Lotus tree

The lotus tree (Greek: λωτός, lōtós) is a plant that is referred to in stories from Greek and Roman mythology.

The lotus tree is mentioned in Homer's Odyssey as bearing a fruit that caused a pleasant drowsiness, and which was said to be the only food of an island people called the Lotophagi or Lotus-eaters. When they ate of the lotus tree they would forget their friends and homes and would lose their desire to return to their native land in favor of living in idleness.[1] Botanical candidates for the lotus tree include the date-plum (Diospyros lotus), which is a sub-evergreen tree native to Africa that grows to about 25 feet bearing yellowish green flowers,[2] as well as Ziziphus lotus, a plant with an edible fruit closely related to the jujube, native to North Africa and the islands in the Gulf of Gabes such as Jerba.

In Ovid's Metamorphoses,[3] the nymph Lotis was the beautiful daughter of Neptune, the god of water and the sea. In order to flee the violent attention of Priapus, she invoked the assistance of the gods, who answered her prayers by turning her into a lotus tree.[4]

The Book of Job has two lines (40:21-22), with the Hebrew word צֶאֱלִים‎ (tse'elim),[5] which appears nowhere else in the Bible. A common translation has been "lotus trees" since the publication of the Revised Version. However it is sometimes rendered simply as "shady trees".[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, page 526, by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer
  2. ↑ John Marius Wilson, The rural cyclopedia: or a general dictionary of agriculture, and ..., Volume 2
  3. ↑ Elizabeth Washington Wirt, Flora's dictionary
  4. ↑ Richard Folkard, Plant lore, legends, and lyrics
  5. ↑ Hebrew word #6628 in Strong's Concordance
  6. ↑ Barnes, Albert (1857). Notes, critical, illustrative, and practical, on the book of Job with a new translation, and an introductory dissertation. II. New York: Leavitt and Allen. p. 276. Retrieved 2014-09-15., or html.
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