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amoured of his daughter Side (Greek for Pomegranate-tree): to
escape his cruel persecution, the unfortunate young girl killed
herself; but the gods, compassionating her, metamorphosed Side
into the Pomegranate-tree, and her unnatural father into a sparrow-
hawk: so, according to Oppian, the sparrow-hawk will never
alight upon the Pomegranate, but always persistently shuns the
tree. According to M. Lenormant, the Pomegranate sprang from
the blood of Adgestis. The name Rimmon (Pomegranate) was
that given in certain parts of Syria, near Damascus, to the young
god, who died but to spring into a new life—reminding one of the
story of Adonis. The great number of seeds which the fruit of
the Pomegranate contains has caused it to become the symbol of
fecundity, generation, and wealth. Probably on this account the
plant was sacred to Juno, the patroness of marriage and riches.
In the Isle of Eubcea, there was formerly a statue of this goddess,
holding in one hand a sceptre, and in the other a Pomegranate.
Prof. De Gubernatis suggests that the uterine form of the opened
Pomegranate is the reason why Pausanias, after having said
that Juno held a Pomegranate in her hand, adds, that she did not
wish to divulge the mystery which appertained to this symbolic
fruit. This is also the reason why (according to Cicero) Proserpine
did not wish to leave the infernal regions without having eaten the
Pomegranate which she plucked from a tree growing in the Elysian
Fields. Ceres, inconsolable for the loss of her daughter, had begged
Jupiter to release her from the power of Pluto. Jupiter decreed
that if Proserpine had not tasted any food in the infernal regions,
she might be restored to her mother; but, as Ovid tells us, by an
unfortunate mischance,
“ As in the garden’s shady walk she strayed,
A fair Pomegranate charmed the simple maid,
Hung in her way, and tempting her to taste,
She plucked the fruit and took a short repast.
Seven times, a seed at once she eat the food :
The fact Asculaphus had only viewed.
He saw what passed, and, by discovering all,
Detained the ravished nymph in cruel thrall.”
Ceres, enraged, would not permit the earth to yield any fruits till her
daughter was restored to her, and Jupiter at last decided that Proserpine
should spend six months of the year with her mother, but as she
had partaken of the Stygian Pomegranate, she was to stay the other
six months with Pluto. A legend states that from having been
planted on the grave of King Eteocles, the fruit of the Pomegranate
has ever since exuded blood. Another account relates that the blood
of the Pomegranate had its origin in the life-blood of the suicide
Menceceus. On account of this blood which seems to flow from its
fruit, the Pomegranate has acquired a somewhat sinister signification.
As a rule, however, the sanguineous juice and innumerable
seeds of the Pomegranate are considered a happy augury of fecundity
and abundance. There is a tradition that the fruit of the
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Tree of Life presented by E v e to Adam was the Pomegranate. It
is also the opinion of some, that Paris adjudged a Pomegranate to
Venus, and not an Apple; and that nearly always where the latter
fruit is alluded to in legends or popular customs relating to marriage,
the Pomegranate is meant. In Turkey, the bride throws a Pomegranate
on the ground, and from the number of seeds which exude
from the broken fruit judges of the extent of her future family.
In Dalmatia, it is the custom for a young man, when asking
the hand of his bride from her p a rp ts , to speak figuratively,
and so he vows to transplant into his own garden the beautiful
red flowers of the Pomegranate which are then flourishing in
the paternal parterre. In Sicily, they use a branch of the
Pomegranate-tree as a divining-rod to discover hidden treasures:
it is reported to be unfailing provided that it is manipulated by an
expert or by some one who knows the mystical formulary.-
Many references to the Pomegranate are to be found in the Bible,
where it is usually associated with the idea of fruitfulness. Moses
described the promised land as a land of Wheat and Barley, and
Vines, and Fig-trees, and Pomegranates ; a land of oil-Olive and
honey. Solomon speaks of “ an orchard of Pomegranates with
pleasant fruits.” It was used to flavour wine and meats, and a
wine was made from its juice : “ I would cause thee to dji/k of
spiced wine of the juice of my Pomegranate ” (Canticles viii., 2).
The Jews employed the fruit in their religious ceremonials. The
capitals of the pillars in the Temple of Jerusalem were covered
with carved Pomegranates. On the hem of Aaron’s sacred
robe were embroidered, in blue, in purple, and in scarlet. Pomegranates,
alternating with golden bells. A similar adornment
of the fringes of their robes was affecded by the ancient Kings of
Persia, who united in their own person the regal and sacerdotal
offices. In Christian art, the Pomegranate depidted as bursting
open, and the seeds visible, was an emblem of the future of hope
in immortality. St. Catherine, as the mystical Sposa of Christ, is
sometimes represented with a Pomegranate in her hand; and the
infant Saviour is often depidted holding this fruit and presenting it
to the Virgin.— -Moore speaks of the “ charmed leaf of pure
Pomegranate,” in allusion to the Persian idea as to its purifying
attributes. In the ceremonies of the Ghebers (fire-worshippers)
round their sacred fire, the Darvo gives them water to drink and
Pomegranate-leaf to chew in their mouth, to cleanse thern from
inward uncleanness. The Pomegranate was the device of
Henry IV., who took it from the Moorish kings of Grenada, with
the motto, “ Sour, yet sweet.” The crown-like shape of its calyx
probably induced Anne of Austria to adopt it, with the motto,
“ My worth is not in my crown.” The Pomegranate was the
emblem of Katherine of Arragon, and in one of the masques held
in honour of her marriage with our Henry VH L , a bank of Roses
and Pomegranates typified the union of England and Spain. Her