Blossoms and beliefs

The symbol of the lotus was a highly common and widely used image in Egypt and the Near East. In ancient times, we could distinguish three types of lotuses on the Nile. Two of them originated in Egypt, while the third came from Iran and India. It was probably introduced at the time of the conquests leading up to the establishment of the Achaemenid Persian Empire.See: Harer, W. Benson. ‘Pharmacological and Biological Properties of the Egyptian Lotus’. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 22 (1985): 49–54.

The lotus was of great religious significance to the Egyptians (Fig. 18 & Fig. 19). With its roots in the mud and its flowers right above the surface of the water growing up to the sky, the lotus reminded the Egyptians of Nun, the ancient waters in which the world was created.See: Rezania, Pedram. ‘Symbol of Lotus in Ancient World’. Life Science Journal 8, no. 3 (1 January 2011): 309–12. A lotus emerged from these waters and personified Nefertum, the god of creation, who produced life by breathing his flower’s spirit and spreading its seed on the earth and into the sky.See: McDonald, J. ‘Influences of Egyptian Lotus Symbolism and Ritualistic Practices on Sacral Tree Worship in the Fertile Crescent from 1500 BCE to 200 CE’. Religions 9 (27 August 2018): 256–283. Furthermore, the lotus flower was closely related to the sun, since the flower opened at the rising of the sun and closed at sunset.See: Rezania, Pedram. ‘Symbol of Lotus in Ancient World’. Life Science Journal 8, no. 3 (1 January 2011): 309–12.

In the case of Mesopotamia and the Levant, the sacred image of the lotus paralleled the symbol of the sacral tree, also known as the Tree of Life. This tree was seen as the representation of the circle of life, just as the lotus flower resembled the orbit of the sun and the creation of life.See: McDonald, J. ‘Influences of Egyptian Lotus Symbolism and Ritualistic Practices on Sacral Tree Worship in the Fertile Crescent from 1500 BCE to 200 CE’. Religions 9 (27 August 2018): 256–283. The symbol of the lotus was also vastly present in Iran during the Achaemenid Persian period. The plant was mostly depicted in the hands of kings, princes, and nobles of the court on reliefs in the Achaemenid palaces (Fig. 20 & Fig. 21). These images denoted a rather spiritual and holy condition, which could be equalized to the holiness of the lotus in Egypt and the sacral tree in the Levant and Mesopotamia.See: Rezania, Pedram. ‘Symbol of Lotus in Ancient World’. Life Science Journal 8, no. 3 (1 January 2011): 309–12. Eventually, the lotus image set foot in India and China after travelling through Iran (Fig. 22). In India, the lotus was related to a sun-god (Fig. 23). Thus, despite being so far away from its original roots, the Egyptian symbolism of the sun and the giving of life was transported to India (Fig. 24). The lotus developed as a solid icon of Buddhism and became a well-known figure in Chinese culture.See: Rezania, Pedram. ‘Symbol of Lotus in Ancient World’. Life Science Journal 8, no. 3 (1 January 2011): 309–12. Once again Iran played a major role in the process of the evolution of the myth of the lotus by serving as a land to travel through and transport religious beliefs.See: Rezania, Pedram. ‘Symbol of Lotus in Ancient World’. Life Science Journal 8, no. 3 (1 January 2011): 309–12. This necklace could be seen as a marker in this process of transfer.