That each day I may walk unceasingly on the banks of my water, that my soul may repose on the branches of the trees which I planted, that I may refresh myself under the shadow of my sycamore.
Egyptian tomb inscription, circa 1400 BCE
The Sycamore is a classic European tree to the modern eye, a deciduous mountain species, common throughout Central Europe which first appeared in Britain in the thirteenth century.
It is Europe's largest maple, with Sycamore's frequently reaching in excess of 30 meters.
The logs may attain 1 meter thickness in 80-90 years, with it's white timber, wavy-grained (fiddleback) wood is prized.
Salt-laden wind will not harm the Sycamore, as it is resistant to maritime exposure, though once established, it is sun-loving. Can reach anywhere between 40-60 feet after middle-age.
The Celts introduced the Sycamore tree into Britain from Gaul, where they used the seeds which had been ground-down, to make a flour or gruel.
Evidence suggests that approximately 1000 years are needed before trees, (without special breeding), can adequately adapt themselves to competing favourably to grow wild with native species. (This tales into account, weather resistance, mychorhiza, and specialist pollinators).
The reintroduction of the Sycamore by the Normans has no firm evidence, though it is believed to be due to it's hardiness salt winds.
“I resent the creation of a world in which beauty is a reminder of what we’re losing, rather than a celebration of what we’ve got.”
Ben Elton
In mythology there is a scene where an Adoration of the rising Sun between two Sycamore trees, is represented as a white bull-calf between the trees. Egyptian myths from Heliopolis (Greek: "City of the Sun"), biblical ON, the Sun was said to rise every morning between two Sycamore trees.
In various other myths, the Sun is portrayed as being born every morning in the form of a Bull-calf, from his mother, the "Heavenly Cow" personifying the sky.
In some myths the Sun is born from a tree, or a lotus blossom, and the Sycamore Tree respresented Hathor.
There are more myths, which show the a cow being impregnated by a beam of light from the Sun, fromwhich a white bull calf was born, soon the become the scred Apis Bull.
"The sycamore itself was a tree of particular mythical significance. According to Chapter 109 of the Book of the Dead, twin 'Sycamores of Turquoise' were believed to stand at the eastern gate of heaven from which the sun god Re emerged each day, and these same two trees sometimes appear in New Kingdom tomb paintings with a young bull calf emerging between them as a symbol of the sun. While the cosmic tree could thus take on a male aspect as a form of the solar god Re-Herakhty, the Sycamore was especially regarded as a manifestation of the goddesses Nut, Isis and Hathor- who was given the epithet "Lady of the Sycamore." (p.117, "Tree." Richard H. Wilkinson. Reading Egyptian Art, A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Egyptian Painting and Sculpture. London. Thames & Hudson. 1992)
Hathor/Nut has various portrayals in mythology, as the sun being born from the sky, and also in tomb paintings as a Sycamore tree, that provided food and drink in the Afterworld to the Righteous Dead.
It may be summised, that the mural showing the rising sun and bull calf connected with the Sycamore trees, may in fact be alluding to Hathor giving birth to the former.
[Hathor was also the "Goddess of Turquoise" and honored with shrines at the Copper Mines in the Sinai (the mining camps of Serabit el Khadim and Timna in the Arabah).]
In Egyptian mythology several species of tree may have sacred status bestowed upon it, with their names written with the same hieroglyphic determinative. Egyptian art was given to placing trees in a larger context.
The Sycamore tree held a particular place in Egyptian mythology, two being known as "sycamores of turquoise" stood at the eastern gate of heaven, whence the Sun rose each morning. They became associated with the goddesses Nut, Hathor and Isis, whom were each called "Lady of Sycamore".
Nut and Hathor were said to reach out from the tree, offering food and water to the deceased, with the Sycamore sometimes anthropomorphized, having arms itself which offer the sustenance to the dead.
Sycamores were often planted near tombs, and burial in coffins made of sycamore wood returned the dead person to the womb of the mother tree goddess.
by lauren6
"What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another."
Mahatma Gandhi