Resources > Trees
Dr Anna Perdibon visited the The Baron Thyssen Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion on the 16th October 2019, to give a paper entitled "Sacred Trees and Tree Persons in Ancient Mesopotamia". After the seminar, Jessica Hughes and Anna Perdibon were joined by Graham Harvey and Shirley Elderfield to record an audio discussion about trees, both ancient and modern. The discussion also features the voice of Anne Patterson, on the role of trees in contemporary Druidism.
You can listen to this recording via Soundcloud.
Programme Structure and Timecodes
0.00 Introduction; 0.45 Anna Perdibon on ancient Mesopotamian geography, religion and trees; 5.22 Shirley Elderfield on the site of Dodona and its sacred oak tree; 9.15 Graham Harvey on trees in contemporary paganisms and different indigenous communities; 13.13 Anna Perdibon on Gilgamesh and the Cedar Forest; 15.52 Anne Patterson on the role of trees in contemporary Druidism; 19.54 Studio responses to Anne Patterson; 25.40 Graham Harvey on a piece of ancient bog oak from the Somerset Levels; 27.04 Shirley Elderfield on the oak tree planted at Dodona in the twentieth century; 28.35 Anna Perdibon on the olive trees in Jerusalem, and a nomadic bonsai.
Further reading and resources:
Bronze oak leaves 4th - 3rd century BCE found at Dodona
The Secret Language of Trees - audio programme from the podcast To The Best of Our Knowledge.
Dakaris, S. (2000) Dodona (4th ed.), Archaeological Receipts Fund, Athens.
Harvey, Graham. (2006) Animism. Respecting the Living World.
Harvey, Graham (2013) Food, Sex & Strangers. Understanding Religionas Everyday Life.
Bronze wheel with hanging loop, 5th century BCE, found in the Sanctuary of Zeus at Dodona
Hunt, Ailsa (2016) Reviving Roman Religion: Sacred Trees in the Roman World, Cambridge, CUP.
Oakes, Lauren E. (2018) In Search of the Canary Tree: The Story of a Scientist, a Cypress, and a Changing World, Basic Books. (See also the review article by Maria Popova in Brainpickings)
Perdibon, Anna (forthcoming) Mountains and Trees, Rivers and Springs. Animistic Beliefs and Practices in ancient Mesopotamian Religion.
Tawhai, T. P. [1988] (2002) ‘Maori Religion’ in G. Harvey Readings in Indigenous Religions, London, Continuum (originally published in S. Sutherland and P. Clarke (eds) The Study of Religion: Traditional and New Religion, London, Routledge, pp. 96-105).
Shorter audio tracks (extra track by Anna Perdibon, and three tracks recorded in Shropshire, August 2019)
