Pomegranates in Ancient Egypt: Representations and Religious Significance

Professor Dina Ezz El-Din; professor of Egyptology, Tourism Guidance Department, and Vice Dean of Community Service Affairs and Environmental Development, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Alexandria University

21 May 2023

01:00 PM

BA Main Entrance, Auditorium

The Antiquities Museum and the Zahi Hawass Center for Egyptology, affiliated to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) Cultural Outreach (CO) Sector, organize a lecture entitled “Pomegranates in Ancient Egypt: Representations and Religious Significance” on Sunday, 21 May 2023; 1:00 pm, at the BA Main Entrance, Auditorium. The lecture will be presented by Professor Dina Ezz El-Din; professor of Egyptology, Tourism Guidance Department, and Vice Dean of Community Service Affairs and Environmental Development, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Alexandria University.

The lecture will discuss the plants in Ancient Egypt in general, including the imported and the local plants. The huge legacy preserved about these plants allowed the development of archaeological studies that shed light on the different types of plants and the crops known to the ancient Egyptians. Researchers could identify the botanical remains left by the ancient Egyptian civilization in archaeological contexts. Moreover, the scenes on the tombs and the other written documents provide other evidence on the Ancient Egyptian plants, and all these sources help to reconstruct the knowledge about the agricultural practices.

It is worth mentioning that fruits in Ancient Egypt were consumed since the dawn of history, along with vegetables and grain products. Fruits from the pre-dynastic period onwards constituted a large part of the important products which were intended to provide the dead with his nutritional needs in the afterlife. On the ground, Egyptian gardens were planted with a huge variety of trees that provide shade and protection. A valid evidence to this is a text dated to the reign of Merneptah, in which the writer describes the beauty of the city of Bar-Ramisu and its richness with pomegranates, apples, olives, and figs.

Hence, pomegranates were well known to Egyptians, however, it is not proved that it was cultivated in Ancient Egypt until the eighteenth dynasty. Pomegranates were not only eaten, but also used for other purposes, such as producing wine from their juice in addition to using the roots for remedy. The lecture will also focus on depicting the pomegranates on the walls of the tombs and temples, in addition to presenting them on offering tables, which indicates their religious importance.