culture

Cedars are definitely another source of pride for the Lebanese, as the forests remind the people of the great heritage they hail from. It is difficult to imagine, with all the exploitation, that the Lebanese rural landscape was once a giant mythical, biblical, and now historical forest. We and our partners use cookies to better understand your needs, improve performance and provide you with personalised content and advertisements.

To allow us to provide a better and more tailored experience please click "OK". Sign Up. Travel Guides. Videos Beyond Hollywood Hungerlust Pioneers of love. Source: Wikimedia commons. For this reason the Romans had to import most of the timber form all parts of the Empire and metallurgic industries, which depended heavily on charcoal, moved out of Italy. The centres of mining and metal smelting became the most deforested areas of the Roman Empire. Pliny must have realised that human industry and activities put forests at risk of destruction.

In a world where trees were a scarce resource it is not surprising that Pliny wrote with awe about the massive forests in Germany:. In the northern region is the fast expanse of the Hercynian Oak Forest, untouched by the ages and coeval with the world, which surpasses all marvels by its almost immortal destiny.

But it was not just awe that inspired Pliny because the Romans realised that these forests were an important resource for their industries. Faced wood shortages, Rome increasingly turned to northern Europe for their wood supplies. Unfortunately for them they never succeeded in conquering the areas east of the Rhine and they had to turn elsewhere for timber, in particular to the Mediterranean.

It was not until the Emperor Hadrian introduced protective measures and declared the cedar forests of Lebanon his Imperial Domain, that the destruction of the forests was slowed. Now that we have explored the importance of wood and forests of antiquity, we make a big jump forward in time to examine the importance of wood in the rise of the West. This development had become very difficult in the Middle East, were the ancient forests were had largely disappeared during antiquity.

In China, signs of wood shortages appeared in the 13th century. This was caused by a rapid growth of the population and the resulting demand on the timber supplies at that time.

But this did not prevent China from building ocean-going ships. The main reason why China did not circumnavigate Cape of Good Hope is more of a political nature than a matter of resource shortages or ecology. At the same time at the other side of the Eurasian landmass, Europe woke up from its relative isolation of the Middle Ages.

Trade and commerce started to expand and most of this trade was by sea. This was partly encouraged by its ecology because Europe has no long navigable rivers and transport by land was difficult because the massive woods, bad road conditions and extensive wetland areas which made it very difficult to transport goods over long distances over land.

Luckily Europe has a long coastline and for this reason most long distance navigation took place along the coasts. As a result it was important for European powers to development seaworthy vessels that could transport bulk goods over long distances and over rough seas.

The first region where new vessels were developed was in the western the Mediterranean and in particular in Venice. To leave her Muslim competitors behind and establish maritime supremacy over de Mediterranean Venice developed superior ships.

The city was very successful in building large numbers of high quality ships and for a considerable time Venice was the most important maritime power in Europe. However, Venice paid a high price for its rapid expanding sea power. The first signs of timber shortages can be identified by the end of the 15th century and by Venice had to import complete ship hulls from Northern Europe.

Soon Venice had to abandon its prominent position as a maritime power and the centre of maritime activity shifted for the first time since antiquity away from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic and North Sea coasts. Spanish galleon. Source: Wikimedia Commons. During the 15th and 16th centuries Spain was building a sea borne empire in the Americas and the Far East. The expansion was a heritage of the struggle against the Moors in the later Middle Ages.

The Cedar Forest was a divine, shady forest that was fought over by demi-gods and humans. It is also said that Gilgamesh himself used cedar wood to build his great city. Their shadow is beautiful, is all delight. Not to be outdone, the ancient Egyptians also made use of this famous tree. The Egyptians desperately sought immortality and wanted to be spoken of long after their death. To achieve this, Egyptians used mummification to strip the body of its organs, except the heart, and preserve their physical form.

Cedar resin and sawdust was used in the embalming process due to its powerful bactericidal and fungicidal activity, with the enzymes in the wood capable of surviving for thousands of years.

Bulletin of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies. Sugimoto, D. Tigay, J. Vidal, J. Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions. Weinfeld, M. Vetus Testamentum. Like Like. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email.

Notify me of new posts via email. The Assyrian Tree of Life. Source: Samizdat. The pair take battle with Humbaba. Source: Black Gate. References Altman, N. Kovacs, M.