“I, the Lord God, planted the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and also the tree of knowledge of good and evil. … This encounter is treated in the scriptures: One possible reason is that they may have had a common source: the encounter Adam and Eve had with the two trees in the Garden of Eden. It is difficult to say why tree of life accounts are so prevalent and why they are all similar. The similarities to the Book of Mormon account are striking, inviting comparison with the more detailed descriptions in that book of the river of filthy water, the tree that gives sustenance, the fountain of living water, the questions at judgment, and the disciples who attain exaltation. They also agree that the most likely origin for the mythology is Egypt. The texts on many of the plates state that those who successfully complete the journey become gods themselves.Ĭommentators agree that the cypress tree is a tree of life symbol, the spring nearby is a spring of life, and the other spring is a source of forgetfulness and punishment. They enjoin the souls to keep to the right, where they will encounter another spring beside a white cypress tree.Īfter pausing for refreshment and nourishment from the spring and the tree, the wanderers continue to the lake of memory, where, after responding appropriately to questions posed by the lake guardians, the travelers receive eternal memories and enter into the gods’ presence. 1 These plates depict the dead, wandering in the world of the shades, and warn them to avoid a destructive spring on their left. to the third century A.D., engraved in Greek and found in Italy, Sicily, Crete, and Macedonia. What, in particular, were the views of the tree of life among the ancients and how well do those views correspond with the view in the Book of Mormon?Īmong the closest parallels are scenes that appear on a number of small gold plates dating from the fifth century B.C. This fact, and the fact that Lehi and Nephi portrayed the spiritual meaning of that symbol much the same way other ancient cultures portrayed it, demonstrate that the Book of Mormon is an ancient text, not an invention of the nineteenth-century social milieu. The symbol of that tree pervades the art and literature of every Mediterranean culture from centuries before the time of Lehi until well after the time of Moroni.
They do not cost any population or Favor, though only five can be created at a time. They are generally used defensively, as the structure they are created from can be captured by the enemy. As with all Myth Units, they are weak against Heroes. However, in comparison to other Myth Units, they have fairly low statistics, so will not last long in combat against them.