Wandering fig trees: a Beja sacred tree tradition in ancient Egypt

Evidence for the exchange or diffusion of religious traditions between ancient Egypt and neighbouring Africa is usually confined to the cultures of the Nile corridor in Nubia. Religious connections between Egypt and cultures further afield, while amply discussed, still await confirmation. This analysis demonstrates the likely connection or importation of a sacred sycamore tradition from the Beja culture of Eastern Sudan into the cult of the Egyptian cow goddess Hathor. Using a combination of textual and linguistic analysis of a ‘foreign’ sacred tree tradition in ancient Egyptian texts alongside modern ethnographic surveys in Eastern Sudan, this study traces the origins of a sacred Ficus sycomorus L. tradition from Eastern Sudan to ancient Egypt. This still-functioning sacred sycamore tradition reveals an unexplored and hidden connection between ancient Egyptians and pastoralists of Eastern Sudan, while also establishing a deep and common sacred sycamore tradition across Egypt, Sudan, and the Horn of Africa.