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Cedars of God
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Cedars of God
The Cedars of God (Arabic: أرز الربّ, romanized: Arz ar-Rabb, lit. 'Cedars of the Lord') is a forest in the Kadisha Valley of Bsharre, Lebanon. It is a vestige of the extensive forests of the Lebanon cedar that thrived across Mount Lebanon in antiquity. Early modern travelers' accounts of the wild cedars appear to refer to the ones in Bsharri; the Christian monks of the monasteries in the Kadisha Valley venerated the trees for centuries. The earliest documented references of the Cedars of God are found in Tablets 4–6 of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
The Phoenicians, Israelites, Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Romans, Arabs, and Turks used Lebanese timber. The Egyptians valued it for shipbuilding, and in the Ottoman Empire the timber was used to construct railways.
The mountains of Lebanon were once shaded by thick cedar forests. After centuries of persistent deforestation, the extent of the forests has been markedly reduced.
It was once said that a battle occurred between the demigods and the humans over the beautiful and divine forest of cedar trees near southern Mesopotamia. This forest, once protected by the Sumerian god Enlil, was completely bared of its trees when humans entered its grounds 4700 years ago, after winning the battle against the guardians of the forest, the demigods. The story also tells that Gilgamesh used cedar wood to build his city.
Over the centuries, cedar wood was exploited by the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Romans, Arabs, and Turks. The Phoenicians used the cedars for their merchant fleets. They needed timbers for their ships and the cedar woods made them the "first sea trading nation in the world". The Egyptians used cedar resin for the mummification process and the cedar wood for some of "their first hieroglyph bearing rolls of papyrus". In the Bible, Solomon procured cedar timber to build the Temple in Jerusalem. The Cedar Forest of ancient Mesopotamian religion appears in several sections of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The Lebanon cedar is mentioned 103 times in the Bible. In the Hebrew text it is named ארז and in the Greek text (LXX) it is named κέδρου. For example in Zechariah there is the verse "Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down."
Early modern travelers' accounts of the wild cedars of Lebanon appear to refer to the Bsharri cedars. Pierre Belon visited the area in 1550, making him the first modern traveler to identify the Cedars of God in his Observations. Belon counted 28 trees:
At a considerable height up the mountains the traveler arrives at the Monastery of the Virgin Mary, which is situated in the valley. Thence proceeding four miles up the mountain, he will arrive at the cedars, the Maronites or the monks acting as guides. The cedars stand in a valley, and not on top of the mountain, and they are supposed to amount to 28 in number, though it is difficult to count them, they being distant from each other a few paces. These the Archbishop of Damascus has endeavored to prove to be the same that Solomon planted with his own hands in the quincunx manner as they now stand. No other tree grows in the valley in which they are situated and it is generally so covered with snow as to be only accessible in summer.
Leonhard Rauwolf followed in 1573–75, counting 24 trees:
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Cedars of God
The Cedars of God (Arabic: أرز الربّ, romanized: Arz ar-Rabb, lit. 'Cedars of the Lord') is a forest in the Kadisha Valley of Bsharre, Lebanon. It is a vestige of the extensive forests of the Lebanon cedar that thrived across Mount Lebanon in antiquity. Early modern travelers' accounts of the wild cedars appear to refer to the ones in Bsharri; the Christian monks of the monasteries in the Kadisha Valley venerated the trees for centuries. The earliest documented references of the Cedars of God are found in Tablets 4–6 of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
The Phoenicians, Israelites, Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Romans, Arabs, and Turks used Lebanese timber. The Egyptians valued it for shipbuilding, and in the Ottoman Empire the timber was used to construct railways.
The mountains of Lebanon were once shaded by thick cedar forests. After centuries of persistent deforestation, the extent of the forests has been markedly reduced.
It was once said that a battle occurred between the demigods and the humans over the beautiful and divine forest of cedar trees near southern Mesopotamia. This forest, once protected by the Sumerian god Enlil, was completely bared of its trees when humans entered its grounds 4700 years ago, after winning the battle against the guardians of the forest, the demigods. The story also tells that Gilgamesh used cedar wood to build his city.
Over the centuries, cedar wood was exploited by the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Romans, Arabs, and Turks. The Phoenicians used the cedars for their merchant fleets. They needed timbers for their ships and the cedar woods made them the "first sea trading nation in the world". The Egyptians used cedar resin for the mummification process and the cedar wood for some of "their first hieroglyph bearing rolls of papyrus". In the Bible, Solomon procured cedar timber to build the Temple in Jerusalem. The Cedar Forest of ancient Mesopotamian religion appears in several sections of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The Lebanon cedar is mentioned 103 times in the Bible. In the Hebrew text it is named ארז and in the Greek text (LXX) it is named κέδρου. For example in Zechariah there is the verse "Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down."
Early modern travelers' accounts of the wild cedars of Lebanon appear to refer to the Bsharri cedars. Pierre Belon visited the area in 1550, making him the first modern traveler to identify the Cedars of God in his Observations. Belon counted 28 trees:
At a considerable height up the mountains the traveler arrives at the Monastery of the Virgin Mary, which is situated in the valley. Thence proceeding four miles up the mountain, he will arrive at the cedars, the Maronites or the monks acting as guides. The cedars stand in a valley, and not on top of the mountain, and they are supposed to amount to 28 in number, though it is difficult to count them, they being distant from each other a few paces. These the Archbishop of Damascus has endeavored to prove to be the same that Solomon planted with his own hands in the quincunx manner as they now stand. No other tree grows in the valley in which they are situated and it is generally so covered with snow as to be only accessible in summer.
Leonhard Rauwolf followed in 1573–75, counting 24 trees:
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