The oak tree is featured in religion, literature and art as diverse as Greek mythology, the Judaic Old Testament, Roman literature, fairy-tales, numismatics, Sir Thomas Browne's botanical studies and Carl Jung's archetypal psychology.
Central to one of ancient Greece's most revered of oracles, the rustling leaves of the Dodona oak, and later, thin metal strips hung from its branches which tinkled in the breeze, were interpreted as the oracular voice of gods. In the Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts, the Golden Fleece is found discovered on an oak tree in a grove sacred to Ares.
The oak tree was sacred to Roman, Celtic, Teutonic and Druid religious beliefs and associated with the supreme gods of Zeus, Jupiter and Thor, each of whom held dominion over rain, thunder and lightning. It is symbolically associated with lightning and smoke with good reason. It attracts lightning because its roots itself deep into the earth, has a high water content and is often solitary standing or the tallest in a forest. Each of these factors contribute to the oak tree attracting lightning. Many religious beliefs also associate the oak tree with smoke, perhaps because it sometimes smoulders long after being struck by lightning.
The ancient Celtic Druids worshipped and practised their sacred rites in oak groves, indeed the very word Druid derives from a Celtic word meaning 'knower of the oak tree'. Historical descriptions of Druids can be found in Roman writers such as Julius Caesar in his 'Commentary on the Gallic Wars' as well as in the writings of Cicero, Tacitus and Pliny the Elder. However, after the Roman Emperors Tiberius and Claudius brutally suppressed the Druid Orders all mention of oak-tree worshippers disappears from historical record by the 2nd century CE.
Oak trees feature in the Old Testament, notably when Absalom while riding his mule under a great oak has his head wedged between its branches and is suspended between heaven and earth. The elon tree, most often translated as 'oak' is mentioned in the Bible as the first tree encountered by Abram upon entering the promised land, and as the tree under which Deborah, the nurse of Rebecca, was buried. King Jeroboam meets an unnamed prophet who sits under an oak tree, and the prophet Isaiah speaks of 'oaks of righteousness.' [1]
In the fairy tale by the German Brothers Grimm 'The Spirit in the Bottle' (1814) a destitute scholar wanders in a forest where he encounters a dangerous-looking oak, many hundreds of years old. He hears a faint voice calling out from it, "Let me out, let me out!" Asking where it is, the voice replies, "I am down here amongst the roots of the oak-tree. Let me out! Let me out!" The scholar loosens the earth under the tree, searches among its roots and finds a glass bottle in which Mercurius, the transformative spirit of alchemy, is imprisoned.
During the Roman Republic a crown of oak leaves was given to those who had saved the life of a citizen in battle; it was called the "Civic Crown". A superb Roman era agate survives, which is described thus-
'In one talon, the eagle grasps a palm branch as a symbol of victory, while in the other it holds an oak wreath. This corona civica or ' civic crown' was an honour awarded to Augustus, granted only to a Roman who had saved the lives of his fellow citizens. This crown of oak leaves hung above the entrance of Augustus on the Palatine, a permanent reminder that he had rescued not just one, but the entire Roman world. [2]
From the 16th century onwards the massive trees that were once abundant throughout Europe became rarer due to the construction and expansion of naval fleets. Britain was said to be a nation which was protected by a wooden wall, one which was made of oak. Indeed, the composer William Boyce in 1759 composed the tune 'Hearts of Oak' with lyrics by actor David Garrick. Boyce's melody remains the official march of the British Royal Navy.
A large-scale Naval Fleet however comes with no small environmental cost and each ship represents the clearing of several acres of ancient woodland. By the end of the 1700s the British Royal Navy had swelled to a fleet of three hundred ships and the construction of this number would have taken as an estimated 1.2 million oak trees. Its been calculated that constructing a large, wooden warship such as a Royal Navy ship required around 2,000 to 4,000 mature oak trees, or even up to 6,000. Many of these trees were over 200 years old and were sourced from the woodlands of Europe. In essence, the large-scale National fleets of Spain and later the Dutch and British naval forces, were the primary cause of European deforestation. Today however, England has more ancient oaks than any other European nation. There are an estimated 115 oaks with a circumference of trunk over 9 metres in England and only 96 in the rest of Europe.
The oak tree's biological characteristics of longevity, strength and endurance have frequently been used to represent moral virtues. Because symbols are flexible the oak has been used to represent quite different national and civic aspirations. Its leaf can be seen on German coins from both the short-lived Third Reich and the subsequent enduring Republic.
The late Renaissance natural historian and literary figure Sir Thomas Browne (1605-82) took a keen interest in oak trees. In his miscellaneous tract, 'Observations on several plants mentioned in Scripture' he demonstrates a prodigious memory and familiarity with the Bible. Over 140 plants are recollected by him. World-wide there are many different species of oak tree. Of the Biblical oak tree he stated-
'Mention is made of Oaks in divers parts of Scripture, which though the Latin sometimes renders a Turpentine Tree, yet surely some kind of Oak may be understood thereby; but whether our common Oak as is commonly apprehended, you may well doubt; for the common Oak, which prospereth so well with us, delighteth not in hot regions. And that diligent Botanist Bellonius, who took such particular notice of the Plants of Syria and Judæa, observed not the vulgar Oak in those parts. [3]
Browne knew of Absalom's encounter with an oak tree and of it being sacred to pre-Christian religions-
'And therefore when it is said of Absalom, that his Mule went under the thick Boughs of a great Oak, and his Head caught hold of the Oak, and he was taken up between the Heaven and the Earth, that Oak might be some Ilex, or rather Esculus.....And when it is said that Ezechias broke down the Images, and cut down the Groves, they might much consist of Oaks, which were sacred unto Pagan Deities'. [4]
Browne was one of the earliest of naturalists to recognise that of all plants, the oak supports the greatest diversity of life. More than 500 butterfly and moth species have larvae which feeds on oak leaves. Today its known that more than 100 animal species rely on acorns as a crucial food source. Oak acorns sustain field mice, squirrels, chipmunks and jays. Flycatchers, tawny owls and woodpeckers all build their nests in the oak's crevices; blackbirds and warblers feed off the caterpillars on its leaves. Browne succinctly noted of the Oak's diversity-
'while almost every plant breeds its peculiar insect, most a Butterfly, moth or fly, wherein the Oak seems to contain the largest seminality',
Browne was also aware of the oak tree's relationship to mistletoe. Mistletoe taps into the oak's vascular system to supplement its own nutrient intake, yet still performs photosynthesis. Browne's description of Druids gathering mistletoe is sourced from his reading of the Roman author Pliny's vast work Naturalis Historia. [5]
'for the Magical vertues in this Plant, and conceived efficacy unto veneficial intentions, it seemeth a Pagan relique derived from the ancient Druides, the great admirers of the Oak, especially the Misseltoe that grew thereon; which according unto the particular of Pliny, they gathered with great solemnity. For after sacrifice the Priest in a white garment ascended the tree, cut down the Misseltoe with a golden hook, and received it in a white coat; the vertue whereof was to resist all poisons, and make fruitful any that used it.
Grafting of mistletoe involves great patience and time. Browne knew that soil condition and geography determined the growth of missletoe but like many others he was unsuccessful in his attempts to graft it.
'The like concerning the growth of Misseltoe, which dependeth not only of the species, or kind of Tree, but much also of the Soil. And therefore common in some places, not readily found in others, frequent in France, not so common in Spain, and scarce at all in the Territory of Ferrara: Nor easily to be found where it is most required upon Oaks, less on Trees continually verdant..... But this Parasitical plant suffers nothing to grow upon it, by any way of art; nor could we ever make it grow where nature had not planted it; as we have in vain attempted by inocculation and incision, upon its native or foreign stock'.
Allusion to trees occurs throughout Browne's 'The Garden of Cyrus or Network Plantations of the Ancients'. The tree species of Hazel, Lime, Pine, Fir, Fig, Alder, Willow, Maple, Cypress and Sycamore are all mentioned. Appropriately for a Discourse whose theme is Generation, growth and longevity, the oak and its acorns are mentioned most.
Early in The Garden of Cyrus artificial examples of the Quincunx pattern are considered. Laurels made from oak leaves are proposed as exemplary of the quincuncial pattern -
'The Triumphal Oval, and Civicall Crowns of Laurel, Oake, and Myrtle, when fully made, were pleated after this order'.
After supplying his reader with artificial examples, the central chapter of Browne's Discourse focuses upon natural examples of the quincunx pattern, including branches of the oak tree -
'And after this manner doth lay the foundation of the circular branches of the Oak, which being five-cornered, in the tender annual sprouts, and manifesting upon incision the signature of a Starre, is after made circular, and swel’d into a round body'.
Browne's symbolism is precise and well-ordered. Trees in general are mentioned in both Urn Burial and The Garden of Cyrus (1658) crucially, in close relationship to the thematic concerns of each respective discourse. The Oak tree in particular is a conjoining symbol which unites his two-in-one discourses.
In Urn-Burial it is the decaying and dead aspect of trees which is featured, in particular as fuel for the funeral pyre. The Yew tree is named as frequently found in Graveyards. Fossilized trees are mentioned thus-
'Moore-logs, and Firre-trees found under-ground in many parts of England; the undated ruines of windes, flouds or earthquakes; and which in Flanders still shew from what quarter they fell, as generally lying in a North-East position'.
The oak tree is utilized primarily as a symbol of Time in Urn-Burial. Its with sombre stoicism that Browne declares - 'Generations passe while some trees stand, and old Families last not three Oaks'.
Together, Time and Space are the metaphysical themes of Browne's literary mandala. In Urn-Burial the oak tree is a symbol of Time and decay, while in The Garden of Cyrus its the living growth and size in dimensional Space of the oak tree which is highlighted -
'That the biggest of Vegetables exceedeth the biggest of Animals, in full bulk, and all dimensions, admits exception in the Whale, which in length and above ground measure, will also contend with tall Oakes'.
The oak tree's longevity, strength and endurance have invariably been used to symbolize moral and spiritual values in religious beliefs, as well as in art and literature.
The Swiss psychologist C.G. Jung in his essay 'The Philosophical Tree' analyzes the rich symbolism of the tree in alchemical literature. Jung interpreted the symbolism of the tree as simultaneously representing the growth and development of the psyche, the individuation process, and the connection between the Underworld and spiritual heights. He noted of trees, and of the oak tree in particular -
'Trees, like fishes in the water, represent the living contents of the unconscious....The mighty oak is proverbially the King of the forest... It is the prototype of the self, a symbol of the source and goal of the individuation process. The oak stands for the still unconscious core of the personality, the plant symbolism indicating a state of deep unconsciousness [6]
Images:
*Top header - 'Old tree, young pigs' (56x66cm) by British artist Peter Rodulfo (b. 1958)
* Photo of an oak tree at Dodona, in Epirus in northwestern Greece.
* Fairy tale illustration to 'The Spirit in the Bottle'.
* Roman Agate of Eagle with palm branch and oak laurel in its talons.
* Left -1950 50 Pfenning Coin West Germany and Right- 1933 Third Reich One Mark coin
* Photo of 400 year old tree at Woodlands Park, Norwich.
* John Crome's painting 'The Oak at Poringland' (1818-20) Tate Gallery
* 400 year old at Earlham park/ UEA Porter's lodge, Norwich
Notes
[1] Genesis 12 verse 6, Genesis 18, Genesis 35 verse 8 , 1 Kings 13 and Isaiah 61 verse 3
[2] 'Moneta : Ancient Rome in twelve coins' by Gareth Harney pub. Vintage 2024
[3] Although several books by Pierre Belon (1517–1564) are listed as once in Browne's library, Belon's 'Observations on Several Singularities and Memorable Things Found in Greece, Asia, Judea, Egypt, Arabia, and Other Foreign Countries' (1553) is not. However, Browne must surely have consulted Belon's 'Observations in order to distinguish between different species of Oak in Judea.
[5] Browne's source here is Pliny's vast work Naturalis Historia book 16 : 95.
Listed in 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue page 17 no. 13
[6] C.G. Jung Collected Works Volume 13 paragraph 194
