Ivy
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(n.) A plant of the genus Hedera (H. helix), common in Europe. Its leaves are evergreen, dark, smooth, shining, and mostly five-pointed; the flowers yellowish and small; the berries black or yellow. The stem clings to walls and trees by rootlike fibers.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [2]
IVY . This plant ( Hedera helix ) grows wild in Palestine and Syria. It is mentioned in 2Ma 6:7 . See Dionysia.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [3]
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 ).
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [4]
Bibliography Information McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Ivy'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/i/ivy.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
