CN102: The history of Cedars: (4 Crdts)

Cedars of Lebanon: the backbone of ancient traditions and culture


Timeless trees were coveted for their strength and resilience in shipbuilding and tomb construction

By Nina Jidejian
Special to The Daily Star
Tuesday, September 28, 2004



Cedars of Lebanon: the backbone of ancient traditions and culture

Lebanese culture and history

BEIRUT: Lebanon is a country known for its cedar trees. The cedar is on the national flag, people wear necklaces with cedars on them, the cedar is the nation's treasure. But what was once a nation covered in the ancient trees has only a few remaining today in eco-reserves on
its mountains. How did the mountains of Lebanon lose their luxuriant cedar forests?

The story begins in the times of the Egyptians. Then, the city of Byblos was an important timber and ship-building center. Pharaohs of Egypt's Old Kingdom needed this precious timber not only for ship-building but also for tomb construction. Cedar oil was essential for mummification.

In the time of Senefru (2650-2600 B.C.), a pharaoh of the Old Kingdom, scribes were ordered to record on stone the great events that happened during his reign. They inscribed that 40 ships laden with cedar arrived in Egypt. Some of these cedar logs can still be seen in the pyramid of Senefru in Dahshur.

The cedar trade was vital for the Egyptians. However, during unsettled conditions
in the Eastern Mediterranean world, commercial exchanges between Byblos and Egypt were brought to an end.

This prompted a certain Ipu-wer to present himself before the pharaoh of the XX dynasty. He complained of the insecurity, the high cost of living, the flooding of the Nile, the inability to
till the land, brigandage, disease and that all trade had stopped. He concluded his complaint: "No one sails north to Byblos today. What shall we do for cedar for our mummies? Priests were buried and nobles embalmed with cedar oil, but they, the ships, come no more."

To the ancient Egyptians Lebanon was "God's Land" and was frequently called "Plateau of Cedars."

Why were the cedars of Lebanon so coveted by all the conquerors in the old world?
Because the cedar tree provided the long beams necessary for masts for building ships and its wood did not decay.

If you visit the stelae of the Egyptian pharaohs and Assyrian kings who engraved their passage through Lebanon on the rock cliffs of Nahr al-Kalb north of Beirut, you will understand better how the mountains of Lebanon were robbed of their cedar trees. The Egyptians and Assyrians took back to their capital cities timber for the building of their palaces and temples.

In one instance, Esarhaddon II (680-669), king of Assyria, whose stele is seen at Nahr al-Kalb to this day, undertook a vast building program. He forced the tributary kings of ancient Lebanon, including Milkiashapa of Byblos, to produce cedar and pine timber for him and to
transport the logs to Nineveh. Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon (605-562), cut through mountains and opened roads for the transportation of cedar logs to Babylon. He set up a stele at Nahr al-Kalb and another at Wadi Brisa recording this exploit.

In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah (14.7-8) in a taunt against Nebuchadnezzar predicting his death, sums up the extent and significance of these logging expeditions: "The whole is at rest and quiet; they break forth into singing. The cypresses rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon saying: "Since you (Nebuchadnezzar) were laid low, no hewer comes up against us."

Only one man, the Roman Emperor Hadrian, in the 2nd century of our era, made an attempt to restrict logging in the mountains of Lebanon. However, he restricted the cutting of trees in the forests for use by the Roman state and considered they were the private domain of the Emperor.

In 1864, French traveler, writer and archaeologist Ernest Renan, in his famous book "Mission de Phenicie," published a series of forest markers put up by order of Hadrian to allow logging only by command of the emperor or his procurators. Many of the inscriptions he discovered were found near the villages of Akoura, Kartaba and Tannourine. They are found in almost wholly inaccessible places, rarely in cultivated places in the valleys. All the markers are in Latin and contain the name of Hadrian but vary in content. Several of them read: "Property of the Emperor Hadrian Augustus - boundary of the forests," while others specify that only four kinds of trees were allowed to be cut. Over the years until today other inscriptions put up by
Hadrian have been located.

The emperor's inscriptions are eloquent evidence that during the Roman period the forests of Lebanon extended over large mountainous regions. Boundary markers were set up to restrict exploitation by individuals. The Roman fleet was moored off the Phoenician coast. Timber was
necessary for maintenance of the fleet and building new ships.

In Hadrian's time the northern mountain ranges of Lebanon were covered by cedars and other species of coniferous trees.

Over a period of seven millennia not once was thought given to replanting trees which were cut down. It was only Hadrian who thought of setting up forest markers to define the boundaries of the Roman state forest reserves.

The mass cutting of cedars, pines and cypresses for trade, naval and building purposes allowed the inevitable process of erosion to set in.

After Hadrian no competent measures were taken to protect the forests that remained. Today the few cedars that majestically stand at Bsharri are testimony to the ruthless exploitation through the ages by state and individual of the magnificent coniferous cedar forests of Lebanon.


Nina Jidejian is a historian and leading authority on the ancient Canaanite city states of Lebanon


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To Sum up, the ancient and never ending desire for the Phoenician properties comes from the underlying envy for Cedars. And yet more Cedar vampires (hereafter given the term or Cedarpires) still strive to take control of Phoenicia, the mother land of the Cedrus Libani. As Phoenicians strive to take their natural place of ultimate rulers of the world, more Cedarpires will appear to try and steel their main power engine: the Cedar.
Its on the flag, its around their necks, its in their conscience, and its in their collective memory, the Phoenicians will forever be the guardians of the holy Cedars, and will forever seek to nurture their everlasting green.
Till now, no Cedarpires have succeeded to take control of the land of the Cedars, at least not by power .A Cedrus Libani is eternal, so is Phoenicia.
To ensure this steadfastness, the Cedars have led Phoenicia to create its own Cult, its own Guardian: The Cedaars.

The Cedaars, a brief history:

In the ancient Phoenician world, a great once lived: Humbaba. He was the Guardian of the Cedars, the undefeated giant, who always looked after the precious and holy treasure. Humbaba the Great was the first Cedaar, no one succeeded in conquering the land on Humbaba's watch, no one, except Gilgamesh, the Assyrian king.
Humbaba the Great slept in the Cedars of the God forest, he spent most of his time there , except when he had to answer natures calls, he could not piss in the holy land (so he naturally pissed in the land of Canaan and Assyria). Of course the Canaanites and the Assyrians were very happy to be blessed with such a holy substance, a piss of a Cedaar. But one amoniac intolerant king wasn't, thus, Gilgamesh sought to destroy Humbaba, and forever get rid of this striking smell. So, Gilgamesh was set on a quest, Kill the Great Cedaar.
To know more about the Cedaars, you can register in the major elective course: CN302: The Cedaars: A look into the Cult: (3 Crdts)
To know more about Humbaba, you can register in the major elective course: CN301: The Story of Humbaba: (3 Crdts)