SHUSHAN (iV), also SHOSHANNAH ; Sept. KpiPoP), occurs in several passages of the 0 T., and is translated lily in the A. V. The word has been variously interpreted by translators, being by some thought to be the rose, by others the violet or convallaria, a jasmine, or some one or more of the plants included under the general name of lily. But it appears to us that none but a plant which was well known and highly esteemed would be found occurring in so many different passages. Thus, in r Kings vii. 19-26, and 2 Chron. iv. 5, it is mentioned as forming the ornamental work of the pillars and of the brazen sea, made of molten brass, for tbe house of Solomon, by Hiram of Tyre. In Canticles the word is frequently mentioned ; and it is curious that in five passages (Cant. ii. 2 and 16 ; iv. 5 ; Vi. 2 and 3) there is a reference to feeding among lilies : which appears unaccountable, when we consider that the allusion is made simply to an ornamental or sweet-smelling plant ; and this the shushan appears to have been from the other passages in which it is mentioned (Cant. ii. r, 2 ; v. 13 ; vii. 2). If the book of Canticles is the production of Solomon it may be presumed to con tain allusions to Egyptian objects, from his con nection by marriage with that country ; and in this case the lily to which he refers may be a plant of Egypt rather than of Palestine. And this appears to us to be the case, especially as the water-lily or lotus of the Nile seems suitable to most of the above passages. Herodotus (ii. 92) says : When the waters have risen to their extremest height, and all the fields are overflowed, there appears above the surface an immense quantity of plants of the lily species, which the Egyptians call the lotus ; having cut down these they dry them in the sun. The seed of the flowers, which resembles that of the poppy, they bake, and make into a kind of bread : they also eat the root of this plant, which is round, of an agreeable flavour, and about the size of an apple. There is a second species of the
lotus, which grows in the Nile, and which is not unlike a rose. The fruit, which grows from the bottom of the root, resembles a wasp's nest : it is found to contain a number of kernels of the size of an olive stone, which are very grateful either fresh or dried.' All this exists even to the present day. Both the roots and the stalks form articles of diet in Eastern countries, and the large farinaceous seeds of both the nymphma and nelumbium are roasted and eaten. Hence probably the reference to feed ing among lilies in the above-quoted passages.
In confirmation of this view we may adduce also the remarks of Dr. W. C. Taylor in his Bible illus trated by Egyptian monuments, where he says that the lilies of the xlv. and bcix. Psalms have puzzled all Biblical critics. The title To the chief mu sician upon Shoshannim,' has 'been supposed to be the name of some unknown tune to which the Psalm was to be sung. But Dr. Taylor says : The word Shoshannim is universally acknowledged to signify lilies, and lilies have nothing to do with the subject of the ode. But this hymeneal ode was intended to be sung by the female attendants of the Egyptian princess, and they are , called the lilies,' not only by a poetic reference to the lotus lilies of the Nile, but by a direct allusion to their custom of making the lotus lily a conspicuous ornament of their head-dress.' Thus, therefore, all the passages of Scripture in which Shoshan occurs appear to be explained by considering it to refer to the lotus lily of the Nile.—J. F. R.