Eden and Giant Trees
The concept of the world tree, or the tree of life, is a common motif present in many religious and folk traditions across the world. Being found in the mythologies of the Norse, Germanic, Slavic, Hindu, Turkic, Mongolian, Hebrew and Chinese traditions, as well as in many others. Traditionally, the world tree is presented as a a type of "Axis Mundi", being the central axis which, running through the poles, serves as the cornerstone of the earth and also as a geocentric axis of rotation for the surrounding planets.
The concept of the Axis Mundi is not exclusive to the World Tree, being present in the form of a mountain in Buddhism and Jainism, in the stone Omphalos of the ancient Greeks, in the magnetic island of Rupes Nigra depicted in Mercator's Hyperborea, and also in the stone Kaaba of Mecca. Whilst these depictions all vary widely, they all find commonality in that all of these locations are depicted as being the navel of the world, the axial point upon which the globe rotates, or in other words, the true location of the earth's pole. Whereas many of the locations previously mentioned are miles away from either of the earth's two poles (Mecca, Delphi, Mt Meru, etc), obviously detaching them from any geographic significance, the idea of the world tree is almost always depicted cosmologically as growing through both of the polar regions, something which is shown most obviously in the Germanic depictions of the myth, being that of the trees of Yggdrasil in Norse mythology and Irminsul in Germanic myth.
It is unlikely however, that such a tree ever existed, most notably as both the Norse and Germanic versions of cosmology depict the earth as being a flat, stationary plane, something which is incoherent with empiric reality, furthermore the notion of an existent tree being so large that it was capable of holding up the sky itself seems unlikely.
In addition to the traditional accounts of the world tree as a gigantic axial column, the Bible also presents some notion of a world tree, in the form of the Tree of Life found in the Garden of Eden. This tree, according to the narrative in Genesis, was said to produce a fruit that extended the lifespan of those that consumed it. The description of this tree in the second chapter of the book of Genesis declares that it was located in the very centre of the garden of Eden, in a similar sense to how the Germanic World Trees are located in the polar centre of the earth; also, in the book of Revelation, another "tree of life" is also described being located in the centre of the New Jerusalem. After the flood, it is presumed that both the garden of Eden and the tree of life vanished from the face of earth, hence why it is referred to in the New Testament as being located in Heaven as opposed to earth. Unlike the other world trees however, the bible does not present the tree of life as being abnormally large, further the location of the garden of Eden is never explicitly mentioned and therefore no answer can be provided as to whether or not this tree was located at either of the poles. Nevertheless, similarities still remain between the World Trees and the Biblical Tree of Life, most notably their position as the centre of their respective settings.
However, strange references are made to the existence of abnormally large trees elsewhere in the Bible, most notably in Daniel 4:10-17. In this chapter the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, is troubled by a strange dream, which none of his wise men or magicians are able to interpret. Subsequently he calls upon the great Jewish prophet Daniel to help decipher this dream. The chapter is presented in the form of a letter, written by King Nebuchadnezzar, which describes his dream as follows:
"Thus were the visions of my head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth. The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it"
The tree described here seems to fit the definitions of both the World Trees and the Tree of Life. It is located in the "middle" of the earth and so large that it reaches up to the Heavens above, succinctly matching the established definitions of the World Trees. Furthermore, it is mentioned to have fair leaves and "fruit thereof much" from which "all flesh was fed". The references to the tree's fairness and its bearing fruit may potentially be a reference to the tree of life from Eden, if this is the case, then that means that the Tree of Life does resemble the mythical World Tree, insofar as it is abnormally giant and positioned in the centre of the world. Furthermore, it is mentioned in the book of Genesis that the trees present in the garden of Eden were "good for food", something which fits with the notion that "all flesh" was fed from this gigantic tree envisioned by Nebuchadnezzar.
The dream continues:
"I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and a holy one came down from heaven; He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches: Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven..."
The second half of the dream shows the destruction of this tree, at the hands of an angel coming down from heaven, who orders the tree to be cut down and destroyed. The angel is described as a "Watcher" a class of angel tasked with watching over humans on earth, interestingly the book of Daniel is the only place in the bible where "the watchers" are ever referenced. The watchers appear frequently however in the pseudepigraphal book of Enoch, in which a group of them travel down to earth out of lust for human women, whom they then impregnate, spawning the Nephilim, a race of giant humanoids that subsequently terrorizes mankind. The book of Enoch uses the birth of the Nephilim as justification as to why God needed to bring down the flood on mankind.
This context regarding the watchers and the book of Enoch becomes even more interesting when regarding the final line of Nebuchadnezzars dream which states "let it be wet with the dew of heaven", this is seemingly a reference to the biblical flood, with the dew of heaven potentially referring to the floodwaters mentioned in the book of Genesis. If that is the case, then what we are witnessing here in the second part of Nebuchadnezzars dream, is the destruction of Eden prior to the onset of the biblical flood.
It is worth noting as well that the watcher orders for a "stump of his roots" to be left, "with a band of iron and brass". I mentioned earlier about Hyperborea, a mythical paradise which the ancient Greeks believed existed in the far North; the location of Hyperborea and whether or not it even existed in the first place, has long been speculated by ancient and medieval European historians, and today we know that there are no landmasses present in the North Pole, especially none resembling a paradise. However, in 1569 Gerardus Mercator published a map of the North Pole which depicted 4 large (non-existent) islands that he collectively referred to as Hyperborea, in the centre of these 4 islands, was a black rock referred to as "Rupes Nigra", 33 miles in size, that supposedly had magnetic properties, which according to Mercator was the reason why compasses pointed to the North pole.
Despite his map's detail, Mercator however had never actually visited the North Pole, but in a 1577 letter to John Dee he wrote that all the information he had about Hyperborea and Rupes Nigra, came from a now lost book called the Inventio Fortunata which was written in the 14th century. The book was written by a Franciscan monk from Oxford, who travelled throughout the North pole in the 1360s, recording his travels for King Edward III. It is from this mysterious book that the ideas of Hyperborea and Rupes Nigra supposedly emerged, interestingly the book also claimed that Greenland was first settled by King Arthur after he led an expedition to conquer the arctic. Despite no copies of the book existing today, it was certainly real and not an invention of Mercator, the book was summarized in a 1490 travel guide by a Brabantian traveller named Jacobus Cnoyen. Martin Behaim's 1492 globe model cited the book as a source, and in 1498 a man by the name of John Day wrote a letter to Christopher Columbus, stating that he had searched for the book but could not find it. Additionally, John Dee, the person to whom Mercator wrote his letter, was also well aware of the Inventio Fortunata, presumably having read the summary of it. The reason why I mention all of this, is that the magnetic rock of Rupes Nigra located in the north pole, could be a reference by the author of the Inventio Fortunata to the "stump of iron and brass" that the watchers left behind.
Nevertheless, it should be remembered that this description is from a dream, and part of biblical prophecy designed to warn Nebuchadnezzar of his pridefulness, as Daniel asserts in the same chapter that the tree is in fact a metaphor for Nebuchadnezzars pride. However biblical prophecies often make use of historical events, such as the warning to the King of Tyre in Ezekiel 28 which references the fall of Satan from heaven; it is possible therefore that the giant tree depicted may indeed be some sort of metaphor for Eden, but it is unlikely describing a real giant tree that once existed in the North Pole.
However, despite all of this, the concept of giant trees being prominent in so many different mythologies, does raise the question as to whether these myths may have been based on some sort of truth.
It is hypothesised by many that during the prehistoric period, the climate and oxygen levels of the earth were vastly different than today, potentially allowing for the growth of trees beyond their usual height. There exists an ancient species of fungus, known as Prototaxites, which were believed to grow up to 8 meters tall and 1 meter wide, far beyond any existing fungi, the average height of which today only reaches around 30 centimetres, thus it is likely that tens of thousands of years ago the climate of the earth would've allowed for the growth of trees to heights that would seem abnormal to us. Evidence of this exists in the Araucariaceae tree, which during the Jurassic period grew between 60 and 100 metres tall on average, far higher than the average tree height today, which usually grows between 7 and 12 metres.
Whilst these trees were certainly high, this growth isn't impossible in todays climate, as it is estimated that the upper height limit for a tree is around 130 metres high, and the worlds current tallest tree is 115 metres tall. The estimates for this figure of 130 metres are based on multiple factors, such as water potential, leaf structure, photosynthetic potential, and soil conditions. All of these factors would've differed greatly during previous geological periods, potentially allowing for tree growth beyond 130 metres. Ultimately however soil degradation caused by human industrialization and agriculture has significantly limited the extent to which flora and fauna are capable of growing. Additionally, deforestation has eradicated a vast majority of virgin forest, with only small amounts remaining in protected areas.
However even as recent as the late 1800s to early 1900s, logging photographs depict old trees being significantly larger than many trees seen today. With trees commonly being up to 10m in diameter and being thousands of years old. But it is likely that without outside intervention from factors such as deforestation and pollution, prehistoric trees likely lived far longer than this, and thus likely grew larger as well. Therefore, it is likely that with a vastly different climate, no logging or anthropogenic soil erosion, and a completely different ecosystem, trees of the past were likely much larger and older than any that exist today.
One final consideration is that the remnants of some of these giant trees, may still remain to this day. Trees are known to fossilize over time, with the existence of petrified wood, a special type of fossilized wood that arises through a process known as petrification, during which wood is mineralized and ultimately replaced with stone, leaving behind a rock-like material that still bears the shape of the original log or tree. Some have speculated that certain geological rock formations, such as Devils Tower in Wyoming, are actually the petrified remains of giant trees, that were destroyed long ago by some cataclysm, leaving behind their fossilized stumps. Whilst this is unlikely, given the sheer size of devils stump, it is still an interesting hypothesis and something worth considering.