ı̄´vi ( κισσός , kissós ): The only mention of the word in all the sacred writings is in 2 Maccabees 6:7 in connection with the oppression of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes: "On the day of the king's birth every month they were brought by bitter constraint to eat of the sacrifices; and when the feast of Bacchus (Dionysus) was kept, the Jews were compelled to go in procession to Dionysus, carrying ivy," this plant ( Hedera helix ) being sacred to the Greek god of wine and of the culture of the vine (compare Eur. Bacchae , passim ). It was of ivy or of pine that the "corruptible crown" of the famous 1sthmian games was made ( 1 Corinthians 9:25 ).
Source
- part_of
source-manifest/isbe— ISBE (PD)