THE POMEGRANATE 277 



area; and Hehn is quite right in dating its cultivation on the part of 

 the Greeks to a time after the Homeric epoch, and deriving it from Asia 

 Minor. 



G. BuscHAN 1 holds that Europe is out of the question as to the 

 indigenous occurrence of the pomegranate, and with regard to Punica 

 protopunica, discovered by Balfour on the Island of Socotra, proposes 

 Arabia felix as the home of the tree; but he fails to explain the diffusion 

 of the tree from this alleged centre. He opposes Loret's conclusions 

 with reference to Egypt, where he believes that the tree was naturalized 

 from the time of the Eighteenth Dynasty; but he overlooks the prin- 

 cipal point made by Loret, namely, that the Egyptian name is a Semitic 

 loan-word. 2 Buschan's theory conflicts with all historical facts, and 

 has not been accepted by any one. 



The pomegranate-tree is supposed to be mentioned in the Avesta 

 under the name haddnaepata* the wood serving as fuel, and the juice 

 being employed in sacrificial libations; but this interpretation is solely 

 given by the present ParsI of India and Yezd, and is not certain. The 

 fruit, however, is mentioned in Pahlavi literature (above, p. 193). 



There are numerous allusions to the pomegranate of Persia on 

 the part of Mohammedan authors and European travellers, and it 

 would be of little avail to cite all these testimonies on a subject which 

 is perfectly well known. Suffice it to refer to the Fdrs Ndmah* and to 

 give the following extract from A. OLEARIUS : 6 



" Pomegranate-trees, almond-trees, and fig-trees grow there with- 

 out any ordering or cultivation, especially in the Province of Kilan, 

 where you have whole forests of them. The wild pomegranates, which 

 you find almost every where, especially at Karabag, are sharp or sowrith. 



1 Vorgeschichtliche Botanik, p. 159. 



2 This fact was simultaneously and independently found by an American 

 Egyptologist, CH. E. MOLDENKE (ttber die in altagyptischen Texten erwahnten 

 Baume, p. 115, doctor dissertation of Strassburg, Leipzig, 1887); so that LORET 

 (Flore pharaonique, p. 76) said, "Moldenke est arrive" presque en me"me temps que 

 moi, et par des moyens diffe"rents, ce qui donne une entiere certitude a notre d6- 

 couverte commune, a la determination du nom e'gyptien de la grenade." See also 

 C. JORET, Plantes dans I'antiquite", Vol. I, p. 117. Buschan's book appeared in 1895; 

 nevertheless he used Loret's work in the first edition of 1887, instead of the second 

 of 1892, which is thoroughly revised and enlarged. 



3 For instance, Yasna, 62, 9; 68, I. Cf. also A. V. W. JACKSON, Persia Past 

 and Present, p. 369. 



4 G. LE STRANGE, Description of the Province of Pars in Persia, p. 38 (London, 

 1912). See also D'HERBELOT, Biblioth6que orientale, Vol. Ill, p. 188; and F. SPIEGEL, 

 Eranische Altertumskunde, Vol. I, p. 252. 



6 Voyages of the Ambassadors to the Great Duke of Muscovy, and the King 

 of Persia (1633-39), p. 232 (London, 1669). 



