In religion, many symbols have been used to represent the world axis and the pole. These include the tree, column, ladder, cross, swastika, mountain, mill, whirlpool and hearth. Of these many motifs, the tree has probably been the most historically important, and it’s a simple metaphor to visualize. The trunk represented the central axis of the universe, and the branches and leaves mirrored the dome of the heavens.
Many gods and saviours have mythologies that involve trees. The Egyptian god Osiris was buried in a chest, which was then hidden in a sycamore tree, and from which he was later released. Adonis was born from a tree, and Mithras was often depicted emerging from a tree in ritual art. Attis castrated himself under a tree, effigies of Dionysus were bound to trees, and Jesus hung from a tree according to the Book of Acts and many other early Christian works. The Norse god Odin hung from the world tree to discover the magical secrets of Nordic runes, and Buddha meditated under a tree to gain his enlightenment.
In Norse mythology the world tree was called Yggdrasil, which translates as ‘Odin’s Gallows’ (Ygg was one of Odin’s other names). Odin discovered the mystic secrets of the runes by hanging himself from this tree for nine nights. Yggdrasil supported the universe as its axis in the same way that the Titan Atlas did for the Greeks. The Prose Edda stated that the ‘chief or holiest seat of the gods’ was ‘under the ash Yggdrasil…where the gods assemble every day in council’ (Prose Edda 16).
In India, the location of Buddha’s enlightenment under the tree at Bodh Gaya is still openly called the navel of the Earth. In China the axle tree was called Kien Mu, and it grew in the centre of the world. The metaphor of the axle tree is still being used to this day, Siberian nomads describe the axis of the universe as a giant tree which pierces the earth at its navel. This world tree pierces the celestial vault at the pole star, which the nomads call the navel of the sky.
In the ancient Near East, we find the ‘tree of life’ as a central religious icon in Assyria. It’s normally depicted with mythological winged figures either side and the chief god Assur above it. A Babylonian poem called Erra and Ishum also mentions this tree connecting heaven and the underworld, ‘The sacred tree, splendid stripling, perfect for lordship, whose roots thrust down a hundred leagues through the waters of the vast ocean to the depths of hell, whose crown brushed Anu´s heaven on high.’ In Zoroastrianism / ancient Iranian religion, there’s an ox-horn tree located in the middle of the sea.
The motif of a tree representing the world axis also appears in the Bible, as the Tree of Eden. There’s an allusion to this in the Book of Genesis,
‘In the middle of the garden he set the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ (Genesis 2.9).
The Tree of Eden is in the middle of the garden just as the axis was at the centre of the universe. The axle tree also appears in the New Testament as the location of Jesus’ passion, and this was noted by several early Christians. Hippolytus, a second century bishop of Rome, said about the cross in his Easter sermon,
‘This tree, wide as the heavens itself, has grown up into heaven from the earth. It is an immortal growth and towers twixt heaven and earth. It is the fulcrum of all things and the place where they are at rest. It is the foundation of the round world, the centre of the cosmos.’
We also meet the metaphor of the world tree elsewhere in the Bible, in a vision of Daniel,
‘I saw a tree of great height at the centre of the earth. The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky. It was visible to the ends of the earth’ (Daniel 4.10-11).
This world tree also appears in Islamic mythology. The description of Muhammad’s ascent through the seven heavens places a giant lote tree called Sidrah Al-Muntaha in the seventh heaven (Sahih al-Bukhari 3207).
We may find an early version of the world tree in ancient Egypt. The Pyramid Texts talk of ‘a tree that encloses the god, under which the gods of the underworld stand, whose tips are seared, whose inside is burned, whose suffering is real’’ (utterance 574). The Book of the Dead mentions a ‘sycamore of the sky’ (spell 59). During the New Kingdom period, we found images of the ‘Lady of the Sycamore’. These depict the goddess Nut or Hathor within a tree. We also find a depiction of a tree at the temple of Karnak, possibly representing the world tree.
The tree may also appear as a motif for the pole / axis in Hittite religion. The Telepinus myth speaks of a tree that the gods assemble under, ‘The gods [were gathered] in assembly under the hatalkesnas tree.’ (ANET p128)
The holy mountain is the other important mythological motif for the world axis. Once again, it’s easy to see why mountains were chosen as symbols of the axis, they almost appear to stretch all the way to the summit of heaven. Mount Olympus in Greece, Mount Meru in India and Mount Zion in Israel are the best known axle mountains.Other important axle mountains from around the world include Kun-Lun in China, Fuji-yama in Japan and Potala in Tibet. Mount Kaf fulfills the same role in Islam, and Mount Sumeru in Buddhism..
Sumerian mythology had a holy hill or mountain called du-ku, that may have served the same purpose. Many nomadic peoples of Asia combine the metaphors of tree and mountain in their description of the world axis. The highest tree in the world grows at the Earth’s navel, often on a mountain, from where it reaches into heaven. Sometimes this tree has seven branches.
In Indian lore, the holy mountain is expressly linked to the world axis. The seven sided Mount Meru is situated under the pole star at the centre of the universe. The god Indra lives on top of Mount Meru and he’s usually associated with the number seven (the stars of the Big Dipper that circle the pole). In Sanskrit both the name of the pole star Sudrishti literally mean ‘That which never moves’. This translation of the Sanskrit is very similar to Homer’s description of Mount Olympus in the Odyssey,
‘Olympus, where, they say, the gods’ eternal mansion stands unmoved’ (The Odyssey 6.42-3).
In the fourth century CE, the emperor Julian quoted this passage, noting that it referred to ‘the very apex of the sky’ (The Caesars 307). Plato also described Mount Olympus in ways that equate it to Mount Meru and the world axis. In the Critias, Plato wrote that Mount Olympus ‘stands at the centre of the universe and looks out over the whole realm of change’ (Critias 121). In the Dionysiaca, Nonnus wrote of ‘the centre of the universe, the navel star of Olympus’ (Dionysiaca 38.90).
In the Bible, the Book of Psalms depicts Mount Zion in similar terms,
‘Those who trust in the lord are like Mount Zion,
Which cannot be shaken but stands fast forever’ (Psalms 125.1).
The Old Testament often places Yahweh at his holy mountain. Isaiah claims that he is ‘sent by Yahweh of hosts who dwells on Mount Zion’ (Isaiah 8.18). The Bible states that the Jewish god was originally known as El Shaddai (Exodus 6.2-3). El was the name of the chief Canaanite god, and literally means ‘god’ in Hebrew. The meaning of ‘shaddai’ is unknown, but may mean ‘of the mountain’. The Book of Jubilees is a Jewish text from the second century BCE that retells the stories of Genesis, from the creation of the world to Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. It states that,
‘The Garden of Eden is the holy of holies, and the dwelling of the lord, and Mount Sinai the centre of the desert, and Mount Zion the centre of the navel of the earth – these three were created as holy places facing each other’ (Jubilees 8.19).
All three holy places are linked to the concept of omphalos and world axis. The Jewish text 1 Enoch also mentions the navel of the earth using the metaphor of tree and mountain,
‘And from here I went to the middle of the earth, and I saw a blessed place where there were branches which rooted in and sprouted out of a tree that was cut. And here I saw a holy mountain’ (1 Enoch 26.1-2).
The holy mountain is also the home of the gods in earlier Near Eastern religion / mythology. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, tablet 5 informs us that ‘They saw the Mountain of Cedar, seat of gods and goddesses’ throne’ (Epic of Gilgamesh 5.6). In Canaanite religion, the god Baal lived on mount Zaphon, which literally means ‘the mountain of the far north’. The Baal Cycle has the god state, ‘I myself shall reveal it, in the middle of my mountain, the divine Zaphon of the north, in the holy place’ (Baal Cycle KTU 1.3 iv 62-4). Some Ugaritic texts refer to the Canaanite gods as the ‘gods of Zaphon’.
We meet the motifs of the holy mountain and the world tree many times in the Bible. Most of the pivotal events in both the Old and New Testaments happen on a mountain or at a tree. The original fall occurs through temptation at a tree, Noah’s Ark comes to rest on a mountain after the deluge, Abraham follows Yahweh’s orders to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Moriah, Moses receives the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai and the prophets’ visions all place the heavenly Jerusalem on a mountain. Jesus’ most important teachings were from the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus is crucified on a tree on Mount Golgotha. Finally Jesus ascends to heaven from a mountain.
The Bible and Mythology 