Flora Unveiled

130 i Flora Unveiled

meanings and that the Song of Songs was actually an allegory of God’s love for his Chosen
People. Thus, the eroticism of the Song was made acceptable to the rabbis. Rabbi Akiva
declared that, far from being profane, the Song of Songs was the most sacred text in the Bible:

God forbid! No man in Israel ever disputed the status of the Song of Songs ... for the

whole world is not worth the day in which the Song of Songs was given to Israel; for all

the writings are holy, but the Song of Songs is the holiest of the holy.^97

Nevertheless, the Song of Songs continued to be sung at Jewish wedding banquets for
some time after. Rabbi Akiva acknowledged the practice and strongly disapproved of it: “He
who recites a verse of the Song of Songs and treats it as a song, and one who recites a verse at
a banquet, brings evil upon the world.”^98
As we shall see in Chapter  11, medieval Christian theologians also attempted to
allegorize the Song of Songs, this time as the love of Christ (the bridegroom) for his
Church (the bride) or the individual soul. By the ninth century ce, the term “enclosed
garden” came to be identified in western literature with the Virgin Mary in her role as
the “Second Eve.”

Notes

1. Barrow, S.  (1998), A  monograph of Phoenix l. (Palmae:  Coryphoideae). Kew Bulletin.
   53:513– 575.


2. Tengberg, Margareta (2012), Fruit growing, in D.  T. Potts, ed. Blackwell Companions to
   the Ancient World:  Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. Wiley- Blackwell,
   pp. 181– 200.


3. Zohary, D., M. Hopf, and E. Weiss (2012), Domestication of Plants in the Old World: The
   Origin and Spread of Domesticated Plants in Southwest Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean
   Basin. Oxford University Press.


4. Barrow,. A monograph of Phoenix l.


5. Beech, M.  (2003), Archaeobotanical evidence for early date consumption in the Arabian
   Gulf, in ECSSR (ed.), The Date Palm - From Traditional Resource to Green Wealth. Emirates
   Center for Strategic Studies and Research, Abu Dhabi, pp. 11– 31.
   6. Ibid.


6. Postgate, J.  N. (1992), Early Mesopotamia:  Society and Economy at the Dawn of History.
   Routledge.


7. With the expansion of villages into cities came a radical restructuring of society that
   replaced the kinship- based social hierarchy of the Neolithic Ubaid culture with a new politi-
   cal hierarchy. Palaces were erected as well as monumental public buildings and sculpture.
   Taxes and tribute were collected, and laws were enforced by a professional military that
   formed part of the ruling elite. Religion adapted to the new realities and became strongly
   identified with the King, granting him divine legitimacy in exchange for royal sanction and
   financial support. Underpinning the brave new world of mass agriculture and public build-
   ing projects were increasing numbers of specialized artisans and craftspeople, as well as an
   organized workforce.