Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

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Figure 5. One of many scenes from Pharaonic tombs: an image of the tree goddess pouring blessings

011 the deceased. Under the sycamore's shadow are the souls of these deceased ill the fo rm of Ba birds.

Af ter N. de Garis Davis's Seven Private Tombs at Kurnah. Mond Excavations at Thebes [I.

1948. Ed. A. H. Gardiner. London, plate XXXIV.

The symbolic importance of the sycamore tree fo r Copts originates in Luke

19 :4, where the sycamore tree was said to have been climbed by Zachaeus

in his eagerness to see Christ. In Coptic fo lklore, the sycamore apparently

symbolizes the Coptic people (13). This suggests strong continuity with the

traditional worship of the sycamore.

In ancient Egypt, the sycamore was so common that one of the names of

Egypt was "Land of the Sycamore" (14). It was considered the most holy

tree, thanks to the deep shadow its protective crown offered in this sunny

country. Hathor, Nut, and Isis-the three ancient goddesses-were believed

to dwell in the sycamore and were often depicted nestling in its crown, mostly

as a personification of the tree itself (Fig. 5) (15).

The Pharaonic sycamore cult seems to have survived into local Christian

mythology (16). Even today, people do not like to cut old sycamore. The tree

grows in village cemeteries to provide protective shadow. Associations with

the Virgin Mary resting in Egypt under the sycamore also remain alive to

this day. At the well at Matariyya in Heliopolis, today a suburb of Cairo, a

centuries-old sycamore still grows that is believed to have been visited by the

Virgin with the infant Jesus. This holy place is abundantly described by many

pilgrims as having contained, through the Middle Ages, an enchanting orchard

of balsam and other exotic trees, such as cypresses (17).

Christian Ethiopia, which is closely connected with Coptic Egypt, still be­

lieves that in each sycamore one Maria lives; they call the sycamore Marianet.

The link between the ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor, Lady of the Syca­

more, and Christian Virgin Mary can be surmised ( 18 ).

Conclusion

In Egypt, image veneration and sycamore tree veneration have been practiced

since antiquity, and great importance was attached to the use of special wood

fo r sacred images. This tradition was so strong that its survival into Coptic

times is not surprising. Thus the Coptic icons are the repository of an earlier

heritage.

Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice