EXHIBIT OF BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 957 



Moors from Africa into Spaiu, especially iuto Cordova, aud the leather 

 was heijce called "Cordovan." It is still used in Morocco, the leather 

 of which country retains its superiority, especially for bookbinding. 

 The Howers and fruit of the pomegranate entered into the religious rites 

 and symbolism of the rhenicians and ancient Romans, as well as of 

 the ancient Israelites. The robe of the High Priest had an embroidery 

 of "pomegranates of blue and of purple and of scarlet round about 

 the skirt thereof,"' while the pomegranate also formed a decorative 

 symbol in tlie columns of the Temple.^ Hehn^ says: " Eeligious inter- 

 course in ancient times also brought the glorious pomegranate tree to 

 Europe. Its purple blossoms in brilliant foliage and red cheeked fruit 

 rich in kernels must have from the beginning excited the imagination 

 of the peoples of Western Asia, whose mode of thinking was symbol- 

 ical. In the Odyssey, among the fruits in the garden of the king of the 

 Pheaks, and among those that torment by their sight, the Phrygian 

 Tantalus are also the pomegranates fjoial {rhoisi), which name in itself 

 bears decisive testimony to the origin of the plant in Semitic language 

 and culture." "The name of the pomgranate fruit among the Portu- 

 guese is to the present day the Arabic ronia, romeiray^ 



Cone of the cedar of Lebanon.— The cedar of Lebanon ( Cedrus 

 libani, Hebrew Urez) has its chief habitat in the ranges of the Tau- 

 rus and Lebanon, the latter being its southernmost limit. The Old 

 Testament abounds in references to the cedar of Lebanon. It was 

 considered as the prince of trees, the emblem of all that is grand, 

 magnificent, and durable: "The glory of Lebanon;-' the trees of the 

 Lord are satisfied; the cedars of Lebanon, which He hath planted ;'"= 

 "the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a 

 cedar in Lebanon."' Frequent references are also made to the eco- 

 nomic uses of the cedar. It supplied the chief material for the wood- 

 work of the temple of Solomon and the royal palaces,^ the second 

 temple of Zerubbabel," and according to Josephus'^ was also used in the 

 rebuilding of the temple by Herod. From the Assyrian inscriptions it 

 is learned that the Assyrian kings procured the costly woods for their 

 buildings from the Lebanon. Cedar timber was also used in the great 

 Persian edifices at Persepolis, in the first temple of Diana at Ephesus, 

 and that of Apollo at Utica, where the age of the cedar timber was 

 computed at two thousand years. At present the forest of Lebanon 



1 Exodus xxviii, 33, 34. 



- 1 Kiuga vii, 18-20. 



■■' Kulturpfianzen unci Haustbiere in ilirem f 'bergane; ans Asien na«b Griecbenlaud 

 mid Italieu sowie iu das iibrige Europa. Histoiiscb-linguistiscbe Skizzen Berlin 

 1870, p. 155. 



^ Quoted by Loew, p. 362. 



" Isaiah sxxv, 2. 



^ Psalms civ, 16. 



^ Idem xcii, 12. 



** I Kings vi and vii. 



«Ezraiii, 7. 



'0 Jewish War, v, 5, 2, 



