Lotus
The lotos
When the river has become full and the plains have been flooded, there grow in the water great numbers of lilies, which the Egyptians call lotos; these they cut with a sickle and dry in the sun, and then they pound that which grows in the middle of the lotos and which is like the head of a poppy, and they make of it loaves baked with fire. The root also of this lotos is edible and has a rather sweet taste: it is round in shape and about the size of an apple.The lotos mentioned by Herodotus is an import from India, Nelumbo speciosum, and not the traditionally depicted blue lotus.Herodotus, Histories II
In mythology, the lotus was the first plant to rise out of the primordial waters and, at the same time, also appeared out of the light. In the Book of the Dead Re appears as the golden youth emerging from the lotus. The change of the deceased into a sacred lotus flower symbolises the hope of rebirth:
I am the holy lotus that cometh forth from the light which belongeth to the nostrils of Ra, and which belongeth to the head of Hathor. I have made my way, and I seek after him, that is to say, Horus. I am the pure lotus that cometh forth from the field [of Ra].Book of the Dead, translated by E.A.Wallis Budge
The blue lotus
The blue lotus, preferably called the blue water lily, Nymphaea caerulea, was often depicted in New Kingdom pictures of celebrating people, sometimes held by the person as if he were sniffing it, often hovering above his or her head.In architecture pillars were sometimes shaped like bundles of lotus supporting the skies embodied by the temple ceiling.
