Original Sin.

[cladking]

Clad: Because the fig-tree is the symbol of the divine woman


see? my inner goddess knew that instinctively!

Well, duh.

Apropos of nothing in particular I believe the scarab beetle came to represent eternal life because someone from Mendez (north of Cairo) observed that an individual dung beetle lived from year to year in the feces of the animals eating the figs. Just as these people were down to earth even Goddesses today are as much a part of the real world as beetles.

I sure hope I said that right.

Figs are certainly sexy. There's a Nova episode about the tree that is exceedingly interesting. The process for the tree to grow fruit is very complicated and the fruit is unique in a couple of ways. It also requires a type of wasp that only serves to help the fruit develop and some sort of worm but I forget much of it right now.

The tenders of this tree in ancient Egypt were all women and were known as "Priestess of the Sycamore". I believe that in addition to maximizing fruit output they tried to force the tree to grow a specific shape so the hollow trunk could be used as a device to aim the geyser and called a "djed". The word djed means stable and enduring and it's function was to keep the geyser aimed properly and as stable as possible for as long as possible.