Ancient Egypt
Elements of its Cultural History

  by Sjef Willockx

  
 


I. Lotus and Papyrus

1. The lotus: introduction

The word "Lotus" does not designate a specific plant or flower: very different species have been called a lotus. The origin of the word is Greek (“lootos”). In the Odyssey, Odysseus encounters a people in northern Africa that Homer called the “lotus-eaters”.  When some of Odysseus' companions ate from this lotus, they forgot all about home, and had no other desire left than to stay there and live with the lotus-eaters. It is not clear precisely what species Homer had in mind when he wrote this - if it was in fact a particular plant at all - but it is certain that the Greeks used the word lotus for several species, all of which were land plants.
Better known today are the aquatic lotuses. Three types were known in ancient Egypt: the white, the blue and the pink lotus. The white and the blue were indigenous, the pink was introduced later, from Asia.

Of these three types, the following genealogy can be given.

(Please note that there is no such thing yet as a definitive taxonomy of plants. Opinions differ widely. The classification below is primarily based on the Encyclopedia Britannica).

Order: Nymphaleaeles (the water-lily order, with a total of 8 families)

Family: Nymphaeaceae (the water-lily family, with a total of 8 genera)

Genus: Nymphaea, comprising 35 species, among which the following:

§        White lotus: Nymphaea lotus

§        Blue lotus: Nymphaea caerulea
 

Family: Nelumbonaceae (the lotus-lily family). This family has only one genus.

 Genus: Nelumbo, with only two species, one of which is:

§       Nelumbo nucifera: the sacred lotus of the Hindus, with white to pink flowers. A variant of this species was later (not before the New Kingdom) introduced into Egypt from the East, and is now referred to in Egyptology as the Pink lotus.


In Book 2 of his Histories, Herodotus describes the water lilies of Egypt, adding at some point that the Egyptians call them “lotus” (2, 92). Which is nonsense. “Lotus” is a Greek word, at that time already in use by the Greeks as the name of several species. The Egyptians called the water lilies - both the white and the blue - “seshen” (sSn). (This word has survived till the present day in the name of Susan.)

Having established the name of "lotus" as being of Greek origin, we still have to decide whether we want to make use of it for the Egyptian water lilies, or not. There are at least two alternatives:

  • we could call them water lilies,

  • or we could use the scientific Latin names: Nymphaea lotus and Nymphaea caerulea.

What is a "good" name? Certainly one that accurately and unambiguously conveys what we are speaking about. The best name for the blue water lily is no doubt Nymphaea caerulea. However, not being a biologist, nor writing for an audience of biologists, I would prefer not to use Latin names.
The second-best name is the one that most people would recognize as referring to these particular species. If I would have called this story "The water lily, papyrus, and the heraldic plants of ancient Egypt", few people would immediately grasp what it is about. For better or for worse, "lotus and papyrus" has become a household expression. That is why I prefer the name "lotus" over "water lily": for its immediate familiarity.

One thing should however be totally clear: the flowers that meant so much to the ancient Egyptians had nothing to do with the lotus of the Hindus (Nelumbo nucifera: see section 4 of this Visual Story.).

 

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