Dom+Palm

The Dom Palm in Ancient Egypt


 * Egyptian Name:**

//M'm'// or //Kwkw//

Considered to be a sacred tree by the ancient Egyptians, there is no period in Egyptian history in which finds of the Dom Palm have not been reported. The timber was used to make furniture, tools, barques, and stress-bearing beams. The Dom palm nuts were eaten raw, baked into bread and cakes, or steeped to make juice. The leaves were used to make baskets. The Dom palm was also planted for shade - a military chief named Enneni during Dynasty XVIII planted no less than 120 Dom palms in his garden.

The fruit was offered to the gods and the dead, and was traditionally eaten at funerals. The Dom palm nut has been found in many pharaoh's tombs - eight baskets of Dom fruit were discovered in Tutankhamun 's tomb. Ramses III offered 449,500 baskets of Dom palm fruit and 949 Dom cakes to the Temple of Amun-Ra. In the tomb of Rekhmire it is mentioned that 200 Dom cakes were offered to the gods.

The Dom palm was a symbol of male strength, and was sacred to the god Min. Several representations show the palm being addressed by a man kneeling under the tree. Because the god Thoth was represented as a baboon, which frequently feed on Dom fruits, the Dom was also thought to be Thoth's sacred tree. Baboons and Dom palms were often pictured together. Both the acacia and the Dom palm carried the sun-god Ra across the sky: "The Barque of Ra arrived at the town of Het-Aha; its forepart was made of palm wood, and the hind part was made of acacia wood; thus the palm tree and the acacia tree have been sacred trees from that day to this."

Palms of Ancient Egypt