The Metonymic Power of Healing Leaves: Reading Revelation 22:2 with the Caryatid Relief

The healing leaves of the Tree of Life in Rev 22:2 are rightly interpreted as a symbol of the hope and eternity established after the Kingdom of God defeats the forces of empire at the end of the book of Revelation. While most scholarship focuses on the interplay between this verse and Genesis 2–3, Ezekiel 47, and 1 Enoch 25, Roman imperial iconography of the stylized acanthus plant and its metonymic properties offers clues that help interpret the biblical healing leaves. This article reads Rev 22:2 in the context of the Roman imperial Caryatid Relief, featuring acanthus growing out of depictions of conquered nations, to provide richer meaning into interpretations of the healing leaves of Revelation’s Tree of Life.