Ancient trees as important as ancient architecture by Milota Sidorova

Trees have always been mementos for ancient people. Their importance was great and they influeced the life pace of whole communities. According to story from Middle East, the legendary king, Xerxes went on his war journey. Along the road he found beautiful and large sycamore tree – and he ordered to hang beautiful and precious jewellery on it. He said that the tree was as beautiful as a woman, so that he had to be gifted like a beautiful woman. In another story a Persian King went on another war journey with his army. They made it to mountainous cities, but the cold weather caught them. Although a group of sycamore trees stood quite close, soliders refused to cut the! m down. They were afraid, but the freezing wind was unbearable. Half dead, finally the King himself got the courage and cut down the first tree. Due the fire soldiers were able to survive the night. In another story soldiers who attacked and conquered the city showed their ultimate dominance over original inhabitants with one cruel way – they cut down every tree in the city. Cutting down the tree was like erasing a memory and put a person into the shame.- it was equal to later period of shaving off the head before death penalty. Trees symbolized a relationship with the country, particular society and the presence of that community on particular area. Sycamores were especially worshiped – they were great, old and beautiful. They made a center of the village very often. And it´s not a coincidence that one sycamore has been found today in ancient Jericho. And according to research it should be the exact tree from Biblical story of Zacchaeus and Jesus. In o! rder to see Jesus in a huge crowd, the tax collector climbed o! n a tree and waited there. Jesus then turned and spoke to him. They had a common dinner in Zacchaeus´s house. The tree once again played a crucial role in the story. And now the exact more than 2,000 years old tree was found. Palestine officials plan to make it a part of exposition – not only for common tourists, but also for pilgrimers.

related story (sgx18315): http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20101001/ap_tr_ge/ml_trave...

by Milota Sidorova for Cantell TV (http://cantell.tv)

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