Yggdrasill

In Norse mythology  (see Icelandic Prose Edda) there is a great ash tree that has branches which overhang all of the nine worlds. The roots of the tree are nourished by three wells – one in Asgard, where the gods live, another in Jotunheim, home of the Frost Giants, and the third in Niflheim, a land of mist and fog.

Yggdrasill means steed of theTerrible One (which is one of the names for the god Odin).

The story goes, that Odin wanted to learn the secret of the runes, which would give him great power. Such a secret could only be gained by great sacrifice – Odin hung for nine days and nights from one of the branches of the great ash, swinging in space among great winds, until he howled in terror. However, at the end of that time, he did obtain the secret of the runes.

From ancient Egypt to China, among various religions and mythologies, and in art, trees (e.g. tree in which life and death are enclosed, tree of life) have been venerated or held sacred. After all, what is more magnificent than a great tree in leaf?

The Christmas tree (though an evergreen, rather than an ash tree) is said by some to have its origin in tree worship. It probably was most fully developed in its present form during the Renaissance era in Germany and Livonia, when guild halls decorated trees with sweets for apprentices and children.

Druids regarded oaks as sacred as well as the mistletoe that grew on them.

The Buddha sat underneath a Bodhi tree in meditation until he gained enlightenment.

In the times of the ancients, much of the world was covered with forests, so it’s not surprising that trees played an important role in spirituality. Julius Caesar, for example, spoke to Germanic peoples who had travelled for two months through the forest without reaching an end.

It’s no wonder that trees have remained part of many mythologies and been carried forward as important symbols into our modern consciousness.

I’ve been re-reading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and of course in those stories trees play very important parts. From the dark forest of Mirkwood, to the magical Lothlorien; from the Old Forest near the Shire to Fangorn with its moving trees, Tolkien has drawn on ancient stories and his books continue to light our imaginations.

Xanthos

Xanthos or Xanthus was the capital of ancient Lycia, which was a region in what is now the southern coast of Turkey. Ruins of the city still exist on a hill near the river Esen. There is an amphiteatre, various walls and pillar tombs. The city was once a cultural and commercial centre.

Evidence in the city takes us back to the 8^th century BC, but it may have existed as far back as the Late Bronze age (1500 BC). Lycia was known to the ancient Egyptians and the Hittites. The people of Lycia fought the Persians, later became a member of the Athenian Empire, from which it seceded to become independent for a while, until the Persians and then the Romans conquered them.

The people of Xanthos twice committed mass suicide rather than submit to invaders. A poem found on a tablet excavated at the city site refers to this event.

The city became an archbishopric in the 8^th century (AD or CE), but was deserted in the 7^th century during Arab raids.

Charles Fellows, a British archaeologist, discovered Xanthos in 1838 along with a number of other cities in Asia Minor. In the tradition of most other archaeologists of that time, he carried away many artifacts (Lion Tomb, Nereid Monument) from Xanthos. These are now in the British Museum.

Many ancient cities are no more, abandoned or destroyed for various reasons. I wonder how long our present cities will last and what might destroy them. Will it be food shortages resulting from environmental destruction or war? What sorts of ruins might we leave? Will our fragments of steel, concrete and glass interest people in the distant future?