The Lebanese Republic Cedar or cedrus libani is 1 of the most imperial trees of the world. They grow only on Mount Lebanese Republic , a mount attain that extends along the entire length of the province , too 1 time covered the entirety of the mountain. It is the symbol of the province , its pride , too features prominently on the Lebanese flag.
Lebanon Cedars receive got imposing trunks alongside dense , iconic crowns that decease characteristically flat-headed equally the trees historic stream , too fairly degree branches. Their bark is nighttime grayness but the wood is beautiful lite note , difficult too astonishingly decay resistant. The mucilage they secrete has a sweetness aroma. Despite their exposed seat , the trees rest ever dark-green , never shed their leaves , too are ever fragrant. It is said that god himself planted these cedars.
A Lebanese Republic cedar. Photo credit: cwirtanen/Flickr
“The trees of the LORD are total of sap; the cedars of Lebanese Republic , which he has planted” , proclaims the Bible (Psalm 104:16-17) , and
“The righteous flourish similar the palm tree too grow similar the cedar inwards Lebanon" (Psalm 92:12).
These are merely a duad of numerous references to the Lebanese Republic Cedar inwards the Bible too other ancient text. In ancient Mesopotamian mythology , the cedar forests of Mount Lebanese Republic were idea to last the realm of the gods , guarded past times the demigod Humbaba. In the four ,000-year-old Epic of Gilgamesh , oftentimes regarded equally the earliest surviving keen function of literature , the hero Gilgamesh defeated Humbaba , entered the virgin forests too cutting away keen publish of cedars alongside which he built walls unopen to the metropolis of Uruk.
As the floor of Gilgamesh’s exploits attest , the cedars of Lebanese Republic were known since historical times. Indeed , the cedars played a telephone substitution business office inwards creating the advert of Lebanese Republic too its glory , for the Lebanese cedar was 1 of the most valued structure textile inwards the antique world. The Phoenicians used cedars to build ships inwards which they sailed the Mediterranean , making them 1 of the commencement body of body of water trading nations inwards the world. The cedars of Lebanese Republic were too used past times the Assyrians , Babylonians , Greeks , Romans , too Persians to build houses too temples , the most famous of which are the temple of Jerusalem , too David's too Solomon's Palaces. The Egyptians used cedar resin for the mummification procedure , too Jews used the tegument of the Lebanese Cedar inwards circumcision too handling of leprosy. The Ottomans used cedar wood equally fuel for railway engines because it burned much improve than traditional oak , since cedar contains oil.
The flag of Lebanese Republic alongside a silhouette of a cedar tree
Even during the fourth dimension of Gilgamesh , Arab Republic of Egypt had already cutting large amounts of cedar for send structure too for export. This continued for several G years until the 20th century when British troops of the Second World War finished off most of the remaining forests past times using cedar wood to build railroad.
The Roman Emperor Hadrian , inwards the minute century AD , had attempted to protect the wood alongside boundary markers carved into rocks. Over 200 such markers receive got been identified allowing scholars to brand an approximation of the extent of the wood inwards those times.
In 1876 , Queen Victoria of Great U.K. , ordered a protective wall to last built unopen to a 102-hectare grove , but deforestation continued despite this. It wasn’t until the like shooting fish in a barrel 20th century that the cedars were declared a protected natural resource. By hence , this immense wood had been reduced to merely a duad of hundred specimens that grew inwards a handful of isolated patches.
According to Cedars Forever , a cedar preservation too reforestation computer program , at that spot are eighteen such patches of cedars inwards the province today. One of these groves , called the Cedars of God , stand upwards inwards a sheltered glacial bag of Mount Makmel , inwards the Kadisha Valley. This grove of close 375 trees are idea to last the oldest inwards Lebanon. Four of them , many hundreds of years former , receive got reached a meridian of 35 meters too their trunks are betwixt 12 too xiv meters around. About a G immature saplings were planted at the entrance of the grove inwards recent decades , but because of their dull increment it would accept a long fourth dimension earlier they mature.
This site was added to the UNESCO listing of World Heritage Sites inwards 1998.
Photo credit: Paul Saad/Flickr
Photo credit: Leandra Fallis/Flickr
A cedar grove inwards Becharri , Northern Lebanon. Photo credit: Nick K/Flickr
Photo credit: Moe-tography/Flickr
Sources: Wikipedia / www.lebanon.com / www.habeeb.com / biblehub.com