What an unusual depiction of a city, here praised by the disciple Andrew in the desert-bright novel about the last days of Jesus, by the author of Zorba the Greek, Kazantzakis.  I wonder if anyone now would think of Jericho in such terms these days?

And those resilient roses that revive with a dip in water!  Imagine a city planner saying, ‘Right, KPI Miraculous Roses, check; KPI Sweetest Dates, hmm, need to work on that.’

“Jericho,” Andrew shouted happily.  “They have the sweetest dates in the whole world here, and the most miraculous roses: if they wither, all you do is dip them in water and they revive.”

See also Pliny’s reference to darling dates sent by a friend.

Source: Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation, trans. P.A. Bien (London: Faber and Faber, 1983), p. 241

Photo credit: Jamie Street at unsplash.com