Omphalos
The omphalos is a very common type of religious stone artifact/ tablet. The word omphalos means "navel" in Greek. According to the ancient Greeks, Zeus sent out two eagles to fly across the world and they met at its center, the "navel" of the world - which the omphalos represents.
Many records indicate that the omphalos stone was the holiest object at various oracle centers in all the lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea, the most well known being at Delphi.
It most likely originated from the "stone of splendor" associated with the Canaanite god Baal.
The main characteristic of the omphalos/stone of splendor was its ability to allow direct communication with the gods.
The image above is an ancient Greek depiction of Delphi. In it we can see the Temple of Apollo, an Omphalos, and a Tree of Life (as a date palm). It's safe to conclude that the tree is indeed a Tree of Life, because the earliest, most common form of it was the date palm...but date palms don't grow in Greece!
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