52 



FLORA OF THE 



the monuments, ends in a tendril. The leaves can safely 

 be interpreted into vine leaves, because many similar 

 trees have a distinct vine leaf, as shown in fig. 6. More- 

 over, many of the bunches are rightly shown, opposite the 



leaf. Yet the bunches 

 (r^l of grapes are exactly 

 like those of the sacred 

 tree in question, viz. 

 cones with crossed lines. 

 Curiously enough Raw- 

 linson ^ gives a picture 

 of Egyptians gathering 

 grapes, the bunches of 

 which are also repre- 

 sented by simple out- 

 lines of cones. 

 I take both these forms of sacred tree (figs. i6 and 

 20) to be merely a pictorial conventional representation 

 — a symbol of the food and drink of the people. 



The Assyrians must have known the art of making 

 wine, for we see them drinking in various places. The 

 juice of fruit mixed with water, as a 'sherbet' is common 

 enough in all oriental countries. Even in ancient Egypt 

 this appears to have been the custom, as in Genesis it 

 is stated that the juice of the grape was pressed into 

 Pharoah's cup. The fermentation of sherbet would have 



1 'Ancient History of Egypt,' vol. i, p. 169. 



Fig. 23.— Vine tree, Rawlinson's ' Monar 

 chies,' vol. i, p. 518. 



