RIMMCiN (liln) is mentioned in numerous places in the O. T., and is universally acknow ledged to denote the pomegranate-tree and fruit, being described in the works of the Arabs by the name roman. The pomegraante is a native of Asia ; and we may trace it from Syria, through Persia, even to the mountains of Northern India. It is common in Northern Africa, and was early cultivated in Egypt : hence the Israelites in the desert complain (Num. xx. 5), It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates.' Being common in Syria and Persia, it must have early attracted the attention of Eastern nations. In the present day it is highly valued, and travellers describe the pomegranate as being delicious th rough out Persia. The bright and dark-green foliage of the pomegranate, and its flowers conspicuous for the crimson colour both of the calyx and petals, must have made it an object of desire in gardens ; while its large reddish-coloured fruit, filled with numerous seeds, each surrounded with juicy plea sant-tasted pulp, would make it still more valuable as a fruit in warm countries (Cant. viii. ; vi. 7 ; xi. 12). Being valued as a fruit, and admired as a flower, it was to be expected that it should be cul tivated in gardens and orchards ; and to this several passages refer, as Cant. iv. 13. In other places it is enumerated with the more valued and cultivated trees of the country, such as the vine, the fig-tree, the palm-tree, and the olive, as in Joel i. 12 ; Hag, ii. 19. The pomegranate is not likely to have been a native of Egypt ; it must, however, have been cultivated there at a very early period, as the Israelites, when in the desert, lamented the loss of its fruit. That it was produced in Palestine during the same early ages is evident, from the spies bringing some back when sent into Canaan to see what kind of a land it was ; for we are told that they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cnt down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, etc., and they brought of the pomegran
ates, and of the figs ' (Num. xiii. 23.) The pomegranate was well known to the Greeks, being the pici of Theophrastus and of Dioscorides (i. r5r). It was employed as a medicine by Hip pocrates, and is mentioned by Homer under the name side, supposed to be of Plicenician origin. Its English name is derived from the pomum granatum (` grained apple ') of the Romans. Vari ous parts of the plant were employed medicinally— as, for instance, the root, or rather its bark ; the flowers, which are called 1057 LPOS by Dioscorides, and the double flowers gaXaOarcov ; also the rind of the pericarp, called malicarium by the Romans and crialov by Dioscorides. Some of the properties which these plants possess make them useful both as drugs and as medicines. \Ve have hence a combination of useful and ornamental properties, which would make the pomegranate an object sure to command attention ; and these, in addition to the showy nature of the flowers, and the roundish form of the fruit, crowned by the protuberant re mains of the calyx, would induce its selection as an ornament to be imitated in carved work. Hence we find frequent mention of it as an ornament on the robes of the priests (Exod. xxviii. 33 ; xxxix. 24) ; and also in the temple (1 Kings vii. 18, 20, 42 ; 2 Kings xxv. 17 ; 2 Chron. 16 ; iv. 13). It might, therefore, well be adduced by Moses among the desirable objects of the land of promise (Dem. viii. 8) : 'a. land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates ; a land of oil-olive and honey.'—J. F. R.