Chronological timeline of texts tagged with World Tree
About This Tag
The world tree is a widespread ancient Near Eastern image of a single great tree standing at the center of the world. Its top reaches into heaven and its roots descend toward the underworld, making it the axis that connects the realms of the cosmos. Mesopotamian texts often place this tree on a divine mountain inside a sacred garden watered by life-giving springs. Hebrew Bible authors draw on the same imagery when they describe Eden, the cedar of Lebanon, the towering tree in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and the temple river that nourishes fruit-bearing trees on its banks. Later Jewish texts such as 1 Enoch, the Aramaic Targums, and Genesis Rabbah develop the tradition further by enlarging Eden's tree of life into a cosmic tree at the very center of the earth.
Note: Dates shown in this timeline are approximate and based on scholarly estimates.
Back to TagThe Building of Ningirsu Temple / Daniel 4:10
2125 B.C.E.
The Building of Ningirsu Temple
Ancient Near East
The seven stones surrounding the house are there to take counsel with its owner. Its chapel for funerary offerings is as pure as the clean abzu. The stone basins set up in the house are like the holy room of the lustration priest where water never ceases to flow. Its high battlements where pigeons live is ... Eridug ... E-ninnu offers rest to pigeons, it is a protective cover with large branches and a pleasant shade, with swallows and other birds chirping loudly there. It is Enlil's E-kur when a festival takes place in it. The house's great awesomeness settles upon the whole Land, its praise reaches to the highlands, the awesomeness of the E-ninnu covers all lands like a garment. The house has been built most sumptuously by its lord. It was built on a pedestal by Ninĝišzida. Its foundation pegs were driven in by Gudea, the ruler of Lagaš.
2nd Century B.C.E.
Daniel 4:10
Hebrew Bible
9 saying, “Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, in whom I know there to be a spirit of the holy gods and whom no mystery baffles, consider my dream that I saw and set forth its interpretation! 10 Here are the visions of my mind while I was on my bed. “While I was watching, there was a tree in the middle of the land. It was enormously tall. 11 The tree grew large and strong. Its top reached far into the sky; it could be seen from the borders of all the land. 12 Its foliage was attractive and its fruit plentiful; on it there was food enough for all. Under it the wild animals used to seek shade, and in its branches the birds of the sky used to nest. All creatures used to feed themselves from it. 13 “While I was watching in my mind’s visions on my bed, a holy sentinel came down from heaven.
2100 B.C.E.
Epic of Gilgamesh V
Ancient Near East
Where Humbaba would walk there was a trail, the roads led straight on, the path was excellent. Then they saw the Cedar Mountain, the Dwelling of the Gods, the throne dais of Imini. Across the face of the mountain the Cedar brought forth luxurious foliage, its shade was good, extremely pleasant. The thornbushes were matted together, the woods were a thicket ... among the Cedars,... the boxwood, the forest was surrounded by a ravine two leagues long,
6th Century B.C.E.
Ezekiel 31:3
Hebrew Bible
3 Consider Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches, like a forest giving shade, and extremely tall; its top reached into the clouds. 4 The water made it grow; underground springs made it grow tall. Rivers flowed all around the place it was planted, while smaller channels watered all the trees of the field. 5 Therefore it grew taller than all the trees of the field; its boughs grew large and its branches grew long, because of the plentiful water in its shoots. 6 All the birds of the sky nested in its boughs; under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth; in its shade all the great nations lived. 7 It was beautiful in its loftiness, in the length of its branches; for its roots went down deep to plentiful waters. 8 The cedars in the garden of God could not eclipse it, nor could the fir trees match its boughs; the plane trees were as nothing compared to its branches; no tree in the garden of God could rival its beauty. 9 I made it beautiful with its many branches; all the trees of Eden, in the garden of God, envied it.
2100 B.C.E.
Epic of Gilgamesh V
Ancient Near East
Where Humbaba would walk there was a trail, the roads led straight on, the path was excellent. Then they saw the Cedar Mountain, the Dwelling of the Gods, the throne dais of Imini. Across the face of the mountain the Cedar brought forth luxurious foliage, its shade was good, extremely pleasant. The thornbushes were matted together, the woods were a thicket ... among the Cedars,... the boxwood, the forest was surrounded by a ravine two leagues long,
6th Century B.C.E.
Ezekiel 28:13
Hebrew Bible
12 “Son of man, sing a lament for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘You were the sealer of perfection, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering, the ruby, topaz, and emerald, the chrysolite, onyx, and jasper, the sapphire, turquoise, and beryl; your settings and mounts were made of gold. On the day you were created they were prepared. 14 I placed you there with an anointed guardian cherub; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked about amidst fiery stones. 15 You were blameless in your behavior from the day you were created, until sin was discovered in you.
1900 B.C.E.
Enki and Ninhursag
Ancient Near East
“Let Utu stand in heaven. From the breast of Nanna, From the mouth from which the waters of the earth flow, Bring sweet water from the earth. Let him bring the water up into your great canals. Let him make your city drink from the waters of abundance. Let Dilmun drink from the waters of abundance. Let your well of bitter water become a well of sweet water. Let your furrowed fields and farms bear grain. Let your city become the house of the riverbank.” Now Utu stood in heaven. From the breast of Nanna, From the mouth from which the waters of the earth flow,
6th Century B.C.E.
Ezekiel 47:1
Hebrew Bible
6 He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I had returned, I noticed a vast number of trees on the banks of the river, on both sides. 8 He said to me, “These waters go out toward the eastern region and flow down into the rift valley; when they enter the Dead Sea, where the sea is stagnant, the waters become fresh. 9 Every living creature that swarms where the river flows will live; there will be many fish, for these waters flow there. It will become fresh, and everything will live where the river flows. 10 Fishermen will stand beside it; from En Gedi to En Eglaim they will spread nets. They will catch many kinds of fish, like the fish of the Great Sea. 11 But its swamps and its marshes will not become fresh; they will remain salty. 12 On both sides of the river’s banks, every kind of tree will grow for food. Their leaves will not wither nor will their fruit fail, but they will bear fruit every month because their water source flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 2:9
Hebrew Bible
8 The Lord God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.) 10 Now a river flows from Eden to water the orchard, and from there it divides into four headstreams.
300-1200 C.E.
Pseudo Jonathan Genesis 2:9
Targum
8 Before the creation of the world, a garden had been planted by the Memra of the Lord God from Eden for the righteous, and He made Adam dwell there when He created him. 9 And the Lord God caused to grow from the ground every tree that is desirable to see and good to eat, and the tree of life in the middle of the garden, whose height was a journey of five hundred years, and the tree whose fruit enables those who eat it to distinguish between good and evil. 10 A river goes out from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four river-heads.
500 C.E.
Genesis Rabbah 15:6
Rabbinic
‘And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden’ (Genesis 2:9). It was taught: It was a tree which spread over all living things. R. Judah b. R. Ila'i said: The tree of life covered a five hundred years' journey, and all the primeval waters branched out in streams under it. R. Judan said in the name of R. Judah b. R. Ila'i: Not only its boughs but even its trunk was a five hundred years' journey.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 2:9
Hebrew Bible
8 The Lord God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.) 10 Now a river flows from Eden to water the orchard, and from there it divides into four headstreams.
200-50 B.C.E.
1 Enoch 32:4
Pseudepigrapha
3 And from there I went over the summits of all these mountains, far towards the east of the earth, and passed above the Erythraean sea and went far from it, and passed over the angel Zotêl. 4 And I came to the Garden of Righteousness, and beyond those trees, I saw many large trees growing there, fragrant, large, very beautiful, and glorious, including the tree of wisdom, from which they eat and gain great wisdom. 5 And I came to the Garden of Righteousness, and from afar off I saw trees more numerous than these, and among them were two very large, beautiful, glorious, and magnificent trees, including the tree of knowledge, whose holy fruit they eat and gain great wisdom.
6th Century B.C.E.
Ezekiel 31:3
Hebrew Bible
1 In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and his hordes:“‘Who are you like in your greatness? 3 Consider Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches, like a forest giving shade, and extremely tall; its top reached into the clouds. 4 The water made it grow; underground springs made it grow tall. Rivers flowed all around the place it was planted, while smaller channels watered all the trees of the field. 5 Therefore it grew taller than all the trees of the field; its boughs grew large and its branches grew long, because of the plentiful water in its shoots.
5th Century B.C.E.
Zechariah 11:2
Hebrew Bible
1 Open your gates, Lebanon, so that the fire may consume your cedars. 2 Howl, fir tree, because the cedar has fallen; the majestic trees have been destroyed. Howl, oaks of Bashan, because the impenetrable forest has fallen. 3 Listen to the howling of shepherds, because their magnificence has been destroyed. Listen to the roaring of young lions, because the thickets of the Jordan have been devastated. 4 The Lord my God says this: “Shepherd the flock set aside for slaughter.
6th Century B.C.E.
Ezekiel 31:10
Hebrew Bible
8 The cedars in the garden of God could not eclipse it, nor could the fir trees match its boughs; the plane trees were as nothing compared to its branches; no tree in the garden of God could rival its beauty. 9 I made it beautiful with its many branches; all the trees of Eden, in the garden of God, envied it. 10 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because it was tall in stature, and its top reached into the clouds, and it was proud of its height, 11 I gave it over to the leader of the nations. He has judged it thoroughly, as its sinfulness deserves. I have thrown it out.
2nd Century B.C.E.
Daniel 4:11
Hebrew Bible
10 Here are the visions of my mind while I was on my bed. “While I was watching, there was a tree in the middle of the land. It was enormously tall. 11 The tree grew large and strong. Its top reached far into the sky; it could be seen from the borders of all the land. 12 Its foliage was attractive and its fruit plentiful; on it there was food enough for all. Under it the wild animals used to seek shade, and in its branches the birds of the sky used to nest. All creatures used to feed themselves from it.