It is often said that the Tree of Life is a common symbol or
mythological concept in the literature and artwork of the ancient Near East
(E.g. Skinner 1910: 59 and Westermann 1974: 290). Yet there is no expression
“Tree of Life” in ancient Near Eastern literature outside the biblical books of
Genesis and Proverbs. There are only two possible extra-biblical examples of a
possible mythological Tree of Life in the ancient Near East: the “plant of
rejuvenation” in The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Kiškanu tree,
which appears in a bilingual (Sumerian/Akkadian) incantation text (see Widengren
1951: 5–6 for a translation). However, the “plant of rejuvenation” of the Gilgamesh
epic is not identical with the Tree of Life in Genesis 2–3 as it is a much smaller
plant (it is easily transported). Likewise, the Kiškanu tree has healing
properties but does not have the more powerful life-giving properties which the
Tree of Life has in Genesis 2–3. Widengren (1951) and Parpola (1997) both
attempt to prove that the notion of a Tree of Life was a widespread and
theologically significant concept in ancient Near Eastern religion. Both refer
chiefly to iconographical evidence to support their arguments. However, sacred
trees in ancient Near Eastern artwork are depicted in many different ways.
Stordalen (2000: 289–291) notes that a tree could be an image of the
life-giving power of the deity or the king and it could also represent cosmic
order. Consequently, the trees in ancient Near Eastern iconography do not represent
one particular mythological Tree of Life, which could bestow eternal life on
the person who ate its fruit. Instead the image of a tree could have many
different referents. Sjöberg strongly criticises the view that there is a Tree
of Life in Mesopotamian literature or artwork. He argues: “There is no evidence
that there was a Tree of Life in Mesopotamian myth and cult. The identification
of different trees on Mesopotamian seals as a Tree of Life is a pure
hypothesis, a product of pan-Babylonianism which wished to trace all Old
Testament religious and mythological concepts back to Mesopotamia” (1984: 221).
Although the connections between Genesis 1–11 and some of the themes in the
Epic of Gilgamesh mean that the Tree of Life may have something in common with
“the plant of rejuvenation”, it is inadvisable to think of the Tree of Life in
Genesis 2–3 as a popular ancient Near Eastern motif. (Alice Wood, Of Wings
and Wheels: A Synthetic Study of the Biblical Cherubim [Beihefte zur
Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 385; Berlin: Walter de
Gruyter, 2008], 57 n. 86)
