Explore texts tagged with World Tree
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta
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Ezekiel 31:3
Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta
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Daniel 4:11
Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta
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Pseudo Hippolytus Easter Homily 1:5
The Building of Ningirsu Temple
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Daniel 4:10
Epic of Gilgamesh V
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Ezekiel 28:13
Epic of Gilgamesh V
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Ezekiel 31:3
Enki and Ninhursag
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Ezekiel 47:1
Genesis 2:9
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1 Enoch 32:4
Genesis 2:9
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2 Enoch 8:3
Genesis 2:9
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Pseudo Jonathan Genesis 2:9
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Genesis Rabbah 15:6
Genesis 28:12
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Irenaeus Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 46
Ezekiel 31:3
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Zechariah 11:2
Ezekiel 31:3
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Pseudo Hippolytus Easter Homily 1:5
Ezekiel 31:8
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1 Enoch 24:4
Ezekiel 31:10
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Daniel 4:11
Ezekiel 47:9
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Barnabas 11:10
Daniel 4:11
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Irenaeus Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 46
Daniel 4:11
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Pseudo Hippolytus Easter Homily 1:5
Pseudo Hippolytus Easter Homily 1:5
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Athanasius On the Incarnation of the Word 25:3
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.
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