Tamarisk

The Tamarisk in Ancient Egypt


 * Egyptian Name:**

//Iser//

The sacred tree of the god Wepwawet, the Tamarisk was used by carpenters to make objects such as walking sticks, wooden mallets, throwsticks, rafts, and tool handles. There are many objects in this wood have been found from all periods. There is evidence that a grove of sacred tamarisk trees once existed in front of the 11th Dynasty Temple of Mentuhotpe at Deir el Bahari. According to myths, the tamarisk protected the body of Osiris, and the tamarisk was known as //Nht Hnmt Ntr// ("The Tree That Encloses the God.") In the Book of the Dead, the deceased identifies himself with a number of deities, among them Ra: "I am the Great God inside the tamarisk."

In the Harris Papyrus 3,270 bundles of tamarisk are mentioned as part of the offerings Ramses III made to Amun-Ra, and 390 bundles to "the gods and goddesses, the lords of South and North." Soot from the tamarisk was used to make the ink for writing an amulet inscription: "To speak over a ribbon of royal linen, inscribed with ink from the soot of the tamarisk and myrrh, being put around the neck of the Glorified One on the day of his burial."

The Trees of Ancient Egypt